Written by the WWLA Founders
Edited by Michelle Mocumbi
We Will Lead Africa, Volume Seven: Refugees, Peacebuilding, Security launches as a celebration of refugee leadership and a call to invest in peace through dignity, cooperation, equality, and collective action. We invite you to read, share, discuss, and join the movement.
In preparation for September 21, the International Day of Peace, we gathered as a community of storytellers, leaders, peacebuilders, refugees, and former refugees to celebrate the launch of Volume Seven: Refugees, Peacebuilding, Security. It was a reflection on leadership, humanity, displacement, resilience, and the collective future we are working to build together.
As we welcomed participants from across Africa and the diaspora, we were reminded of some of the principles that have guided our work from the beginning, from African and Indigenous wisdoms to the dialogic storytelling practices of the organisation development field:
- Whoever shows up are the right people. [Organisation Development, Open Space Principle]
- We are the ones we are waiting for. [June Jordan, Hopi Elders]
- I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am … Ubuntu. [John S. Mbiti]
- Ants pulling [a play on the proverb from Burkina Faso: When ants unite their mouths, they can carry an elephant.]
At We Will Lead Africa (WWLA), our vision is that Africans will own, shape, and lead our own narratives. We are a storytelling platform that uplifts the stories of everyday African leaders doing extraordinary things against extraordinary odds. It does not matter to us whether that leadership is exercised in a board room, a refugee camp, a village, a university, a community organisation, a government office, a startup, or a movement. What matters is that people are leading, creating, building, serving, and refusing to stand on the sidelines.
This volume is a testament to that reality.
Thirty voices, one shared commitment
Too often, conversations about refugees reduce people to statistics, crises, burdens, vulnerabilities, or policy questions.
This volume does the opposite. It introduces us to leaders.
Refugees, Peacebuilding, Security brings together the stories of 25 refugee author-leaders (including the preface) and one fiction writer, artwork by a refugee artist, and reflections from three co-editors who are themselves former African refugees. It includes stories by leaders working in or for communities living in refugee camps and settlements (including urban African refugee concerns), and stories by African leaders who work on the continent outside refugee camps and/or in the diaspora with and for African refugees or peacebuilders, internally displaced persons, and immigrants. Together, these contributions represent the experiences and leadership of 30 refugee leaders whose stories illuminate both the challenges and possibilities of displacement.
The contributors represent countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Given the diverse intersectional and transnational experiences of many of the authors, it further represents experiences that span the globe.
These stories remind us that refugees are not merely recipients of aid and assistance. They are innovators, educators, entrepreneurs, peacebuilders, advocates, artists, organisers, and leaders. They are building stronger communities wherever they find themselves.
The volume invites us to see the creativity, capability, and courage that emerges even under conditions of conflict, displacement, exclusion, and uncertainty. It asks us to imagine what becomes possible when displaced people are viewed not only through a lens of need, but through a lens of human potential.
As one contributor reflected, effective peacebuilding and development emerge when people closest to a challenge are empowered to shape solutions:
The most effective solutions were those created by people who lived the problems daily.
This perspective appears repeatedly throughout the volume.
Whether discussing education, entrepreneurship, community ownership, digital literacy, peacebuilding, advocacy, or economic empowerment, contributors consistently show that sustainable change begins when local people are trusted, equipped, and given agency over their futures.
Stories create: The emergence of a manifesto of refuge
During our launch conversation, co-editor Njamba Koffi reflected on his own refugee journey from the Democratic Republic of Congo through refugee communities in Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Eswatini, Germany, and eventually Canada. He reminded us that stories are not merely accounts of what happened. Stories create. Stories connect. Stories organise. Stories help people recognise themselves in each other.
While editing the volume, the editorial team was inspired by critical recurring themes. Again and again, contributors described similar aspirations for equality, cooperation, and dignity. These recurring themes inspired us to develop the REFUGE-E Manifesto, inspired by the title of Njamba’s book, Refuge-e: The Journey Much Desired. It is a manifesto of refuge for everyone, particularly refugees, internally displaced peoples, asylum seekers, and all forms of forced migrants.
Layout designed by John Fabrice Kabasha.
The deliberate emphasis on refuge shifts attention from labels to possibility. Rather than focusing only on who a refugee is, the manifesto asks what kinds of communities, systems, institutions, and relationships create refuge for all people. It offers seven enabling principles grounded for any work intended to uphold the shared humanity and human rights of refugees: Recognition, Education & Empowerment, Fairness, Universal Human Rights, Governance, and Economic Justice for Everyone.
Importantly, the manifesto is not merely a statement. It is a platform for action. It is intended to be shared, adapted, discussed, displayed, and used by leaders, organisations, educators, advocates, policymakers, and communities seeking practical ways to advance peace and human dignity.
Access and download the full manifesto resources for free here.
We Will Lead Africa 10
Next year, WWLA celebrates 10 years of storytelling, leadership, and community building. Over the last decade, contributors across the continent and diaspora have shared stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Volume Seven stands proudly within that legacy.
As we launch this volume into the world, we do so with deep gratitude.
To every contributor who trusted us with their story.
To every refugee leader who continues to serve their community.
To every reader who believes in the power of narrative to create change.
And to every person committed to building a more peaceful, just, and humane world.
This book is our celebration of your leadership.
This manifesto is our invitation to collective action.
And this moment is our reminder that lasting change rarely arrives through a single heroic act.
It comes through communities of people moving together. Like ants pulling.
One ant can carry remarkable weight, but a colony moving together can accomplish what seems impossible. Together.
So join our community next May 2027 in celebration of 10 years of WWLA, as we strategise how to continue pulling together and pulling forward!
As co-editor Adelana Gilpin-Jackson concluded in his reflection in the volume:
When we, the worker ants in this space, pull together, we will achieve Thomas Sankara’s vision and finally become a land of upright people.
Save the date:
May 21 & 22, 2027 @ Windsor Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria
Learn more: WWLA 10
RSVP: Registration form