Global Shapers - Seychelles represented at this year’s ‘Shape Africa’ event in Addis Ababa |09 November 2017

Around 70 young adults from across the African continent – including one Seychellois - made their way to Ethiopia towards the end of October for this year’s annual Shape Africa event, organised by the international youth movement, Global Shapers.

Craig Francourt, a 29-year-old youth engagement consultant - was the sole representative of the Global Shapers Victoria Hub at the three-day conference. After last year’s successful event in Port Louis, Mauritius, the Global Shapers Addis Ababa Hub was awarded the task of organising this year’s event.

Shape Africa aims to bring together Hub members from across Africa, to discuss pressing issues facing the continent. It is one of several “Shape” events that happen on each continent across the world annually. This year’s theme for the continent, ‘Our Africa, Our Story’, explored how youth, growth and integration could be used to drive forward African narratives. Members of the Global Shapers community from across the continent engaged with decision-makers from the worlds of politics, business and the non-profit sector in a range of sessions that included interactive panel discussions, keynote addresses, leader forums and creative brainstorming and collaboration sessions.

Among the visits organised, the cohort spent an entire day at the headquarters of the African Union and were also treated to a tour of Africa’s largest airline’s training academy, Ethiopian Airlines.

Delegates were also granted the opportunity to sample local Ethiopian culture, partaking in a traditional Ethiopian coffee-drinking ceremony, and a cultural exchange that included local culinary delights, traditional music and traditional dance.

Delegates also had the opportunity to see Nigerian music sensation WizKid perform live on the final evening of the event.

In preparation for the event, the Victoria Hub organised a morning of sponsored painting, decorating and other tasks at the Foyer de Nazareth children’s care home, to help raise funds to send a delegate from Seychelles to Ethiopia.

The Victoria Hub also worked closely with the Ethiopian Airlines Seychelles office, who sponsored Mr Francourt’s return ticket for the trip.

Reflecting on his experience, Mr Francourt said:

“Shape Africa has truly opened my eyes with regard to the vast opportunities and limitless potential that can be found on the African continent. As a small island off the coast of Africa, we may sometimes feel isolated from the issues that are affecting people across the continent. Spending three days with young leaders from across Africa has reminded me that, when it comes to addressing issues such as security, sustainability, intra-continental trade and travelling across borders, among others, we are all interconnected. The issue of visa-free travel across the continent, for example, is a pertinent one. As we are one of the few African countries that does not place visa restrictions on people to travel here, I see Seychelles as having a key voice to play in this debate as an example of a forward-thinking good practice.”

“I was also inspired by the calibre of our continent’s young leaders. Given that nearly two-thirds of Africa’s population is under the age of 35 years, I left Ethiopia feeling confident that Africa finally has a generation of capable, socially-conscious and pioneering servant-leaders to tackle the challenges that we are so often led to believe we cannot solve by ourselves. I come back to the Victoria Hub eager to share my learnings, so that we can continue to grow from strength to strength and work on delivering true impact on a local, national and regional level over the coming year. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my Victoria Hub colleagues, the wonderful team at Ethiopian Airlines for sponsoring me with a return ticket, and all of those who so generously sponsored my colleagues’ fundraising efforts to support me in attending the event.”

Global Shapers is a network of young adults driving dialogue, action and change on a local, national, regional and international level. Worldwide, there are nearly 7000 members of the Global Shapers community, with over 350 Hubs spread across 156 countries. Although it is an initiative of the World Economic Forum, Global Shapers is firmly rooted in grassroots activism. The movement aims to empower young people to play a central role in solution-building, policy-making and enacting positive change in their communities. Members are organised into Hubs based on their geographical location, and self-organise to create projects that address the needs of their community.

Locally, the Victoria Hub has delivered a wide range of projects over the past 18 months, including blood donation drives, Endometriosis awareness-raising marches, Spoken Word open mic nights, beach clean-ups, a Mentorship Programme at the President’s Village, an enterprise empowerment project with pro-life group Les Li Viv, and most recently, a youth dialogue on sexual reproductive health.

The Victoria Hub is currently planning to pilot a schools-based Mentorship Programme with teenagers soon into the New Year, with the aim of supporting to address some of the social ills presently affecting the country’s young people.

The Hub is actively scouting for new members, and encourages any interested 21 to 29 year olds to reach out to the team through Facebook or by phone. The Global Shapers Victoria Hub can be contacted via their Facebook Page, or by phone on 2633450.