Run to Win (RtW) is a political action organisation working to recruit, train, and manage young, credible, diverse political candidates as they work to get into elected offices across the country. It is currently asking Nigerians to recommend members of their communities that they believe are best poised to represent their interests in electoral office.

RtW will equip campaigns with the tools and knowledge to build an effective election campaign, educating them on strategy, communication, and execution. Its core team has worked in multiple African presidential and local elections and believes the political representation of young men and women is crucial to creating a government that can move Nigeria forward. Improving representation is core to RtW’s mission, so minority represented demographics such as women are strongly encouraged to apply for the programme.

“Inclusion begins with stepping up; young Nigerians who want to hold elected office need to run for office,” said Remi Ogunkayo, RtW’s political director, “and doing so can be daunting for brand new candidates with limited resources. Building a team, mapping a plan, and executing without support means that candidates cannot always demonstrate their full potential. RtW hopes to change that.”

With one of the largest youth populations on the continent, Nigeria has some of the lowest government youth participation. Electing candidates more reflective of their demographics?who understand their challenges and values, speak their language?is crucial to overcoming voters’ apathy. Nigeria needs newer, more diverse voices involved in the essential decisions that will shape the nation’s future. RtW will focus exclusively on candidates vying for legislative positions at the sub-national (State House of Assemblies) and federal levels (House of Representatives and Senate) of governance. It will recruit candidates who will work to enact a national legislative agenda to solve its persistent problems.

RtW’s key objectives are to provide capable young candidates with support, structure, and innovative voter-attraction strategies to better the odds of winning their runs for office. To that end, it has begun the process of seeking nominations nation-wide of young individuals who have either garnered some degree of name recognition within the communities they seek to represent; proven grassroots credentials demonstrated by activist initiatives they have either launched or had significant participation in, or the ability to harness the resources needed to run and sustain a campaign.

The candidate must be under 40 at the time of application. Minority candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Visit the organisation’s website runtowinorg.com to nominate your candidate or apply.