New Pan-African Leadership Lab Launched in Kigali to Embed Young Leaders in Governance Systems

A new pan-African initiative aimed at reshaping public leadership by bringing young and established leaders into shared decision-making spaces was officially launched in Kigali on January 31, 2026, positioning Rwanda as a continental hub for inclusive governance innovation.

Leadership Lab Yetu, a Kigali-based non-profit organisation, was unveiled during a high-level convening of policymakers, innovators and emerging leaders from across Africa at the Kigali Marriott Hotel. The initiative seeks to address long-standing gaps in governance by embedding young leaders directly within existing institutions rather than engaging them from the margins.

Speaking at the launch, Rumbidzai Chisenga, CEO of Leadership Lab Yetu, said the programme was deliberately designed to work with leaders already operating inside governance systems to ensure real institutional impact.

“One of the defining characteristics of our fellows is that they are already embedded in governance structures,” Chisenga said. “We wanted to make sure there is already a vehicle for the change we are discussing, so that ideas do not remain theoretical but are transmitted directly into institutions.”

She noted that many leadership development programmes operate outside governance systems, attempting to influence them indirectly. Leadership Lab Yetu, she said, takes a different approach by fostering co-creation and co-leadership between generations.

“We have identified tokenism and the exclusion of young leaders from decision-making as major challenges,” Chisenga said. “Transformation is not the responsibility of young people alone. Established leaders must also adjust their ways of working to accommodate, and sometimes submit to, new leadership structures.”

According to Chisenga, the initiative emphasizes collaboration across generations, creating safe spaces where leaders can openly discuss policy ideas, institutional challenges, leadership discipline and personal preparedness.

As part of its flagship Intergenerational Leadership Accelerator (ILA) fellowship, Leadership Lab Yetu convenes closed-door sessions to allow emerging leaders to interrogate the complex realities of working within entrenched political and bureaucratic systems.

“These are difficult environments,” she said. “We prepare young leaders to understand blind spots, traps and setbacks, and to know when and how to ask for help.”

Chisenga described Yetu as a collective African project, inviting governments, institutions and individuals across the continent to participate in building a shared leadership ecosystem.

“Yetu means ‘ours’,” she said. “This is an invitation to Africans to own this space and make it functional and effective for leadership development across sectors and jurisdictions.”

Also addressing the launch, Jean Nepo Abdallah Utumatwishima, Rwanda’s Minister of Youth and Arts, reaffirmed the government’s support for Leadership Lab Yetu, describing it as aligned with Rwanda’s leadership philosophy of nurturing young people from vulnerability to responsibility.

“At the Ministry of Youth and Arts, we are proud to be associated with Leadership Lab Yetu,” Utumatwishima said. “We commit to supporting its initiatives as we pursue a transformed, responsible and values-driven generation of young leaders.”

Drawing from his personal journey from medical practice to public service, the minister emphasized servant leadership and accountability as central pillars of effective governance.

“For young people to trust their leaders, leaders must meet them in their most vulnerable moments and build growth stories together,” he said.

Utumatwishima credited Rwanda’s leadership model for creating equal opportunity, stressing that development responsibility now rests squarely with African leaders themselves.

“We must stop blaming others for today’s failures. Accountability begins with us,” he said, adding that leadership must ultimately be judged by results, not plans.

“Planning without implementation is meaningless. Implementation without impact is a failure,” he noted.

The launch also marked the inaugural convening of the ILA fellowship’s first cohort, comprising fellows from Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Gambia, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia and Zambia.

Leadership Lab Yetu is implemented in partnership with the Africa School of Governance and the Rwanda Ministry of Youth and Arts, with plans to expand its work into leadership research, ecosystem building and the publication of data on leadership trends and youth inclusion in African governance institutions.