Young Professionals Network

She is also the head of the Foundation’s Future of African Cities project, a cross-continental study on how African cities are preparing for the upcoming demographic transition. Nchimunya previously worked as Assistant Lecturer at the Nelson Mandela School of Governance at the University of Cape Town. Whilst there, she played a significant role in developing the MPhil in Development Policy & Practice, a pan‐African Masters programme aimed at providing strategic academic development for mid‐career public sector officials from across Africa. Her additional research interests focus on the structure of energy supply industries in emerging economies, the role of infrastructure investment in shaping Africa's cities and the informal economy as a model for development.

Fresh off a stint in Central Asia, Aaron graduated cum laude with a Master’s in Politics and Security from the Academy of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe based in Kyrgyzstan, a post-Soviet republic. He currently works in New York City with the Province of Ontario’s International Trade and Investment Office at the Consulate General of Canada.

Years of passionate engagement in socioeconomic issues have taken Aaron from the crèches of post-Apartheid townships in Cape Town to Ukraine’s polling stations all the way to Colombia’s hilltop villages. Aaron’s avid interest in global affairs also steered him to Central and South America and Canada's Arctic where he partook in trade and development missions. He recently led the Canadian delegation’s negotiations on the future of work at the G7 Youth Summit. Aaron’s community involvement has included the development of a scheme providing nutrient dense food hampers to people below the breadline and the creation of an award-winning biodegradable mosquito net for malaria prevention in Africa.

He also crafted an index using open-source data that gauges regional security fluxes for early warning, and is now working out a method to ensure secure aid transfers to the poor using blockchain. Aaron was elected as a City Youth Councillor, has written on security issues as a NATO Canada Fellow, and negotiated and spoken at high-level fora, including those of the United Nations, Commonwealth and the CTBTO. He was appointed as Canada’s Youth Ambassador to the OSCE, is a Regional Focal Point for Economic Growth, Jobs and the Future of Work at the United Nations Group for Children and Youth, and is also a member of Canada’s Volunteer Awards National Advisory Committee.

Now a civil engineer-in-training and having graduated with an MS in Civil Engineering from Stanford, She is passionate about using my engineering knowledge to solve water infrastructure and management issues. She is currently working in Ethiopia as a water engineering consultant focusing on water supply for rural communities and health care institutions.

She has earned a Bachelor of Social Work, and an MA in Human Rights from the University of Fort Hare in South Africa, respectively. She followed this by completing a two-year mobility Erasmus Mundus MA in Advanced Development in Social Work, from the University of Lincoln, Aalborg University, Instituto Superior de Ciencias Sociais e Politicas, Universidade De Lisboa and Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Defense. Her MA thesis was a qualitative study focusing on the welfare support for migrant youth in Paris suburbs, particularly how their needs and views are ignored in ‘culture-blind’ policies in France. Silindile is passionate about research focused on migrants and refugees and working around issues of youth development.

Her passion and commitment to gender, youth and equality is very strong and draws from her professional experience in Botswana, South Africa and India. She has been involved in several voluntary positions where she has offered her research skills on refugee issues and engaged in community development projects aimed at empowering youth and children from underprivileged backgrounds. Her current research interests include exploring the concepts of identity, belonging and the meaning of citizenship in contexts where indigeneity and ethnicity is at the foundation of national discourse and practice.