YMCA Northern Zone is through the leadership projects of EYLI and AYLI committed to preparing and empowering the next wave of leaders within the YMCA and communities. The EYLI and AYLI leadership projects are set up to serve the unique need of focusing youth and leaders' energies on positive activities, leading to increased resilience through making the right life choices, development of skills, and linkage to opportunities relevant to success in adulthood and sustainability of YMCA and communities.

• Emerging YMCA Leadership Institute (EYLI) is a leadership project for youths. EYLI is promoting a life skills development approach that has been found to enhance young people's transitions to adulthood by building skills that are essential components of healthy development and skills that define a responsible, productive, and resilient young person. Above and beyond individual benefits, life skills promote positive social norms that can impact the greater environment of young people’s health, families, and communities. Using a Train of Trainer (TOT) methodology, EYLI provides a platform for its alumnus to develop individual capacities and also support young people to build self-awareness, increase self-esteem, develop healthy attitudes, improve knowledge of general life skills, and develop a belief in their own capacity to succeed through providing opportunities for learning and practicing these skills in real-life settings within the YMCA and communities.
• Advanced YMCA Leadership Institute (AYLI) is a leadership project for the elected leadership of YMCAs and Staff. The capabilities of Local YMCAs Volunteer Leadership and Staff are recognized by the Northern Zone as one of the critical enablers to achieving set goals as a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO). Volunteer Leadership and Staff are elected or recruited into a management position, now they find themselves leading and managing teams, as well as contributing to the work of conception, planning, execution, reporting, monitoring, and evaluation of youth empowerment projects in fulfillment of the YMCA vision. 

The AYLI leadership training intends to sustain a process of rapid improvement, by means of achieving a shared understanding of appropriate sustainability planning and management methods that we need to employ as leaders and staff if we are to achieve our goals for a sustainable YMCA. The AYLI sessions are meticulously planned and are designed in a manner geared toward the maximization of efficiency and effectiveness. 

The Northern Zone Youth Camp for ages 17 to 30 years held annually in August is one of the safe power-spaces and platform the YMCA is using to engage young people, support their self-awareness, guide their skills discovery and linking them to existing opportunities. The camping activities are able to bring together Youths from 16 local YMCAs in 8 States of Northern Nigeria including Abuja with diverse background and experiences of life for the purpose of learning and sharing cultural experiences together.

YMCA Northern Zone through partnership with Evangelisches Jugendwerk in Wurttemberg (EJW), Germany since (1966-date) is affecting positively the lives of the youth and communities within Northern Nigeria through its programmes/projects in the areas of leadership development; Health and prevention; Inter – faith dialogue; vocational training; food security and agricultural training; gender; youth and women empowerment activities; civic engagement and good governance; hostels; nursery, primary and secondary schools; Sustainable Development Goals (SDG); youth camps and conferences; conflict management and peace building; emergency response; youth exchange programmes  etc.

Through the EJW partnership, YMCA Northern Zone is working for the interest and benefit of all humanity without discrimination in respect to state, local association, religion, sex, creed, nationality, political opinions, affiliation or any other similar criteria.