Name: Parfait Taiwe

Title: President of DigiEduCivic

Organisation: Digital citizenship education organization

Parfait Taiwe is a researcher in digital law at the University of Ngaoundere. He is passionate about digital technology and volunteers for a number of organizations, including assistance without border and defyhatenow. In 2021, he set up an organization for digital citizenship education, which aims to help young people develop critical thinking skills to combat false information and hate speech online. In 2022, he set up a coalition of 40 civil society organizations under the name WoilaStopHate. In addition to these hats, he is a fact-checker, a blogger and a member of the Cameroon Bloggers Association. Grace to his commitment to combating false information online, he was selected as one of the 10 best young Cameroonians for the Mandela Washingston Fellowship Cameroon alumni project to combat online hate speech, funded by the American Embassy in Cameroon, from which he came second nationally. Through this project, he was appointed ambassador for educational of young people against hate speech by the Minister of Youth Affairs and Civic Education. Finally, he is an expert and trainer in media and information literacy and an expert in digital law.

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

I hope Parfait's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?

Great

2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

I became a leader simply out of a passion for the future that I've always wanted to have in my life. So I set up an organization to impact my community and tell young people that they have the right to dream and to do what they want to achieve in their lives.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

I plan everything the day before. I write down all the projects and tasks I'd like to work on over the course of the next day. It often takes me 20 minutes to plan. Once it's done in the morning, I fill in all the columns with priority and non-priority activities. In this way, I plan how long it will take to complete each activity, and I monitor and energies it, because we're people, not robots.

4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?

Civic leadership

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

The leadership training manual for young people. This book helped me to distinguish between a leader and a manager. It enabled me to distinguish between the different types of leader and their real definition. This book has given me the keys to leadership and to impacting my community; to progressing and succeeding in my role as a leader.

6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?

The only advice I can give as a leader is to always believe in what you're doing and let time do its thing.

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far?

The story that comes to mind during my role as a leader is that I planned an activity knowing that I was relying on backers in the background. It could be that the backers had let us down. I was delighted to know that I had carried out the activity and had succeeded with my own funds.