Kerry Priest, Ph.D., professor in the Staley School of Leadership, and Shaibu Fuseini, 2023 Mandela Washington Fellow Alumnus and co-founder of AgricConnect, were recently awarded a Reciprocal Exchange Grant to support network building among climate change leaders in Ghana.
The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders—the flagship program of the U.S. Government’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI)—was created in 2014 to invest in the next generation of African leaders.
The Reciprocal Exchange component provides U.S. citizens and Fellowship Alumni with the opportunity to build upon strategic partnerships and professional connections developed during the Fellowship through collaborative projects. These exchange programs are a unique opportunity to implement a co-designed project for the purpose of forming lasting partnerships, expanding markets and networks, and increasing mutual understanding between the United States and Africa.
Priest and Fuseini’s project was entitled, Fostering Community Leadership: Cultivating Innovative Skills to Tackle Climate Challenges in Ghana’s Agricultural Sector. The Climate Change Workshops took place June 1-5, 2024, in Kumasi, Ghana. The facilitation team for this project also included Sipasi Olalekan Ayodele, 2019 Mandela Washington Fellow Alumnus and doctoral candidate and graduate research assistant in K-State’s Department of Horticulture and Nature Resources. Jon Ulmer, Ph.D., and Nellie Hill, Ph.D., in the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication served as consultants on the program design.
The goal of the project was to begin the process of building a transformative network of individuals committed to climate action in Ghana. A team of facilitator-mentors began training to support the development of ongoing network activities and educate young environmental leaders in collective, adaptive, and systems leadership knowledge and practices, fostering creativity and innovation for climate action.
The event kicked off with a networking session for all participants. Over the next three days, Sipasi and Priest provided training for 16 mentor-facilitators. Ayodele led sessions on climate change, permaculture, and the role of indigenous knowledge in sustainable agriculture. Priest focused on the importance of collective and adaptive leadership for sustainable change, emphasizing the development of transformative networks. Participants also learned essential facilitation, coaching, and mentoring skills, including powerful questioning, active listening, and reflection.
“Participants showed-up ready to share their stories, learn from others, and seek solutions. The complex nature of a challenge like climate change requires new forms of leadership thinking and practice. Collective approaches to leadership create the conditions for diverse people to come together to tackle tough challenges through meaning-making and collaboration,” said Priest.
Priest directs the interdisciplinary leadership communication doctoral program. Her research explores how leadership learning and development can build the capacity of individuals, groups, and communities to navigate complexity and engage in collective, adaptive, and socially just leadership practice that supports systems change.
For the final two days, 27 additional participants joined the facilitator-mentors for a climate change workshop. Fuseini, Ayodele, and Priest led sessions on climate change, permaculture, and adaptive leadership, with facilitator-mentors guiding small group discussions. The program included a networking activity with roundtables on climate change topics, facilitated by network mentors. Data from these discussions will support ongoing network activities, including monthly virtual sessions.
“The sustainability of our climate for the improved health and well-being of our ecosystem, society, and children living and unborn is a collective responsibility, hence, all hands must be on deck through adaptive and technical approaches to tackle the issues of climate change with an increased sense of urgency,” said Sipasi.
Sipasi is the founder of the ProtectOzone Sustainable Livelihood Initiative, which seeks to improve the skills of Nigerian youths, farmers, and extension workers in conservation and regenerative agriculture through permaculture.
Fuseini and the AgricConnect team coordinated all on-site logistics for the grant project, including participant selection, lodging and conference coordination, in-country travel, and cultural activities.
“The contents of the workshop, the resources provided, and the participatory approach used by facilitators were a perfect mix for the creation of a transformative network of climate change leaders,” said Fuseini. “I am excited about the future of AgricConnect and the network of leaders available to us for collaboration and partnerships. We look forward to nurturing the network for more climate action in the greater Kumasi area.”
Fuseini is the Co-Founder of AgricConnect, a nonprofit that works to empower disadvantaged communities out of poverty and support them to become engaged as change agents and drivers of their community’s economic landscape and sustainable development.
Leading Change is one of the Staley School of Leadership’s research focus areas. We partner with organizations and communities to develop the capacity of people to navigate complexity and realize a more just, secure and prosperous world.
If your group or organization would like to partner with the Staley School on leadership development, training, or research, contact leadership@ksu.edu.
The project was made possible by IREX, U.S. Dept of State, U. S. Embassy in Ghana, Mandela Washington Fellowship, AgricConnect and the Staley School of Leadership’s Leading Change Institute. The Mandela Washington Fellowship is a program of the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by IREX.
*Photography by Ashraf Abdul Rahman
