Josephine Adatsi Represents Youth at Continental School Leadership Meeting
By: Doreen Boamah-Darko
Nairobi, Kenya — Josephine Worlali Adatsi, a Ghanaian education and gender advocate, has won continental recognition after representing Ghanaian youth at the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) Continental Validation Workshop held in Nairobi from 10–12 February 2026.
Ms. Adatsi, executive director of the Josephine Worlali Adatsi (JWA) Initiative, was the youngest participant among policymakers, researchers and education leaders who gathered to validate the first continent-wide mapping of school leadership policies and systems and to draft a roadmap for strengthening school leadership across Africa.
At the three-day convening, Adatsi pressed for meaningful inclusion of students and young people in conversations about education reform, arguing that leadership discussions must reflect the lived experiences of learners rather than focus solely on administrators. She also urged organisers to harness artificial intelligence, emerging technologies and youth-led communications platforms to make school leadership research more accessible and actionable for schools and communities.
“Young people must not only be seen as beneficiaries of education systems but also as contributors to shaping them,” Adatsi said after the workshop. “Being part of this continental conversation reinforces the need to ensure youth voices are included in building stronger and more inclusive education systems.”
The workshop produced a draft Continental School Leadership Roadmap and highlighted the urgent need to professionalise school leadership through structured training, mentoring, certification and stronger policy coordination. The convening builds on global research pointing to the central role of leadership in school performance: the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report (2025) ranks school leadership as the second most influential school-level factor affecting student learning outcomes after teachers.
Adatsi’s participation marks a milestone for youth representation in high‑level education policy fora. Her organisation, the JWA Initiative, focuses on empowering young people—particularly young women—through leadership development, advocacy and capacity building. Stakeholders at the workshop said Adatsi’s contributions underscored the importance of pairing technical reforms with participatory approaches that centre the perspectives of learners.
As ACSL and partners refine the Continental School Leadership Roadmap, advocates say follow-up actions will be critical: translating policy recommendations into nationally owned programmes, investing in professional development for school leaders, and creating formal mechanisms to sustain youth engagement in policy design and implementation.
