About Us
…To give priority to actions which generate new processes in society and engage other persons and groups who can develop them to the point where they bear fruit in significant historical events.
In the abundance of youth groups within the church and across the African continent, why another one? What could possibly justify the creation of another youth organization?
What could be the rationale?
These pertinent questions receive their basic response in the statement below:
Here we see a first principle for progress in building a people: time is greater than space.
This principle enables us to work slowly but surely, without being obsessed with immediate results. It helps us patiently to endure difficult adverse situations or inevitable changes in our plans. It invites us to accept the tension between fullness and limitation, and to give priority to time. One of the faults which we occasionally observe in sociopolitical activity is that spaces and power are preferred to time and processes. Giving priority to space means madly attempting to keep everything together in the present, trying to possess all the spaces of power and of self-assertion; it is to crystallize processes and presume to hold them back.
Giving priority to time means being concerned about initiating processes rather than possessing spaces. Time governs spaces, illumines them and makes them links in a constant expanding chain, with no possibility of return. What we need then, is to give priority to actions which generate new processes in society and engage other persons and groups who can develop them to the point where they bear fruit in significant historical events. Without anxiety, but with clear convictions and tenacity.
Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, nos. 222-223
IYNIGO- Ignatian Youth Networks Initiating Generational outcomes– derives its raison D’ être from this key principle of the Holy Father, Pope Francis. A youth organization springing forth from and the service of the church, specifically situated in Africa, IYNIGO aspires to be an assembly of dynamic young people who “give priority to actions which generate new processes in the society and engage other persons and groups who can develop them to a point where they bear fruit in significant historical events.”
The name IYNIGO (pronounced: [e-nee-go]) intentionally calls to mind the founder of the society of Jesus, St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)-whose original Spanish name was Iñigo-because it is the spirituality and ethos of St. Ignatius that animate this group; hence, its principal identification as Ignatian.
Two images depict how members of IYNIGO Seek to achieve their commitment to the agenda of social transformation of their communities, countries, and the African continent:
Leadership
Entrepreneurship
Mentorship
Opportunities
Networking
Spirituality
Service
Mirror-transformation directed inwards
“The man who sets about making others better is wasting his time, unless he begins with himself”-St Ignatius of Loyola
I’m starting with the man in the mirror / I’m asking him to change his ways/ And no message could have been any clearer/ If you want to make the world a better place / Take a look at yourself and then make that change! – Michael Jackson
Window-transformation directed outwards
“I try to enter into the vision of God-the mystery of divinity shared by three divine persons
– Looking upon our world… It is as if I can hear the Divine Persons saying: ‘Let us work the redemption of the whole human race; let us respond to the groaning of all creation”-St Ignatius of Loyola.
“Look out your window/ See if you can see/ All the wonders of life/ You’ve never seen before”- Ray Repp
In sum IYNIGO represents the commitment of the Arrupe Jesuit Institute (AJI) to achieve holistic social transformation by mobilizing young people between the ages of 18 to 35 in order to build networks of youth imbued with Ignatian spirituality who will be initiators of processes that yield outcomes of generational significance. This purpose will be attained through training young people in leadership and entrepreneurship assisting them in mentorship and opportunities, realizing all of this through effective networking



The 5-point agenda for personal transformation:
- Cultivate spiritual depth & intellectual curiosity
- Promote cleanliness & environmental sustainability
- Develop excellent work ethics & entrepreneurial ability
- Embrace volunteerism & civic leadership
- Be open to experience in discernment

“I try to enter into the vision of God-the mystery of divinity shared by three divine persons:
– Looking upon our world… It is as if I can hear the Divine Persons saying: ‘Let us work the redemption of the whole human race; let us respond to the groaning of all creation” -St Ignatius of Loyola.
Get In Touch
+233 54 20 60 720
ajiiynigo@gmail.com, arrupe.jesuit.institute@jesuits.net
No. 2 Sai Mantra Street, Kwabenya, Accra Ghana
Let’s Build One Another Together
Meeting days:
Every last sunday of the month: 4-6pm
Quarterly empowerment seminars : 4-6pm