From: YPFDJ Media (media@youngpfdj.com)
Date: Wed Oct 14 2009 - 21:55:58 EDT
http://youngpfdj.org/index.php/events-and-activities/ypfdj-activities/125-yp
fdj-training-of-trainers-tot-held-in-geneva
YPFDJ Training of Trainers (ToT)
October 9 - 11, 2009 Geneva
YPFDJ Europe held its first Euro wide Training of Trainers (ToT) in Geneva,
Switzerland between 9 and 11 October 2009. More than 60 members of YPFDJ
from Switzerland, Norway, UK, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, France and Germany
participated in this ToT seminar which is first of its kind for the youth
movement. The occasion was also used by the Eritrean youth in Switzerland to
formally start a new YPFDJ group in Geneva. The seminar started on Friday
afternoon with a welcoming speech from Mr. Bereket Woldeyohannes, chargé
d'affaires in the Embassy of Eritrea in Switzerland who welcomed the
Eritrean youth to the city of Geneva and explained his fulfilment to see
young Eritreans coming together to address their national duty under no
obligation or enticement from anyone. Mr. Sileshi Idriss, the PFDJ
representative in Switzerland also welcomed the participants and wishing
them a successful seminar and hoped they will meet the objectives they have
set for themselves. Mr. Tedros Goitom the chairperson of the YPFDJ Europe
coordinating committee started proceedings of the two day ToT by listing the
programme and thanking the host country for all the effort needed for the
seminar to take place.
Dr. Tesfay Aradom and Mr. Daniel Ghezae were the main guests who led and
shared their invaluable knowledge and experience to the members present. The
main topic for the ToT was to understand the qualities of leadership and
assessing the status of all YPFDJ groups across Europe. The seminar gave the
opportunity for the participants to understand the theoretical aspect of
leadership and relate it to the role of leadership of EPLF/PFDJ in the
Eritrean society as a whole. Extensive group discussions and workshops on
related topics were also the second aspect of the seminar.
Dr. Tesfay Aradom focused on two major topics in his lecture. The first
lecture was on "Leadership Qualities for the 21st century: Implications for
the Eritrean Youth in the Diaspora". In this topic participants learned
about the different qualities of leadership and what the main factors are
that determines it. He urged the participants to understand the wider
meaning of leadership and the role it plays in transforming the lives of
populations. Anyone who is able to motivate and drive a number of people
towards a common goal is defined to be a leader. Dr. Tesfay stressed, as
YPFDJ members, your skills will always be needed and tested when serving
your community and ultimately your country. In this lecture Dr. Tesfay
described the role of the mind in leadership, emotional intelligence and
listed the different styles of leadership.
The second lecture provided by Dr. Tesfay was describing the implications
that Culture and Identity have on the Eritrean Youth in the Diaspora. The
importance of this topic for the Eritrean youth is paramount and especially
those who are growing up in the Diaspora. Although the concept of culture
and identity is always changing and its manifestation on the Eritrean youth
in Diaspora can have multiple dimension, we need to foster Eritrea's culture
and identity, since it is what gives individuals their sense of self-worth
and confidence in life. Dr. Tesfay also asked for the alertness and critical
mind of the hegemonic nature of the culture that is overpowering the youth
of today around the world and to ensure we do not loose site of our own
culture and identity. He also explained in detail the stages of identity
formation and the role of socialization agents when forming identities and
other concepts in the subject.
The lecture given by Mr. Daniel Ghezae on 'What YPFDJ can Learn from
EPLF/PFDJ Leadership' has described at length the qualities the youth has to
foster, inherit and improve from the Popular Front's leadership. We have to
recognise how the Popular Front became the leader of the Eritrean society
and was able to achieve goals that were described as unachievable by others.
The strong leadership that achieved the unachievable was based on strong
qualities that need to be recognised and understood by all members of YPFDJ
if they are going to play a role in the Eritrean youth inside and outside
Eritrea. He also reminded the participants that, we don't have to go far
from our borders to see the disastrous implications and failure of
leadership to understand the consequences. The experience gained from the
failure of leadership in the ELF and the terrible price we have paid for it
is a great lesson we can draw for the future.
Mr. Daniel went on to describe in detail the main qualities of EPLF/PFDJ
leadership that served the Eritrean people. EPLF/PFDJ had been outstanding
in understanding the nature, social makeup and requirement of the Eritrean
people and it enabled the organisation to clearly set-out its goals and draw
a clear policy which is practical and can be implemented by relying on its
own resources and people. The leadership of EPLF/PFDJ has been leading by
example and the camaraderie fostered in the Popular Front has been
exemplary. The YPFDJ groups can benefit tremendously to learn and adopt the
values of the Popular Front and apply them to the 21st century challenges by
clearly defining its goals that can be achieved practically. Individual aims
and shared implementation of clear work plans and respect for the structure
of the organisation are some of the points raised by Mr. Daniel lecture.
The other part of the ToT seminar was to hold group discussions on several
subjects that are pertinent to the development of the YPFDJ groups across
Europe. Participants were broken to smaller groups and discussed topics that
were set to asses the status of the organisation level and competences of
the members. The groups have discussed wide ranging topics such as the
vision, goals, communication, recruitment, conflict resolution,
mobilisation, challenges... the YPFDJ groups are facing and the common
solutions that can be used to address the challenges.
Finally, the participants and organisers thanked the Eritrean community in
Switzerland, PFDJ members and National Union of Eritrean Women (NUEW) in
Switzerland and other individuals who have contributed greatly for this
seminar to be successful. They have provided all the hospitality and food
services for all the participants during the event. There was also several
speechs and poems by the Sunday school mother tongue classes and showed the
national dresses and dances of the Eritrean ethnic groups at the closing
ceremony of the event.
The ToT seminar was closed on Sunday afternoon at 4:00 PM by agreeing a set
of action plans that were the outcome of the discussions during the seminar
and creating a common understanding of issues that will allow the YPFDJ to
build effective organisation to serve the Eritrean youth and community in
their locality.
Awet n'Hafash
YPFDJ Media and Information committee
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