We are thrilled to announce that Hatua Network Cofounder and Programs Director Peter Kwame, has been selected as one of the 2019 Obama Foundation Scholars. Kwame will be joining 32 rising leaders from around the world who will study at the University of Chicago and Columbia University for the 2019-2020 academic year. The program’s aim is to empower emerging leaders with a proven commitment to service with the tools they need to make their efforts more effective and impactful upon their return home.
Through Hatua Network, Kwame is providing scholarships, mentoring, and career guidance to 500 students from low-income families. He has graduated 70 students who have returned to their communities and are contributing to the economic development of their communities and country. Over the next five years, Kwame aims at expanding Hatua Network to cover all four locations of Mombasa, serving a population of 1.2 million residents and plans to provide scholarships to 1,600 students annually and graduate 200 students from university every year.
According to the Obama Foundation, Kwame plus 11 other Scholars at Columbia University will participate in Columbia World Projects, an initiative in which students, faculty, and researchers from Columbia partner with governments, nonprofits, the private sector, and intergovernmental organizations to use university research to create tangible solutions to real-world issues. The cohort at Columbia will participate in a rigorous, immersive program that brings together academic, skills-based, and experiential learning, designed by the university in consultation with the Obama Foundation.
The Obama Foundation Scholars program was launched in 2018. The inaugural class of Scholars recently graduated, having studied a core graduate curriculum supplemented with Obama Foundation sponsored leadership programming. Each Scholar developed, with the guidance of the Obama Foundation, an action plan, and approach that they are now taking back to their home regions to scale up their work and reinvest in their communities.
We look forward to learning from Kwame throughout his time at Columbia University. Congratulations to all the inspiring 2019 Obama Foundation Scholars
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