On the 25th of April, 2015, a youth training on Leadership Skills was organized by United Religions Initiative (URI). This training was held in the Panda hotel in Bhawalpur and was attended thirty-three participants. The majority of the participants were teachers, students and a banker.
This training was held in collaboration with Education for Peace Cooperation Circle (a grassroots organization of URI). Ms. Tasneem Saeed, the Youth Trainer of URI, imparted the training. Ms. Tasneem Saeed has previously worked with various international agencies, e.g. Australian International Development Agency, Heinrich Boll Foundation and the Canadian International Development Agency. Ms. Lubna Francis, a trainer working for Enterprise Development, presented a model of peace and how it can be brought about by peaceful nurturing, cooperation and the right leadership.
Briefly, this training looked at the question of what leadership is. “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do, something you want done, because he wants to do it” (Dwight Eisenhower). In the olden times leaders were rulers or kings, but recently this thought has been overturned and now it is felt that anyone can be a leader.
During the training, the various theories on leadership were covered. The training also looked at the qualities of a good leader.
The participants’ comments were that they learned a lot from this training. Further, that they did not lose interest in the topic throughout the training.
- Ms. Tasneem Saeed, URI Youth Trainer
