Is there an Obama legacy in Africa?

In a matter of days, President Barack Obama will be stepping down after eight years in office. It is difficult to effectively capture the significance of his election and time as president in words. As he put it, many “still can’t believe we pulled this whole thing off.” But it was done.

Barack Obama has carried himself well, even in the face of disrespect to his person from some quarters. Time will only help a proper appreciation of the great work he did.

Many Africans were naturally ecstatic at the election of Barack Obama. Hope was rekindled in many. Expectations, of all sorts, shot high about what an Obama presidency would do for Africa.

Eight years after, many are disappointed. In Nigeria, some are unhappy with him for not visiting the country while in office. In Kenya, he is noted as not doing much for his ancestral country.

Some even argue that it is difficult to identify a coherent Obama policy on Africa. But that won’t be correct. President Obama might not have been very upfront with his Africa agenda, but he did initiate a number of programmes aimed at addressing some fundamental problems that the continent faces.

In 2013, Barack Obama launched ‘Power Africa’ with the goal of doubling access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. With this, more than $7 billion in investments are expected to be made over five years, with the objective of increasing access to electricity by at least 20 million new households and businesses. In 2015, the initial goal was tripled to 60 million electricity connections and 30,000 megawatts of energy.

I do not know the level of progress that has been made with ‘Power Africa’ but that the programme seeks to address the lack of access to electricity speaks to the depth of thought and deliberation on what ails Africa under the Obama presidency.

But it is the attention paid by Barack Obama to leadership and entrepreneurship training for African youth that is most worthy of attention and celebration, for me. He participated in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Kenya. But the defining Obama legacy in Africa is the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), launched in 2010, and targeted at the next generation of African leaders, to enable them “spur growth and prosperity, strengthen democratic governance, and enhance peace and security across Africa.”

However it is the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, the flagship programme of YALI that best highlights the Obama legacy in Africa. Inaugurated in 2014, the fellowship annually provides “up to 1,000 outstanding young leaders from Sub-Saharan Africa with the opportunity to hone their skills at a U.S. college or university with support for professional development after they return home.”

Each Mandela Washington Fellow takes part in a six-week academic and leadership institute at a U.S. college or university in one of three tracks: Business and Entrepreneurship, Civic Leadership, or Public Management. Following the academic component, the Fellows visit Washington, D.C., for a Summit featuring networking and panel discussions with U.S. leaders from the public, private, and non-profit sectors.

The Fellows, who are between the ages of 25 and 35, are chosen on the basis of their records of accomplishment in promoting innovation and positive change in their organisations, institutions, communities, and countries. Last year, fellows were chosen from all 49 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including some with disability.

About 2,000 young Africans have directly benefited from the programme, apart from the hundreds of thousands who are part of the YALI Network. Another 1,000 will be a part of the fellowship this year. I have interacted physically and virtually with some of the Fellows. The BringBackOurGirls campaigner and coordinator of ‘Adopt-A-Camp’, Bukky Shonibare, is one of them. The brilliant Diran Adegoke is another. Edeh Catherine, a lawyer and disability rights advocate who has bravely defied hearing disability to make tremendous impact in her community, is another beneficiary of the programme. These are lives that have been positively touched by the programme initiated by Barack Obama. They have, in turn, taken on the baton, doing their bit in inspiring others and touching many more lives in the process.

It is in choosing to touch the lives of young Africans, raising leaders and entrepreneurs who can impact lives and widen the net of impact that Barack Obama leaves a legacy in Africa. It is in the symbolism of the audacity of hope that he planted a seed in the heart of many young Africans. It is the grace and panache with which he carried himself, going high when it was easy to go low, that he leaves a legacy for the world about the African spirit.