On 30 July, the Embassy organized a viewing party for President Obama’s town hall meeting with the 500 Mandela Washington YALI Fellows, including six Nigeriens. Participants watched a French version of the town hall. A highlight of this event, which was held at the American Cultural Center, was a short video filmed on the day of the town hall featuring all six Nigeriens Fellows who were participating in the program in the U.S. The Nigerien Fellows, who returned home in early August, shared their excitement at meeting President Obama and sent inspirational messages to their fellows Nigeriens. After the viewing of the video, the participants were then divided into four groups – each facilitated by a YALI alumni – and developed ideas for concrete youth leadership actions, in the areas of Mentoring, Networking and Community Service, that Nigerien youth can take to participate in the development of the Niger.
