Deadline: Ongoing
Applications are open for the LEAP Africa Youth Leadership Development Programme 2026. The Youth Leadership Development Programme (YLDP) is a five-month programme that aims to help young Nigerian undergraduates develop a deeper understanding of their role in nation-building, leading change by taking ownership of their life’s goals, and driving community development.
Participants of the YLDP will go through self-paced courses developed on the programme’s three pillars: leadership, active citizenship and community/sustainable development. Group mentorship sessions with expert social innovators, policy contributors and change makers who will guide them as they implement impactful community change projects and participate in inter-school debates on national issues, to develop their mindsets and equip them to be the change agents the country needs.
The Youth Leadership Development Programme will help young people become contributing members of society and empower young people to actively engage in addressing issues of national concern while fostering peer-to-peer learning and community building.
Programme Details
The Youth Leadership Development Programme in partnership with MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation and Luminate comprises two (2) programme tracks.
- Community Change Project Track: The Community Change Projects Track addresses the need to educate, strengthen, support, and enable young people in tertiary institutions to implement change projects that advocate for and inspire action for community and national development.
- Youth Leadership Debate Competition/ Community Advocacy Track: The Youth Leadership Debate Competition/Community Advocacy Track provides a platform through inter-school debates to spark conversations that reawaken student activism on key policy issues that affect Nigerian citizens. Participating teams who make it to the final rounds of the competition will also be required to carry out advocacy-focused community projects.
Eligibility
An ideal YLDP participant is:
- A male or female undergraduate in a Nigerian tertiary institution
- 18-35 years of age
- Person with Disability
- Passionate about community development, advocacy and activism
- Eager to champion change projects geared towards community development & the SDGs.
- Eager to lend voices to issues of national discourse through debates
- The candidate is a member of a debating society or student youth group.
Application
This year, the call for applications:
- Encourage more women to apply by collaborating with women focused organisations to publish the call
- Encourage more applications from Eastern Nigeria
- Encourage applicants to apply individually while submitting a change project proposal or signing up to a proposal submitted by a candidate from their institution.
- Ask applicants to apply with their course forms and student ID as a means of identification and verification of their status.
For more information, visit YLDP.
