I'd like to acknowledge and share with you all the fantastic work being done by Geoffrey Manasseh, from Lilongwe in Malawi, in terms of youth leadership training in the country. Geoffrey is part of the URI Malawi Country Coordinating Committee, the Cooperation Circle (CC) leader of Lilongwe CC, and a youth facilitator.
At the beginning of October, myself, Nyambura Mundia and Geoffrey Manasseh worked as a team of three facilitators, to run a three-day Interfaith Youth Leadership Training with young leaders who are part of URI CCs in Malawi. Each CC in Malawi was invited to send two youth representatives to the training. The aim of the training was to begin to build the network of young leaders within Malawi's CCs to be able to work together and support each other, giving the youth skills in leadership, project management, interfaith dialogue and community building, to leverage the voice of young people in their CCs and region more widely. The training happened just before our Regional Assembly, in early October.
Since then, Geoffrey has continued the work of youth development in Malawi in an intentional and caring way. He is committed to sharing what was experienced at the initial youth training with a much wider audience of young people across the country.
This past weekend, Geoffrey facilitated a two-day training for the young people in his region of Lilongwe. He worked with other CCs in the area, Tigwirane Manja Cooperation Circle (previously YASED CC), and Karonga CC, to bring together a group of 82 young people (39 boys and 43 girls). Timothy Duncan and Paulette Mwela, two young leaders who were participants at the first training, supported Geoffrey in leading this follow up training and sharing their knowledge and skills. The Mayor of Lilongwe also attended the event to address the young people.
The two days were incredibly successful as the content was shared effectively, and everyone enjoyed themselves. The community also came together to support with providing food for the participants.
I'd like to acknowledge Geoffrey for his confidence, skill and leadership in running this follow up training - it keeps the momentum going from the initial training, and widens the reach of the work in a fantastic way. We are deeply appreciative of the work being done by him and his team!
Keep an eye on the URI - Southern African Region Facebook page for further updates there. Well done Geoffrey!
- Sarah Oliver, URI Southern Africa Youth Development Officer
