originally posted in Institute for the Future’s blog
Youth leadership is a hot button issue these days. But I think what we tend to forget—or don’t have the opportunity to understand—is that youth leadership is very different throughout the world. Missing these nuances could lead to potentially ineffective global youth leadership initiatives.
While working in Kenya this year I had a lot of interesting conversations about Kenya’s youth leadership dilemma; the term is an oxymoron. In the traditional setting, youth cannot lead. Until you are married and have moved out of the youth category, you are not considered capable of leading people. Ethnicity, gender, marriage status, and whether you are living in an urban or rural setting all complicate the matter of youth leadership in Kenya.
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