A youth leadership advocate, 24-year-old Rashid Mwinyi was looking for ways to help young Zanzibari’s take a more participatory role in leadership.

As Project Officer for  the independent, non-partisan, youth led, non-governmental organization, Pamoja Youth Initiative, Rashid applied to participate in Feed the Future Tanzania Advancing Youth’s leadership program in 2018. He was one of 50 trainees in the program that brings together youth to a three-day training on negotiation, problem solving and community mobilization skills that enable them to influence decisions and/or become key decision makers in their communities.

Following the training, Rashid was connected with various local and international opportunities to further strengthen his leadership capabilities. He attended the YouLead East Africa Summit in Arusha in 2018 which gathered open minded youth from East Africa to discuss political and economic inclusion for youth, and sustainable regional integration. Rashid also participated in the Tanzania International Model United Nations summit in 2019 which discussed empowering youth and ensuring inclusiveness and equality.

“As a beneficiary of the program, Advancing Youth invested a lot in me.  The knowledge, connections, and experiences that I got from Advancing Youth have collectively shaped my personal and professional development. Now, I am not only a qualified leadership trainer but also a consultant working in reputable organizations in Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania at large. This experience led to my desire to pay it forward to my fellow youth in Zanzibar,” remarks Rashid.

Today, Rashid is one of 3 direct beneficiaries of Advancing Youth who have qualified for grants. Advancing Youth awards leadership grants to select organizations based on their experience and ability to impart leadership, knowledge, and skills to the youth.

Says Rashid, “After participating in the leadership training, I felt more certain that I could present my ideas more effectively to bring positive change to my community. As a result, I won a $30,000 grant to tackle climate change. Advancing Youth gave me $59,465, to train other youth on the skills I gained.”

Rashid also used the grant to train and enable fellow youth to participate in community leadership and decision-making bodies. Through his organization, Rashid has trained 200 youth on leadership. Among them, 120 have been placed in different decision-making bodies. Rashid has also empowered about 180 youth to participate in community development activities that address community challenges.

“My goal is to see many trained youths in leadership occupy various leadership positions in Local Government Authorities and the private sector as well. More significantly, they should take the lead in community initiatives which positively transform society.”