|
The
Centre for Civic Education Pakistan (CCEP) with support
from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
arranged a three-day youth leadership development course
tilted “Youth must reclaim Pakistan” from 25th
to 27th June, 2009, in Islamabad.Twenty-one selected young people, including ten females,
from Pukhtoonkhwa (NWFP), Punjab, Azad Jammu and Kashmir
and the federal capital Islamabad participated in the
course. The participants were told that young people
(15-30) constitute 27% of the country population and
should work for reclaiming Pakistan back from the
extremists .On the
first day of the course, Zafarullah Khan, Executive
Director of the CCEP, introduced the participants to the
basics of democracy, politics, and roles of political
party, civil society and religion in affairs of a
democratic state.
Tauseeq Haider, renowned TV anchor and trainer, in an
interactive session did analysis of leaderships in
Pakistan while Murtaza Noor of the Higher Education of
Pakistan and Humna Bhojani of the Pakistan Youth
Alliance gave presentations on role of the youth in
shaping future of the country.
On the
second day, Saadia Panni of the Fatima Jinnah Women
University explained importance of good communication
and negotiation skills for leaders as well as role on
active citizens in the age of globalization by
presentations and interactive exercises and discussions.
A song
on Freedom of Information, prepared by the CCEP, was
screened and followed by a lecture and exercise on the
topic. Mr. Wilson Lee of the National Endowment for
Democracy discussed the idea and imperatives of
citizenship in the age of globalization.
On the
last day of the workshop, Zafarullah Khan highlighted
importance of common places for community in an
explorative discussion with the young participants while
Minhaj-ul-Haq of the Population Council gave a lecture
on research methodology for conducting field surveys.
The
trained young participants will conduct a survey on
civic health of Pakistani youth in their respective
cities/areas. Results of the survey will be published in
the form of a report. |