The Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation has selected 74 public-sector professionals from across Africa for the sixth cohort of its Aig-Imoukhuede Public Leaders Programme, as the initiative expands its reach to 12 African countries.
The executive leadership programme, delivered in partnership with the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, is designed to strengthen public-sector leadership and equip participants with the skills, perspectives and networks needed to drive reforms in their respective institutions.
The latest cohort comprises public servants from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, Malawi and Zambia, while Botswana and Eswatini are participating in the programme for the first time.
According to the foundation, the expansion brings to 12 the number of African countries represented in the programme since its inception five years ago, creating a continental network of more than 300 public-sector reformers.
Speaking on the development, Executive Vice-Chair of the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede, said the programme was helping public servants overcome the isolation often associated with driving institutional reforms.
“Public servants from twelve countries across Africa now have access to the same world-class faculty, the same learning experience and a network of peers facing many of the same reform challenges,” she said.
Aig-Imoukhuede said the programme reminds public servants that they are “not working in isolation but as part of a wider community of reformers across the continent.”
The six-month programme combines virtual coursework with an intensive residential week delivered by faculty of the Blavatnik School of Government, alongside a reform project that participants develop and implement in their ministries, departments and agencies.
The foundation said its alumni have so far led more than 300 reform projects across the continent, while an impact survey showed that 62 per cent of alumni surveyed had assumed expanded leadership responsibilities after completing the programme.
Some of the reforms attributed to programme alumni include the development of Nigeria’s first sexual harassment policy for the National Youth Service Corps, which was approved in 2024 and introduced formal reporting and disciplinary procedures for about 400,000 corps members deployed annually.
In Lagos State, another alumni-led initiative focused on improving access to primary healthcare in a hard-to-reach riverine community.
The intervention increased outreach sessions from four to 12 per month, recorded more than 540 outpatient visits and contributed to improved childhood immunisation.
The foundation said the sixth cohort would build on these experiences by applying lessons from the programme to practical challenges confronting public institutions and the citizens they serve.
It added that the growing geographic diversity of the programme was enriching the exchange of ideas among public servants and broadening understanding of how public-sector reforms can be designed and implemented across different African governance systems.
