In October 2018 the Kectil Program held local meet-and-greet gatherings in West Africa: Accra, Ghana on 16 October and Lagos, Nigeria on 20 October. They were not staged as formal conferences. They were half-days in local hotels so colleagues could meet in person, talk, and be known to one another.
Colleagues sat with Founder Sherry Knowles and with Kectil mentors. They discussed what concerned youth in West Africa, named challenges, and brainstormed responses. They also met fellow colleagues they had only known online.
That Accra gathering is the West Africa meeting in the regional series. Later years brought larger Ghana gatherings — panels, stages, and flags — that still show what those first half-days were for: a room, a conversation, and a network that continues after the meeting ends.