Before the establishment of ALF, there was no serious Africa led, Africa managed and Africa initiated forum where leaders could meet and exchange experiences with the view to improving their performance. No less worrying was the difficulty involved in gaining access to relevant data on issues of national, regional or global importance.

ALF was thus established as an expression of commitment to contributing in a constructive and positive way to the search for solution to some of these problems, by developing leadership capabilities in Africa in order to increase output in government, the parliament, the business, the civil society and to create conditions conducive to the development of the continent in an environment of peace, stability and security.

One of ALF’s significant policy contribution to Africa’s development is the initiation, design and promotion of the Conference on Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation in Africa (CSSDCA), which was adopted by OAU in year 2000 at Lome, Togo during the Assembly of African Heads of States and Government. ALF remains to date, the first and only civil society organization that has performed such a feat. The CSSDCA is a standing conference that will convene every two years to revive the progress made by African countries as it relates to all the commitments entered into by them under the CSSDCA.

Also, the Africa Leadership Forum has been in the forefront of working with and building the capacities of African Women for leadership and development, which culminated in the creation of the Africa Women Forum (AWF). The forum seeks to identify and establish a medium through which it can challenge ideas and create networking opportunities. The AWF has been convened four times now; the last being the recent Regional Conference on African Women and NEPAD.

ALF’s involvement with leadership development spans its 13 years existence. ALF workshop Alumni have become political and business leaders in Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Republic of Benin and Namibia among others. In addition to this ALF has organized training conferences, workshops and capacity building sessions for young and old leaders from various walks of life. Moreover, ALF had been involved in policy advocacy and research activities that have been of tremendous benefit both to Nigeria and the continent of Africa. We are currently working on a convergence model that will synthesize all three newly introduced initiatives in Africa; these are the CSSDCA, the NEPAD, and the African Union.