From September 26th through the 29th, the YES Alumni Association of Nigeria (YAAN) held their first ever Leadership Conference that also served as an alumni reunion. The YAAN Leadership Conference planning began in 2013 when a proposal by then president Mr. Ibrahim Ezekiel (YES 2006-2007) alongside Roseline Teghtegh (YES 2010-2011) was made to organize a committee to start planning the reality of the reunion. 

After years of careful planning and fundraising, the reunion became a reality this year. The goals and objectives of this conference and reunion was to have the opportunity to network all alumni across Nigeria, create an opportunity for alumni to share ideas among themselves and engage inactive alumni. The reunion had a total of 41 alumni in attendance and it took place at the Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre, Shere Hills, Jos, Plateau State Nigeria.

The keynote speaker for the conference was Mr. Andrew Gani-Ikilama who is an alumni of the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP), team lead of the U.S Government Exchange Alumni in West Africa and CEO of the Knowledge for the Blind Initiative. The main topics covered during the conference were: youth activism and volunteering as a hallmark for development, how to generate innovative project ideas, grant writing, budgeting, reporting and opportunities available to YES alumni. The overarching focus of the conference was centered around inspiring the young alumni to see volunteering as a way to right the wrong in society. It also highlighted some key elements required for effective volunteering and leadership. Some of the other sessions included topics on the history of YAAN and some fun events were also held such as hiking, morning exercises, sports, and Award Night.

As part of the conference, the alumni completed a national project at Privileged Abode for Orphans and Widows, a community-based orphanage. A few local alumni had visited the orphanage before the conference to complete a survey about what needed to be renovated at the orphanage. Out of all of their needs, their restroom stood at the top of the list when it came to urgency because it was very rundown. The alumni refloored, retiled, and repainted the restroom and made it not only look better but they also made it clean and safer for the orphans to use. The alumni were also able to spend time with the children and provided them with some food items.

For a first national reunion, alumni are very proud of the conference they put together. They were able to successfully raised funds from community leaders and local organizations to fund their reunion, developed a great content, and carried an impactful community service project to wrap the conference that served to remind alumni of the mission of their association.