In 2005, Cedza founded the Ubuntu Institute for Young Social Entrepreneurs, which provides young African leaders with the leadership and professional skills they need in their communities to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the UN's eight-point strategy for eradicating poverty, hunger and disease in Africa and around the world within the next two decades. He addresses audiences of all ages, but especially youth, on how to get involved in the fight against poverty, HIV/AIDS, and illiteracy.

As co-chair for the World Youth Peace Summit in Africa, Cedza assembles youth leaders from across the globe to find peaceful methods to resolve global conflict. He also serves on the strategic development team of the Global Action Youth Network in New York, an international collaboration of youth and youth-serving organizations in almost 200 countries facilitating intergenerational partnership in global decision-making.

Drawing on the African concept of Ubuntu and its values of respect, integrity, and tolerance of others, Cedza travels the world, talking to at-risk-youth and promoting global forgiveness, compassion, and the use of dialogue—instead of violence—as a powerful tool for conflict resolution. He teaches people about the possibility of living in a world free of violence, hatred and global divisions—a world based on a greater understanding and interconnectedness.

Cedza's strong sense of community and unique value set stem from his rich lineage: he is the descendent of freedom fighters King Sobhuza II, who fought for the independence of Swaziland, and Nelson Mandela (his grandfather), who triumphed over apartheid. In the 1990s Cedza worked at various organizations, aiding in providing mobile clinics that brought medicine and healthcare to poor rural areas of South Africa. As co-founder of America Reads/South Africa Reads, he collected over 100,000 books for libraries serving rural schools.

The MDGs are eight goals adopted by world leaders during the UN Millennium Summit in 2000 aimed at eradicating poverty, hunger and disease in Africa and around the world within the next two decades. In this presentation, Cedza uses powerful personal stories to illustrate solid information regarding statistics and policies, stirring audiences of all ages to action. He believes that young people play pivotal roles in addressing poverty, and travels widely to educate them on how they can become more engaged at the grassroots, policy, and advocacy levels. The eight goals Cedza helps explain are:

Ubuntu is a South African value system based on compassion, respect, integrity and tolerance of others. It is part of the spirituality that makes South Africa such a rich, vibrant, and spiritual society. It is a part of the gift—a unique contribution—that Africa can give to the world community.

Cedza travels widely to share this gift. By drawing on Ubuntu values, he provides pragmatic means of conflict resolution on a local, national, and global scale. As a powerful, historical example, he recalls how South African leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, and many others turned to the principles of Ubuntu when negotiating the peaceful transition of South Africa from apartheid to democracy in 1994. He interweaves personal stories and experiences that illustrate the differences between communal cultures and individualistic cultures. Finally, Cedza engages young people in imagining what the world can be and how the future can look if we identify incorporate communal values into our value system as well as offering young people positive alternatives to unproductive and destructive lifestyles.

In this presentation, Cedza explores solutions to foster African unity worldwide and in turn work as a united group for global unity. A strategy in achieving global unity is to unify different ethnic groups. The African community worldwide suffers internal divisions and cannot work with other groups until it overcomes its own disunion. Though our histories may differ, our struggles for freedom, equality, and prosperity are very similar. Whether we are in South Africa, Brazil or The United States, Cedza believes we can learn lessons from our past and work toward greater collaboration. Once unified as a group we can begin to work toward greater harmony with other groups until we achieve global unity.

Go to Top of Page