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For two weeks, 20 civil society professionals from across West Africa were in Accra, Ghana to learn and discuss about what is arguably the fundamental issue that undermines the development of West Africa -‪ ‎leadership.

The participants (11 males and 9 females) came from Liberia, The Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Ghana.

They took part in the maiden edition of the Civil Society Leadership Institute (CSLI) organised by the West Africa Civil Society Institute with support from Ford Foundation from March 9 to 20, 2015. The two-week leadership training took place at the Training Centre of WACSI in Accra, Ghana.

The CSLI was organised to hone the leadership skills of middle level civil society practitioners. It provided participants with effective and practical skills, tools and strategies to lead themselves, contribute to enhance leadership functions within their respective organisations and create significant positive impact in their communities as transformational leaders.

At the certificate award ceremony on March 20, 2015, James Mulbah, Assistant County Director of the Pan-Africa Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Liberia delivered a message of gratitude on behalf of the 20 participants.

“We accept the leadership mantle and vow to apply the knowledge and skills acquired from the training in our day-to-day activities as individuals, development practitioners and transformational leaders”, he said.

He extended appreciation to WACSI and the Ford Foundation for providing such a unique opportunity, which has groomed them into change ambassadors in West Africa.

Participants demonstrated enthusiasm to apply the knowledge and skills gained from the CSLI to contribute towards durable change in their communities as transformational leaders.

According to Olusola Owonikoko, Programmes Associate at HACEY Health Initiative, Nigeria, “one of the primary responsibilities of the civil society sector is to continue to promote and strengthen the collective civic culture of the populace so we can guide the government while also serving as watch dogs. Only then would we have significantly contributed to transformational leadership.”