Goalkeepers Youth Action Accelerator: ramping up development

Today, the Obama Foundation is excited to announce our participation in a new opportunity for young leaders, led by CIVICUS (Opens in a new tab) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. (Opens in a new tab) Together with the George W. Bush Institute (Opens in a new tab), Restless Development (Opens in a new tab), Action for Sustainable Development (Opens in a new tab), and the Gates Foundation, the Obama Foundation will serve on a steering committee for a new program called the Goalkeepers Youth Action Accelerator.

The Accelerator will provide access to a suite of funding, technical support, and mentorship, totaling up to $30,000 each for up to 30 selected young leaders—or youth-led organizations—whose work is focused on tackling the first six of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (Opens in a new tab). Those goals include ending poverty and hunger, advancing global health and education, and expanding gender equality and access to clean water and sanitation.

You can read more about the Accelerator and apply at CIVICUS’ website here (Opens in a new tab).

Our participation in the Accelerator continues our commitment to inspiring, empowering, and connecting young leaders around the world. Just recently, we were in Johannesburg, South Africa for our Leaders: Africa program, which brought together 200 rising leaders from 44 countries across the continent as part of a one-year leadership development and civic engagement program.

One of those Leaders,  David Sengeh, was highlighted and spoke at the Gates Foundation’s annual Goalkeepers  event (Opens in a new tab) where the Accelerator was announced, alongside one of our  Obama Scholars, Trisha Shetty. And another of our Leaders,  Dysmus Kisilu, was  honored (Opens in a new tab) as one of three Goalkeepers18 award winners.

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