Youth Capacities for Rule of Law and Good Governance

Purpose

To create a capacitated group of young leaders equipped with the tools to promote amongst young people, good governance, rule of law and rejection of violence and extremism in societal conflicts.”

The program aims to train a group of interested students (first semester/first year) and involve university teachers as mentors and Ambassadors of Change in twenty selected public and private universities. We hope that the knowledge and skills acquired through this program will add to student’s life long learning to become active and effective citizens.

During the first phase a Diploma Course comprised of following five modules was offered:

  1. Communication, moderation, negotiation and conflict resolution
  2. Civic activism, rule of law and good governance
  3. Understanding violence/extremism and its impact on youth
  4. Islam in the contemporary world
  5. Citizenship in the age of globalization

The successful student were awarded Diploma Certificate upon completion of the course and are being facilitated to arrange series of activities like seminars, dialogues, debates etc by involving fellow students and teachers to highlight concepts like rule of law, good governance, and peaceful resolution of societal conflicts. In the final phase the student’s activities will be televised and broadcast on selected FM Radio and Television channels for wider dissemination of the message and to generate an informed debate.

Progress:

Phase-I (August 2008-June-2009)

  • Three-day extensive training workshops on each module [Interactive methodology by experts, total training Days: 3×5= 15 Days on each site i.e. Islamabad and Karachi. These trainings were arranged on Weekend (Friday to Sunday)
  • Stakeholders: Students and teachers from public and private universities/ post-graduate colleges. 18 Institutions (22 Departments) = Hubs of Hope, 24 Teachers = Mentors, 70 Students = Ambassadors of Peaceful transformation

Phase-II (June 2009 onward)

  • Promote Rule of Law and Good Governance by arranging at least two activities such as seminars, workshops, dialogues, and debates for fellow students at campuses.
  • 100 students × 20 universities × 2 events = 4000 students
  • [All participating universities have conducted these activities. Whereas the Centre facilitated Inter-University Debate in Balochistan, Federal Areas, NWFP, Punjab, and Sindh and arranged a National Essay Writing Competition and a Quiz competition on Human Rights and Democracy]