- Fifty youth from the Somaliland Culture and Sports Association (SOCSA) received five day civic engagement training from their Global Citizen Corps (GCC) older peers in Hargeisa to officially join the GCC team whose sole mission is to make a difference in their communities.
The GCC is an approach within the USAID funded Somali Youth Leaders Initiative that seeks to empower and equip the youth with the necessary tools and support to be productive members of the society. So program has reached 167 youth across Somaliland and continues to make headway’s to reach as many youth as possible.
Dubbed peer to peer training, the latest coaching was conducted at the SOCSA center from Sunday to Thursday last week by 4 volunteers from the GCC youth as part of the group’s plan to roll out the program. SOCSA is a local organization that focuses on improving girl child education as well as providing safe spaces for girls to interact through sports and cultural activities.
SOCSA’s entry into the GCC program will help increase the participation of girls in the program. Generally girls play a greater role in outreach programs within Somaliland. It is this approach that will help change cultural attitudes that force girls into fringe roles within the society.
GCC Hargeisa leader, Mohamed Meygag, also known as Mr. Action said they plan to extent their mentorship trainings to the rest of the regions in Somaliland in order to reach out to as many youth as possible. He called upon the youth to embrace the program saying that given an opportunity, the youth can make a positive contribution in their communities.
Speaking during the closing ceremony of the training, Katra Kalil, Executive Director of SOCSA urged the youth to implement what they learned during the training and to actively take part in voluntary work in order to make a difference in their communities.
“We are so glad our youth have received their first ever civic engagement training. The GCC curriculum teaches youth how to be productive members of the society. Civic engagement is still new in our country and therefore it is important for you to understand and grasp its main goal. The GCC training equips youth with the necessary tools to work for your communities as volunteers and also seeks to reiterate what you ought to do for your country and your own rights as law abiding citizens,” Katra said.
Budding Somali poet Abdifatah Ali Abane, who spoke on behalf of the SOCSA youth, thanked Mercy Corps for facilitating the training and promised they will embrace and implement the GCC curriculum.
“We were taught how to plan, execute and report on a humanitarian activity that we will be required to undertake in our communities. The GCC module is an excellent way of empowering the youth to be productive members of the society and we promise to be a good example to other youth,” the 22 year old upcoming poet said before reciting several poems that moved the crowd.
Source: Somaliandpress.com
No comments:
Post a Comment