Kick-Starting Youth Leadership Committee Trainings
This month, TYO has been hosting a series of trainings for the Youth Leadership Committee (YLC) as part of our YALLA Program supported by the US State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI). These eight YLC university students are currently undergoing a thorough 50 hours of training learning about leadership, time management, teamwork, media and outreach. As the project progresses, the YLC will be advocates for YALLA, publicizing the program to youth throughout Nablus and mentoring them during the application process. As a result of the trainings, the YLC will be able to better empower their young community members. After selecting 3 youth-led initiatives to be funded, they will mentor them in devising implementation, monitoring and evaluation plans for each initiative. The first training session, on February 3, was led by Mr. Thuqan Qishawi, the Regional Director of Quakers in Palestine. For his second training, Mr. Qishawi hosted a discussion on leadership and communication skills and another on time management and delegation of responsibility.
The training on leadership and communication addressed how to apply what is learned in the community and how to do it as an effective leader. Mr. Qishawi explained using a holistic approach to community building through various games. One of the games included identifying pictures of famous personalities, including entertainers, doctors, artists and so on. Each member of the group was to use their background and expertise to help identify the people on the pictures. The purpose of this activity was to help YLC members realize the strength in working together to complete a project, as opposed to individually.
The third training was held on Saturday, February 11 on report writing techniques and event planning. Shahnaz Jubran, from Catholic Relief Services, worked with trainees to discuss the kinds of events that would be most relevant for them to plan, identifying target groups, and event planning; as well as types of reports they will need to produce as members of YLC, why report writing is important, structuring reports, and evaluation. Mrs. Jubran's style of facilitation fostered close group dynamics and professional cooperation among YLC members.
On Friday, February 17 the fourth training on decision-making and problem solving was led by Hekmat Beseso, a local consultant with extensive experience with various ngos’. Ms. Beseso highlighted the stages of decision-making through brainteasers and puzzle games. Additionally, she covered the steps of problem-solving in a way that encourages looking at the bigger picture of things rather than one piece.
TYO has four more trainings planned in the next two weeks. Topics will include monitoring and evaluation, Interview skills and evaluation techniques, event organization and management, presentations and public speaking, media outreach, marketing, and public relations. We are very excited to see where these trainings take us so we can start our action plans with YLC members.
Keep in touch to see how the remainder of the trainings goes and our plans for sending YLC members to the field!
-Ahmad
Ahmad is the Volunteer Coordinator and is on the YALLA Advisory Committee