Dr Adrien Coly elected President of the Africa Alliance of YMCA’s

Date: 19 June 2019

The 11th General Assembly was held from 4 to 8 June in Johannesburg, South Africa. The event was marked by the election of Dr. Adrien Coly as President of the Africa Alliance of YMCA. Dr Adrien is the Chairman of the Senegal YMCA, a position he started in 2011 . He garnered 25 votes against 20 votes for his competitor from Kenya, Mr Patrick Agutu. Dr Adrien takes over from James Ekow Rhule from Ghana who has been the President for 8 years.

Dr. Adrien Coly, will along with members of the Executive Committee lead the African Alliance of YMCA for a 4 year term. Dr. Coly’s role in the exercise is to breathe new life into the movement by putting the young person at the heart of his action. “We have to operate on the basis of a network system that gives young people the opportunity to give their opinion and that these ideas are very quickly taken into account because actually these opinions will help to build the next generation. We need to be very attentive to new young initiatives.” This youth-led renewal also extends to the economic model proposed by the new president of the Alliance. ”For me, the economic model must be based on the young. It is the young person who has to feed his organization because they believe in it. And in this model, alumni will have to play a fundamental role in mentorship, funding, coaching, etc., “Coly said

He also plans to engage YMCA in the high-level meetings to participate in the decision making. “To express our leadership, YMCA must be in touch with organizations that do global or African planning. The African Union has an agenda and we only repeat what it says, but it does not hear us. We need to be audible to sub regional and African organizations, “said the newly elected president. To do this, Adrien Coly intends to develop a very strong partnership dimension.

The 11th edition of the General Assembly recorded the participation of more than 120 delegates from 17 African countries. Also in attendance was the President of the World Alliance YMCA, their Secretary General, the Secretary General of Y’s Men International and other partners from Canada, the US and Europe. This General Assembly was also the first for Ms Lantonirina Rakotomalala as General Secretary of the African Alliance of YMCA. Ms Nirina was appointed in January 2019  and became the first woman to hold this position.

 


From Left seated is Loleyah Noriss, Dr Adrien Coly, Du Prince Noubissi,Ruby Francisco Mathang
From Left Standing is James Ekow Rhule, Irene Ayimba, Rakotomalala Lantonirina, Reynolds Kissiedu
Last row standing is Ronald Senghore and Yirga Asefa