Francesca Nyakora is a rising senior at Yale double-majoring in Political Science and African Studies and receiving certificates in French and Human Rights. While originally from Kenya, Francesca has lived in five different countries and her global upbringing has endowed her with a globally oriented world-view. It is this worldview that informed her interest in global affairs and international geopolitics. She is a former Department of State intern, a current student in Yale’s Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy, a fellow in Yale’s Peace and Dialogue Leadership Initiative, and a scholar in Yale Law School’s Multidisciplinary Academic Program in Human Rights.

As President of the inaugural Yale Model African Union, Francesca led the YMAU team in bringing the first-ever iteration of the conference to life. Internally, Francesca aided in contacting professionals from various fields to attend the YMAU conference as distinguished speakers. Further, she supervised the YMAU Programme team in creating a workshop and committee mode which addresses issues affecting the African continent, from the Belt and Road Initiative and climate change, to Gender-Based Violence and counterterrorism. She oversaw the logistics of bringing 125 students from around the world to Kigali by securing conference venues, deciding on financial aid allocation, and putting other necessary infrastructure, from hotels to food, in place in advance of the conference.

In addition to overseeing the secretariat members by organizing their tasks and ensuring that the team moved cohesively and in line with the conference timeline, Francesca served as the outward-facing representative of YMAU. She employed her social media and graphic design background to publicize YMAU, and she put together informational material, including this Executive Report, to share the YMAU mission with various audiences. She managed a budget of $43,000+ to plan and execute the conference. In order to ensure financial accessibility for delegates of disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, she spearheaded fundraising efforts which brought $16,000 in sponsorship to YMAU. She established partnerships with African businesses, organizations, and universities by meeting with high-ranking officials and pitching YMAU to them. Partners she acquired include Kenya Airways, the African Leadership University, the Rwandan Mission to the United Nations, the Kenyan Mission to the United Nations, and the United States Embassy to the Republic of Rwanda. She met with the Ambassadors of the Republic of The Gambia, the Republic of South Africa, and the Republic of Rwanda to the African Union as well as the Ambassador of the Republic of Rwanda to the United Nations in order to share the mission of YMAU with their diplomatic missions and create future avenues for collaboration. Through these diplomatic partnerships, Francesca had a hand in establishing a student internship program at the Kenyan Diplomatic Mission to the United Nations.

Although her term as president has come to a conclusion, Francesca will serve on the YMAU II secretariat as Executive Advisor.