Kim Elena Ionescu
Sustainability Manager

Since 1995, Counter Culture Coffee has been dedicated to sourcing unique coffees from exceptional producers, roasting them with care and sharing them – along with our passion for all things coffee – with coffee lovers. As the company grew in the early 2000s, its buying team built a reputation for traveling to remote coffee farms to establish relationships with farmers and co-operatives based on mutual respect and trust. In addition to helping us tell compelling stories, these relationships are crucial to both the taste of our product and the sustainability of our company: not only do we get insight about the environmental and social conditions of the farm, we are also able to work together with growers to develop the potential for delicious coffee that everyone from coffee farmer to coffee drinker recognizes as highly valuable.

With delicious coffee and higher prices as a platform, we are able to influence coffee producers to adopt agricultural practices that will ensure long-term productivity and environmental health. We are also in a position to respond to the needs of coffee-producing communities and help strengthen their capacity to continue growing coffee and thrive, as opposed to simply surviving. In keeping with our commitment to being great students of coffee as well as educators, we both share our knowledge with farmers and connect them to resources as well as learning from them and spreading good ideas and successful techniques to farmers in our global network.

Though coffee grows in upwards of fifty countries around the world and demand for it is increasing every year, the volatile global market for green, unroasted coffee makes farming coffee a risky livelihood, especially for the smallholder farmers who produce more than 50% of the world’s supply (and an even higher percentage of the really good stuff). Coffee’s ability to survive and successfully adapt to global challenges like climate change, economic instability and population pressure demands that we work collaboratively within our supply chains and across to connect communities in pursuit of shared long-term goals.

The growth of the market for high-quality, or specialty, coffee, over the past decade is inspiring: as coffee lovers seek to know more about where their morning cup comes from, how its made and why it tastes the way it does, coffee has gotten better and better. Sustaining this growth and upward trajectory, however, relies on our ability to communicate clearly, collaborate and deliver on the promise of this extraordinary product. The road is full of challenges, but we are excited to work on them together.

Profile:
Kim Elena Ionescu, is a green coffee buyer and the manager of sustainability for the internationally lauded coffee-roasting company Counter Culture Coffee, which is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina. When she’s not on the road visiting coffee producers, Kim works to advance the company’s environmental and social commitments in the communities where its employees and customers live.

V. C. Sangar*, L. Samant and Dr. A. S. Chowdhary
Haffkine Institute for Training, Research and Testing, Mumbai, INDIA

ABSTRACT

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a severe, often fatal illness with a death rate of up to 90%. EVD formerly known as “Ebola haemorrhagic fever (EHF)”. Till now due to 36 EVD outbreaks 4140 number of cases reported while 2,510 lost their lives during outbreaks. EVD is caused due to ebola virus which is linear, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA molecule and belongs to the family Filoviridae. Mode of transmission of Ebola into the human population is through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals. The incubation period I defined as “the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms”.

The incubation period for ebola virus is 2-21 days. EV infection can be diagnosed by Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), antigen detection tests, serum neutralization test, reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and virus isolation by using viro cell line. No effective antiviral drug and no specific licensed vaccines are available in international market for EV. EV outbreak was limited in African countries but globalization has made everyone vulnerable to this outbreak and therefore an urgent solution & investment in its cure is required.

To overcome this lack of awareness and knowledge part about ebola virus this review article in planned.

Keywords:
Ebola virus (EV), Ebola viral disease (EVD), Ebolavirus species, clinical features and treatments.

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a severe, often fatal illness with a death rate of up to 90%. EVD formerly known as “Ebola haemorrhagic fever (EHF)”. In this article, the concise overview of the outbreaks of ebola viral disease (EVD) history, structure of ebola virus, mode of transmission, clinical features, diagnosis, treatments and preventive measures are given below-

OUTBREAK OF EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE (EVD)
Ebola virus disease (EVD) affects humans and nonhumans primates like chimpanzees, gorillas and monkeys. Till now 36, EVD outbreaks recorded. From 36 outbreaks, 4140 number of cases reported while 2,510 lost their lives during outbreaks. The first EVD outbreak was appeared in 1976 in Nzara, Sudan and in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo. The latter was in a village situated near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name 1. Table 1 shows the chronology of previous ebola virus disease outbreaks from 1st September 1976 to 6th August 2014. The World Health Organization, in partnership with the Ministries of Health in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nigeria announced a cumulative total of 1,779 suspect and confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) and 961 deaths, as of August 6, 2014. Of the 1,779 clinical cases, 1,134 cases have been laboratory confirmed for Ebola virus infection 2. Table 2 shows number of incident and death cases reported during ebola virus disease outbreaks from 1st September 1976 to 6th August 2014.

TABLE. 1: SHOWS THE CHRONOLOGY OF PREVIOUS EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE OUTBREAKS FROM 1ST SEPTEMBER 1976 TO 6TH AUGUST 2014.

TABLE. 2: SHOWS NUMBER OF INCIDENT AND DEATH CASES REPORTED DURING EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE OUTBREAKS FROM 1ST SEPTEMBER 1976 TO 6TH AUGUST 2014.

EBOLA VIRUS (EV)
Ebola virus disease (EVD) is sever haemorrhagic fever caused due to EV. According to the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, ebola virus belongs to the family Filoviridae. Filovirus particles are ~80 nm in diameter and found in the form of twisted filaments 3. This Ebola virus (EV) genome is 19kb long and 4.2×106 Da with seven open reading frames encoding structural proteins including the virion envelope glycoprotein (GP), nucleoprotein (NP), and matrix proteins VP24 and VP40; nonstructural proteins, including VP30 and VP35; and the viral polymerase 4. The GP open reading frame of Ebola virus gives rise to two gene products namely, a soluble 60-70 kDa protein (sGP) and a full-length 150-170 kDa protein (GP) that inserts into the viral membrane through transcriptional editing 5. It is linear, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA molecule. The EV virion is pleomorphic, producing ‘U’-shaped, ‘6’-shaped or circular forms but the predominant forms of the virion most frequently seen by electron microscope are long tubular structures 6.

Ebola virus comprises of 5 distinct species namely- 1) Bundibugyo ebolavirus (BDBV), 2) Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV), 3) Reston ebolavirus (RESTV), 4) Sudan ebolavirus (SUDV) and 5) Taï Forest ebolavirus (TAFV). Out of these 5 species, BDBV, EBOV, and SUDV are associated with large EVD outbreaks in Africa. The RESTV can infect humans but no illness or death in humans has been reported till date. This species predominantly found in Philippines and the People’s Republic of China 1. Table 3 shows death rates as per 5 ebola virus species from 1st September 1976 to 6th August 2014.

TABLE. 3: SHOWS DEATH RATES AS PER 5 EBOLA VIRUS SPECIES FROM 1ST SEPTEMBER 1976 TO 6TH AUGUST 2014.
MODE OF TRANSMISSION

Mode of transmission of Ebola into the human population is through close contact with the all bodily fluids of infected animals and persons 7. In Africa, infection has been documented through the handling of infected chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest 8,9. Ebola able to spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact like broken skin or mucous membranes with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids 6. Sexual contact is also major route of transmission for ebola virus. Men who have recovered from the EVD can transmit the virus through their semen for up to 7 weeks after recovery from illness. Ebola virus was isolated from semen 61 days after onset of illness in a man who was infected in a laboratory 1,10. Till date, it is hard to extrapolate the health effects of the virus to all population groups such as immunocompromised persons, persons with underlying medical conditions, pregnant women and children.

CLINICAL FEATURES
The incubation period I defined as “the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms”. The incubation period for ebola virus is 2-21 days 1. The clinical features can be divided into four main parts as follows- (1) In this phase, patients suffering from ebola virus display influenza–like syndrome symptoms like high fever, headache, arthralgia, myalgia, sore throat, and malaise with nausea; (2) In acute phase, patients do not respond to antibiotics and display headache, intense fatigue, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, anorexia and vomiting like symptoms; (3) In pseudo-remission phase, patients may recover during this phase and survive from the disease on day 7-8 and in (4) aggravation stage the health status gets worse and patient might lost his life due to clinical manifestations like – respiratory disorders (dyspnea, throat and chest pain, cough, hiccups); symptoms of haemorrhagic diathesis (bloody diarrhoea, haematemesis, conjunctival injection, gingival bleeding, nosebleeds and bleeding at the site of injection consistent with disseminated intravascular coagulation); skin manifestations (petaechiae, purpura; neuro-psychiatric manifestations (prostration, delirium, confusion, coma); cardio-vascular distress fluids 6.

DIAGNOSIS
Early laboratory confirmation of suspected clinical haemorrhagic fever cases is essential to implement appropriate control measures. Ebola virus infections can be diagnosed definitively in a laboratory through several types of tests like Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), antigen detection tests, serum neutralization test, reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and virus isolation by using viro cell line 6. Other diseases that should be ruled out before a diagnosis of EVD can be made include: malaria, typhoid fever, shigellosis, cholera, leptospirosis, plague, rickettsiosis, relapsing fever, meningitis, hepatitis and other viral haemorrhagic fevers 1. In INDIA, to diagnose this ebola disease laboratory capacity strengthened at the National Institute of Virology, Pune and National Centre for Disease Control (CDC), Delhi 11.

TREATMENT
Till writing this article no effective antiviral drug and no specific licensed vaccines are available in international market. However, several clinical trials are going on to prevent or treat ebola virus infection 6. Severely ill patients require intensive supportive care in hospitals. During infection, they are frequently feel dehydrated as a result they need intravenous fluids or oral rehydration with solutions that contain electrolytes. However, in some cases of EVD they will recover after the appropriate medical care. To prevent further spread of the virus, suspected people with EVD or confirmed with EVD should be isolated from other patients and treated by health workers using strict infection control precautions 12.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES
There are few simple ways by which Ebola transmission can be controlled if outbreak takes place:-
• Routine cleaning of animal farms of pig or monkey with sodium hypochlorite as disinfectant or other detergents should be effective in inactivating the virus.
• After EV outbreak is suspected, the premises should be quarantined immediately. Any way of animal to human transmission should be avoided. Restricting or banning the movement of animals from infected farms to other areas can reduce the spread of the disease. Gloves and other appropriate protective clothing should be worn when handling sick animals or their tissues and when slaughtering animals.
• Reducing the risk of wildlife-to-human transmission from contact with infected fruit bats or monkeys / apes and the consumption of their raw meat. Animals should be handled with gloves and other appropriate protective clothing. Animal products such as meat should be thoroughly cooked before consumption or one can avoid eating meat for that particular time of disease progression in world 6.
• Reducing the risk of human-to-human transmission can be achieved by avoiding Close physical contact with Ebola patients. Gloves and appropriate personal protective equipment should be worn when taking care of ill patients at home. Regular hand washing is required after visiting patients in hospital, as well as after taking care of patients at home.
• Samples taken from suspected human and animal Ebola cases for diagnosis should be handled by well and properly trained staff and processed in suitably equipped laboratories and should be handled with utmost care 1.

CONCLUSION
Globalization has made everyone vulnerable to this outbreak and therefore an urgent solution & investment in its cure is required.

REFERENCES
1. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/ [Last accessed on 8th Aug 2014].
2. http://www.who.int/csr/don/2014_08_08_ebola/en/ [Last accessed on 9th Aug 2014].
3. Gatherer D: The 2014 Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa. Journal of General Virology 2014; 95: 1619-1624.
4. Sanchez A: Filoviridae: Marburg and Ebola viruses. In D. M. Knipe, & P. M. Howley (Eds.), Fields virology Philadelphia, PA.: Lippencott-Ravenpp 2001: 1279-1304.
5. Sullivan N, Yang Z and Nabel GJ: Ebola Virus Pathogenesis: Implications for Vaccines and Therapies. Journal of Virology 2003; 77(18): 9733-9737.
6. Muyembe-Tmfum JJ, Mulangu S, Masumu J, Kayembe JM, Kemp A and Pweska JT: Ebola virus outbreaks in Africa: Past and present, Onderstepoort Journal of Veternary Research 2003; 79(2): 1-8.
7. Leroy EM, Rouquet P, Formenty P, Souquière S, Kilbourne A, Froment JM: Multiple Ebola virus transmission events and rapid decline of central African wildlife. Science 2012; 303: 387-390.
8. Le Guenno B, Formenty P, Wyers M, Gounon P, Walker F and Boesch C: Isolation and partial characterisation of a new strain of Ebola virus. Lancet 1995, 345: 1271-1274.
9. Rouquet P, Froment JM, Bermejo M, Kilbourne A, Karesh W, Reed P: Wild animal mortality monitoring and human Ebola outbreaks, Gabon and Republic of Congo, 2001–2003. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 2005, 11: 283-290.
10. Bausch DG, Towner JS, Dowell SF, Kaducu F, Lukwiya M, Sanchez A: Assessment of the risk of Ebola virus transmission from bodily fluids and fomites. Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2007, 196 (Supplement 2): 142-147.
11. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/government-issues-alert-for-early-detection-of-ebola-virus/article6288093.ece [Last accessed on 8th Aug 2014].
12. http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/faq-ebola/en/ [Last accessed on 8th Aug 2014].

Bjarte Reve
Chief Communications Officer & Young Global Leader;
Akershus University Hospital & World Economic Forum,
Oslo, Norway

MOSAICQUE magazine, interview’s the Norwegian Young World Leader who is passionate about having world peace in our lifetime. He is the Chairperson of the Norwegian Chapter of the NGO Table for Two – an organization that is committed to reducing child malnutrition in the world by serving healthy meals for the children.

Bjarte Reve is also a decorated Young Global Leader (YGL) @ World Economic Forum (WEF). He served WEF for five years in the capacity of being A YGL.

We asked Bjarte few questions regarding his commitment, profession and vision – here are the excerpts of his interview:

What inspires you?
It inspires me to see people pursue what’s important to them and develop their skills to fulfil their dreams. I enjoy working with children and empowering them to attain their full potential and assist them in using their abilities and potential for building the society.

What is your vision?
I believe it’s important for every society to provide everyone the opportunity for a thriving life. I believe in education for all and affordable access to healthcare. It is important for everyone in the society to consider being a politician whether in India, Africa or Europe. AS an elected official I have done good for my community, BY WORKING TO IMPROVE OUR SCHOOLS, AND PROVIDING TEACHERS WITH SCHOLARSHIPS FOR SKILLS DEVELOPMENT. I REALLY BELIEVE in providing access to free education, is a building block for ANY THRIVING community.

Bjarte’s journey at World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader from 2009 to 2014 in his own words:
I have been fortunate enough to be part of the Young Global Leaders community since 2009, so I will be alumni soon. The community has grown with me, and I have appreciated it more and more over the years.
-Where else can you find life-long friends across cultures, nations, boundaries and religion?
-Where else does one get a chance as a relative young leader, to get engaged in international projects for the betterment of people? I have been active myself with Table for Two as one example.
-Where else does one get a world class team from WEF doing its utmost to help, engage, plan, inspire and enable YGLs to perform better as a team and individually?
-Where else does one find a core group of friends that communicates daily though closed social media platforms, with the purpose to help and inspire each other?

The YGL community for me is a real support system. It is a support system that has inspired and helped me, to go back into politics and get elected in 2011.

I’m running again in 2015 at the city level in Norway. Now with a green platform after joining a small group of YGLs on learning journey to Greenland in June. Seeing the dramatic climate change going on in Greenland, has inspired me to act on a local level, by using nudges and incentives, to help people take greener choices.

Bjarte is proud to serve as country Chair for “Table for Two” NGO and achieve its MDGs goals milestone by addressing malnutrition, and child mortality.

Profile:
Bjarte Reve, is Chief Communications Officer at Akershus University Hospital in Norway and Member of the management committee. The 9,000-employee hospital is one of the most modern in Europe and offers specialized healthcare in the Oslo region. Previously, he was Chief Executive Officer of Oslo Cancer Cluster, a non-profit organization set up to accelerate the development of new cancer medication. Formerly, he was a political adviser in Parliament for the Conservative Party.

He then moved into the private sector and worked for Merck & Co in external affairs. He has been Director of Strategy for the Southern Norway Regional Health authority, and headed the national healthcare practice for Ernst & Young Advisory and Geelmuyden Kiese Group in Norway. Reve holds an Executive MBA in Strategy from NHH in Norway and a Master’s in Management from BI in Norway. Reve is an elected politician in Bærum, Norway, for the Conservative Party. He has been a Member of the city council and also the city school board since September 2011.

Bjarte Reve is the Norwegian Country Chair for Table for Two NGO, based in Tokyo. TABLE FOR TWO (TFT) provides rights balance to feed the school children around the world. When one chooses a healthy meal in a Table for Two organizations like Akershus university hospital, one also provides a healthy school meal to a child in Ethiopia.

Table for Two (TFT) was initiated by and is an official affiliate of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders. We are always looking for more partner organizations around the world to join TFT. It helps your own employees eat more healthy meals, but also provides a warm school meal to a child in need.

The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) was formed with great inspiration of the President’s Forum with Young African Leaders, hosted by the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Obama at the White house in August 2010. After the Presidents forum in the USA, the US Embassy in Lusaka-Zambia facilitated a dialogue of young Zambians at the American Center at which the video of the president’s forum was aired and dialogue ensued among young people as to the next course of action.

The young people were particularly inspired by President Obama’s remarks that “This is a new moment of great promise. Only this time, we’ve learned that it will not be giants like Nkrumah and Kenyatta who will determine Africa’s future… It will be the young people brimming with talent and energy and hope who can claim the future that so many in previous generations never realized.” With such great inspiration and as a follow-up to the US Embassy-facilitated dialogue, enthusiastic and ecstatic young people from all walks of life brimming with so much energy and vigor continued to gather at the American center and hosted a series of meetings which culminated into the formation of an organization with the acronym, YALI.

The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) was consequently registered and incorporated on 6th January 2011, as a company limited by guarantee under the laws of the Republic of Zambia. YALI is a non-partisan and non-profit making coalition of young leaders whose mission is to engage, support, and empower young people to effectively participate in democratic processes and decision-making, promote good governance, principled leadership and human rights. Our vision is “a Zambia anchored on a vibrant generation of young leaders who effectively contribute to good democratic governance and promote change, justice, peace and economic development.”

The Initiative is governed by the Articles of Association which provides for an elected Executive Board of five office bearers headed by the President. The YALI Executive Board establishes and overseas operations of the Secretariat. The YALI Secretariat comprises the President, two Program Managers; one in charge of Democracy and Governance and the other for Human Rights and Advocacy. The Accounts Assistant and two other supporting staff help to run the day-to-day activities of the organization. The Secretariat reports to the Advisory Council and the general membership at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). The Secretariat for the organization is located at Plot No. 5D Chilimbulu Road in Libala Township, Lusaka Zambia.

Since its establishment, The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) has lived-up to the billing by ensuring that a platform is created for young people to participate in democratic processes. Through a series of activities, YALI has positioned itself as an umbrella of youth organisations in Zambia by bringing together several young leaders from different sectors of society and so many others to promote civic education, monitor elections and debate among the young people of Zambia with the support of the Political and Economic Affairs Section of the US Embassy. YALI has also enlisted young people’s engagement with leaders at the local level in local government, the legislature through Members of Parliament, the executive through cabinet ministers and the general leadership of the country through high ranking government officials and opposition leaders.

In the region, YALI has with the support of the Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy, engaged and collaborated via DVC and face book with young people from different civil society organisations in Malawi and Swaziland. In the same vein, YALI has also collaborated with CSOs and young leaders from Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Zanzibar on elections monitoring and youth engagement in democratic processes with the support of a Dutch foundation called Hivos International.

With this rich background, YALI’s membership has boomed with the establishment of 87 leadership development clubs across the country in high schools, universities, colleges, higher learning institutions and now boasts of over 8875 members with several young professionals from civil society, government and the private sector. YALI has attracted support of several international organizations including the U.S. Department of State through the U.S. Embassy in Lusaka Zambia. YALI has also partnered with the USAID and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) – on the Zambia’s youth leadership development and mentorship programs, and the youth engagement in the constitutional reform processes project.

The organisation has also received support from the United Nations Development Program, UNDP through its 2009-2012 Elections Project Cycle with ECZ to conduct non-violent campaigns during Zambia’s 2011 tripartite elections with young people from all political parties in Zambia. YALI has also partnered with the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), Irish Embassy and the Department for International Development (DFID) to enable the organisation to conduct its governance activities and promote the UNITE Campaign to end violence against women and girls. YALI also collaborates with the UNESCO Youth Forum and shared its experiences at the 2011 conference hosted in Paris, France. The YALI has also received support from the Dutch foundation called Hivos in implementing its SCREAM for human rights and democracy project. Additionally, Hivos has provided support to YALI to create a network with young people in Kenya and East Africa to share experiences of the Zambian youth in elections as well assist in monitoring of the 2013 Kenyan elections.

YALI stands out as an organisation that is an outspoken advocate for youth democratic engagement and non-violent action in promoting peace and justice for all human beings. YALI is a team player and collaborates well with several partners at home and abroad in the Southern and East African region as well as in the Diaspora.

WHAT ARE BROAD PROGRAMS OF YALI?
YALI is an advocate in the area of youth democratic engagement, non-violent action and active youth participation in decision-making. To this end, YALI has positioned itself on mission of providing skills and information to more youth that will better help them in civic engagement and improve their economic situation thereby reducing their vulnerability and ultimately improving the governance of the country. YALI projects have thus been designed to equip youth with information, knowledge and skills enabling young people to think critically, participate effectively in the democratic process including in leadership roles, understand challenges to good governance such as corruption, and learn entrepreneurship skills with information, knowledge and skills enabling young people to think critically, participate effectively in the democratic process including in leadership roles, understand challenges to good governance such as corruption, and learn entrepreneurship skills

HUMAN RIGHTS
YALI supports human rights for all human beings. YALI advocates enshrinement of the Bill of Rights in all Constitution of Zambia. The Bill of Rights must provide for political, social, economical and cultural rights that must be justifiable to oblige member States to make clear efforts to meet these basic needs. This will also act as act as a criterion for government to priorities development. This will further ensure accountability and transparency by African governments in its preparation of National Budgets and equitable distribution of resources to key areas such as education
YALI National Human Rights Legal Support Center
YALI has established the YALI national human rights centre whose principle aim of the Center shall include uncovering, documenting and collating human rights violations, subject the violations to public scrutiny through different media and disseminate information on human rights abuses. The Center shall further work to demand and press for those responsible for violations to be accountable by facilitating representation of victims of human rights violations in their fight for justice and redress. The YALI National Human Rights Legal Support Center will uphold the fundamental principle of universal human rights which place all human beings as equal in dignity and rights, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or any other status and shall be committed to realization of international human rights conventions and their domestication in Zambia.
Democracy and Governance
The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) supports programs that are meant to enhance and engage young people in democratic governance and believes that a sustainable democracy requires citizens who demand democracy. The movement, a non-partisan network, aims at working with national leaders, political parties; public and private institutions to ensure young people are effectively empowered to play roles in Africa’s governance systems.
YALI through its mentorship program on democracy and good governance is reaching to young people in high schools, colleges, Universities, faith based organizations, political parties, markets, and civil society to change this trend and claim a bright future for the youth generation.
Constitution-Making Project
YALI has developed a program that seeks to engage youth in Zambia’s constitution-making process and ensure that young people contribute to the making of a constitution that can stand the test of time. YALI has released a 10 point master plan to as a way of concluding and resolving the impasse that has surrounded the constitutional reform process.
Policy engagement
YALI believes in policy engagement to ensure that they right policies are put in place as a way of mitigating the various challenges that young people and other marginalized groups are facing, YALI believes that good policies can effectively contribute to national development if properly implemented and monitored by stakeholders.
Education
The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) believes that education is the surest bet to get all segments of society involved in and benefiting from economic growth and transformation in African Countries. YALI is using education as a tool to prepare the local youth to take their place in their respective societies and not necessarily for life outside of Africa. YALI continues to develop different approaches to ensure that its mission to contribute towards increasing the levels of literacy on various issues in Africa achieves intended goals. YALI has developed a series of modules that will help young people grasp and inculcate certain values and principles, some key topics covered include; youth leadership, entrepreneurship, governance/ anti corruption and human rights and democracy.
Entrepreneurship Mentorship Program
YALI program targets youth from high schools, colleges and universities to impart basic information on entrepreneurship as a way of preparing the youth for self-sustenance after completion of their formal education. YALI also provides a platform for youth people to meet their elected representatives, government officials and other stakeholders in town hall meetings as a way dialogue in order to have some of the problems solved and fostering towards solution solving.
Youth Leadership
The majority of African population is built up by young people where over 60% of the continents population is made up of young people that are below the age of 30, despite being in the majority young people continue to be a marginalized group across Africa where their voices and participation in national developmental activities is very limited, currently Parliament is Zambia has less than 3% youth representation in parliament. YALI wants to build a carder of responsible young people that will take up the mantle of leadership in government, private sector and also in civil society that will ensure that youth issues are addressed with youthful solutions.
YALI has lined up a series of programs to achieve this such as professional training in partnership with its partners such Meridian International Centre, colleges and universities locally and internationally. YALI’s membership has boomed with the establishment of 87 leadership development clubs across the country in high schools, universities, colleges, higher learning institutions and now boasts of over 8993 members with several young professionals from civil society, government and the private sector.

Profile:
Mundia Paul Hakoola currently is the Co – founder and Executive Board Secretary for the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) in Zambia. He is also serves as a US Embassy Zambia Youth Ambassador, Board Secretary of the Zambia United States Alumni Association and the coordinator of the International Association of Students in Economics and Management (AIESEC) in Zambia.

In 2008 Mr. Hakoola saved as of the Secretary General of the National Youth Anti – Corruption Movement (NYACM). NYACM is a youth led civil society organization with an exclusive focus on governance issues such as anti – corruption and promoting good democratic governance. In 2009 Mr. Hakoola was one of the pioneers of a civil society coalition called Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA), MeTA is DIFD funded pilot multi-stakeholder alliance working to improve access and affordability of medicines for the one-third of the world’s population unable to access essential medicines due to high cost or local unavailability and has its presence in Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Jordan, Peru, the Philippines and Zambia.