TellZim Reporter
TellZim news editor Theresa Takafuma is among the 43 young Zimbabwean leaders participating in this year’s prestigious Mandela Washington Fellowship, after being selected among thousands of applicants from across the country.
Takafuma will spend six weeks at The University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, United States before heading off to Washington D.C for the Fellowship Summit, where she will interact with 700 other fellows selected from across Sub Saharan Africa.
Selected to take part in the Leadership in Civic Engagement Track, Takafuma will spend most of her time in the United States having academic sessions at the J.W Fanning Institute for Leadership Development at the UGA, as well as networking sessions and site visits.
She said she is elated to be participating in such a prestigious fellowship, saying that to her getting the opportunity to learn more about enhancing access to information in marginalised communities and the emancipation of young people and women means a lot to her.
“The work I have been doing over the years promoting access to credible information in marginalized communities has been good, but having the opportunity to learn how I can do it more effectively is invaluable to me,”
“I am excited about the time I am going to spend in the US learning how I can help young people and women in marginalized communities improve their lives through civic participation, information literacy, leadership skills and above all, basic education,” said Takafuma.
With nearly 10 years’ experience in the newsroom, Takafuma has participated in several leadership programmes, including the International Training Programme on Media Development in a Democratic Framework through which she worked with opinion leaders in media policy development and advocacy.
“I believe in information as a public good. Information is power, and access to information is empowerment, therefore I will take this opportunity to learn as much as I can on how I can assist communities in that regard,” Takafuma added.
The Mandela Washington Fellowship is the flagship program under the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), providing nearly 700 young African leaders leadership development and training in the United States each year.
Over 5,000 young leaders from every country in Sub-Saharan Africa have participated in the Fellowship since 2014.
