After a very competitive selection process, seven (7) fellows from five (5) African countries have been selected for the third ORA A cohort. Omega Resilience Awards and Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), are very pleased to announce the commencement of ORA-A Third Cohort Fellowship Programme.
This fellowship programme is designed to support and inspire a generation of visionary movement leaders, organisers, activists and advocates in diverse fields across the African continent and by extension the whole world. Throughout the programme, fellows will have the opportunity to engage in insightful conversations with experts, receive mentorship and indepth guidance, and gain access to valuable resources to help them achieve their goals.
We were very impressed with the diversity in backgrounds, perspectives, knowledge, passion and experiences of the applicants. The selected fellows are outstanding individuals who have demonstrated notable achievements, unique perspectives, and a strong commitment to address the issues embedded in the faulty global system that promotes the polycrisis.
ORA-A is proud to announce the following outstanding fellows and to welcome them into our third cohort to join the inspiring ORA family.
- Alieu Bah– He is a prolific writer and organizer from Gambia. He is passionately involved with various radical formations on the continent. He leads popular education at Mwamko, and currently serves as Editor of the New Pan African.
- Ebubechukwu Nwafor – She is an enigmatic organiser with the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP), an artist and an aspiring educator. She was born in Nigeria, raised in Mozambique and spent much of her childhood studying in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). This transnational experience made her an ardent Pan-Africanist who defends the power of political education to transform African consciousness of the forces that shape our material realities across the continent and in the diaspora.
- Lindsay Nyabereka– Lindsay is a budding author, creative educator, life-coach, and human and environmental rights advocate, currently pursuing studies in Law. As a multipotentialite addressing the global polycrisis, her work focuses on empowering women and youth, promoting the sustainability of our Earth, and highlighting the intersections. She is committed to community development, peacebuilding, and self-determination in the Global South, with a strong focus on SDG4—ensuring inclusive, equitable, and quality education for all. At the core of her work is contextualized Global Citizenship Education (GCED). Lindsay is the founder of GCED 4 Zimbos (Global Citizenship Education for Zimbabwean Youth and Women), a project centered on creative education for sustainable development and global citizenship.
- Sungu Oyoo– Sungu Oyoo is an adept writer, educator and Pan-Africanist from Kenya. He serves as national spokesperson for Kongamano la Mapinduzi, a social movement in Kenya. He has previously coordinated various campaigns and initiatives working toward the attainment of socio-economic, political and environmental rights – including the #ReRightHistory campaign, a Pan-African and global campaign by Africans Rising that demanded reparations based on the legacies of slavery and colonialism.
Sungu’s writing has appeared on various publications including Pambazuka News, Ukombozi Review, The Elephant, ROAPE, Progressive International, This Is Africa & Mwamko. His first collection of poetry titled ‘Abolish Everything: A Poetic Manifesto From Last Evening’ was published by Comrades Bookhouse in 2024.
- Magdalene Idiang– She is a charismatic writer and ecofeminist activist from Nigeria. Her work focuses on popular education and women’s liberation. As a graduate student at MS Training Centre for Development Cooperation in Tanzania, she specializes in Leadership and Governance, and her research interests draw from the historical and current development of extractive capitalism and how it influences youth in building peace across the region.
- Mwongela Kamencu – Mwongela Kamencu “Monaja” is a young Kenyan performing/recording artist whose style of music mostly fuses the sounds of African instruments with contemporary styles of music. Trained as a historian and previously a history lecturer, his music addresses sociopolitical themes often with a touch of humour. He has worked closely with leftist movements in Kenya and Tanzania for more than a decade and has had artistic engagements with citizens of both countries over the same period. His recently released album – June 25th – highlights the 2024 uprising by the Kenyan youth against Kenya’s political elite and their benefactors.
- Sandra Nyika – She is a fascinating Zimbabwean educator and founder of Jenesis Empowerment Trust and Climate Chronicles, where she champions grassroots solutions to address issues of climate change and inequality. Raised in rural Zimbabwe, she brings lived experience to her work, combining education, storytelling, and community resilience. Sandra believes local voices and systems thinking are key to building a future that works for everyone.
Speaking about the Fellows, Makoma Lekalakala, one of the ORA-A Advisory board members expressed great optimism about the calibre of the Fellows. She said, ‘’ Every second in Africa a life is lost not because of old age but because of issues of injustices rooted in colonial systems that promotes the global polycrisis. Working with the fellows on the Pan African approaches they are bringing to the table of solutions is something I am excitedly looking forward to.’’
‘’Choosing the Fellows seems to get tougher and tougher with each passing year, but then that presents an interesting solution which is that we have to keep organising while becoming more innovative and intentional about catalysing grassroots powered solutions which is what I envision with this new set of passionate Fellows’’ says Firoze Manji from Daraja Press, another member of the Advisory Board.
Nnimmo Bassey, Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation, commenting on the selection of fellows said,
‘’I am particularly excited about this cohort as I see a lot of projects with strong Afrocentric and Pan African themes. The African continent has the knowledge and its about time these solutions and knowledge are utilised, celebrated and channelled towards solving the ever expanding global polycrisis. The fellows have a huge responsibility to wake the continent and the world at large to the spirit of Ubuntu and Etiuwem, these are the keys to birth a world standing firmly on the principles of solidarity and dignity for the people and planet.”
Throughout the program, fellows will engage with insightful mentors, receive one-on-one mentorship and guidance from thought leaders, and participate in trainings, workshops and seminars on various topics. They will also have opportunities to collaborate with each other and engage with a broader network of the ORA community in other regions of the world.
To stay updated with the fellows and their interesting journeys visit our websites and follow us on the ORA website and on social media platforms.
