WELEAD

WELEAD is a Zimbabwean youth leadership development organization founded upon the idea that, youth leadership development is the most efficient and sustainable way to develop the world. At WELEAD young leaders are developed by other young people through a series of creative engagements and facilitation that precipitates a leadership expression that enables young people to positively impact the world.^[1]

Background

WELEAD was founded by Namatai Kwekweza in 2017.

Mandate

Their overall mandate is to work with young people in creating world societies were youth become truly active and represented by youth in decision-making, development and leadership.

Mission

Developing an organization that is committed to bringing youth together to co-create a safe space for youth leadership development.

WE Society

A WE Society is an independent extension of the organization which is aimed at making leadership development accessible and affordable to young people in any community around the world. A WE society is a group of young people who come together in social leadership development meetings commenced at regular intervals which are designed to provide a pragmatic, youth-friendly and safe space for young people to co-create, practice and live their ideas of leadership. The WE-societies are centered around the idea of building a sense of community and ownership of what leadership truly means in the generic context of the local community members. The societies are also there to build the capacity of young people to be at the lead in initiatives that develop their communities. The WE societies are there to challenge young people to lead in every sector that contributes towards the sustainable development of their community and their world.

WE Society Mission

Advancing human potential through human capital development and leadership development.

Their Work

Their work is centered around facilitating the process of bringing young leaders together to precipitate peer to peer leadership development in a safe youth friendly space. The youth leadership development at WELEAD is fashioned after the WELEADERS workbook which has been crafted and is being continuously developed by young leaders for young leaders. Our approach is inclusive and participatory as we pay attention to leave no youth behind. This is why they are always learning from all the young people they work with and are continuously adapting their leadership development methods to be suitable for their young leaders. The overall goal in their curriculum adaptation policy is to be continuous learners of the young leaders who they work with so that when modifications are made to the curriculum, they will be effective in unleashing the leadership energy locked inside young people.

Understanding their Work

The work done at WELEAD is pivoted around ideas and methodology. This is because as an organization they realize that what they do is just as important as how they do it. WELEAD runs a WE-volunteer project, WE-leaders’ clubs, WE-fellowships, WE-partnerships and WE-exchange programs that enable young leaders to have access to healthy environments that encourage youth leadership exchanges

WE Advocate

The WE Advocate Center is an independent functioning extension of the organization that was founded in 2019 which focuses on using advocacy as a tool to create more space for youth participation in leadership.

The purpose of the WE Advocate Center is:

To advocate for the rights of young people.
To advocate for youth inclusion in governance, social, political and economic spaces.
To address issues social, economic, political and systematic issues that limit the well-being of youth.
To contribute towards creating safe societies for young people.
To contribute towards the creation of youth friendly environments that encourage youth leadership.