Young Policy Leaders Program

The Young Policy Leaders program is NAPI’s flagship activity. YPL is a youth capacity-building 7- month long program that trains and mentors young policy leaders across the whole policy formation journey: research; discussion and refining; writing; outreach and advocacy. 

During our first YPL cycle, NAPI trained 19 Libyan participants and selected 10 authors to complete the full 7 month-long program. For our next cycle, NAPI will be selecting Libyan, Tunisian, Algerian, and Moroccan participants.

In line with NAPI’s bottom-up, grassroots, and local ownership principles and processes, participants decide the issue they want to focus on. NAPI does not impose any thematic agenda or stricture. Themes include decentralization, local governance, economic models of development, and socio-cultural issues (gender, social and political participation and engagement, cultural expression…). The aim is to stimulate debate around popular issues and to facilitate the emergence of young leaders who will engage with decision-makers by articulating operational policy proposals.

All selected authors and leaders are trained, coached, and supported through NAPI’s multi-stage program cycle to build their capacity and help them produce rigorous, well-written, and credible policy briefs. NAPI’s core team and network of contributors closely coach, monitor, and support participants throughout the process. Each participant is matched with two mentors: one internal NAPI mentor, who provides technical guidance, and one external mentor, who provides thematic expertise. External mentors include journalists, scholars, and practitioners within NAPI’s broader network.

Each policy briefing paper addresses a specific issue with a clear and practical set of recommendations. At the end of each cycle, NAPI organizes a Policy Briefing Paper Launching Forum with donors, local, national, and international decision-makers, activists, and journalists in order to discuss the specific recommendations and how to translate them into practice. The launching event revolves around two days: an open conference, and a closed action-oriented roundtable conversation with practitioners and decision-makers. This ensures timely information and analysis from primary sources and provides a voice for large segments of the society that are traditionally marginalized in North African countries.