Youth today are at a cross road that confuses them which way to take than convince them to tread the certain way to achieve their objectives of peaceful career development. UNDP's Livelihood Recovery for Peace Project has laid much focus on youth because they often are the targetted group during or after the conflict.
It is unfortunate that the scarcity of opportunities in their communities has often led them to be attracted to become the causitive factor of violence and political hooliganism in the context of Nepal. The pelf and power exercised by the youth at different stages of conflict has given the wrong notion to the peer generation. The vestiges of the armed conflict are still not forgotten.
On this backdrop, leaders from 25 local youth clubs and NGOs of Rautahat were given training under LRP's Social Cohesion and Peace Activity. The three day training organised in Bardibas of Mahottari district from 15-17 June, 2011 provided knowledge and skills required to orient youth from threat to peace to agent for peace. The youth leaders were provided with the concept of Do No Harm, skills required to write reports, facilitation and managerial skills required to reduce conflict and promote peace, what it requires for institutional capacity development, what makes a good leader, skills required to write success stories and several other relevant sessions.
Environment and Natural Resource Management Specialist Vijay Prasad Kesari who coordinated the training session said, "The orientation has proven to be a well-designed capsule to provide the knowhow on institutional capacity building and how youth clubs can play a pivotal role in minimising local conflicts at the village level."
How did the training go?
"We've successfully exposed the positive strength of youth and inculcated an understanding in them that youth must play a key role to promote peace and social harmony at the local level. They feel much empowered today than six months ago and expressed their conviction that they will be the custodian to ensure transparency and accountability is maintained in mobilising local resources."
-Zafir Akhtar Sheikh
Rautahat District Programme Coordinator
"The training was highly interesting and full of activities. We have learnt the facilitation skills to mobilise youth and ways to promote positivism in our society. I am also a local journalist and what I have learnt is going to shape up the way I write news and disseminate it. We have learnt the principle of democratising knowledge and information during the training. I would love to have more of such training in the future."
-Dharmendra Sah,
Chairman of Shanti Yuva Club, Basatpur-1, Rautahat
" I've not had this kind of training before. I come from a poor Dalit community and we'd like to thank UNDP for understanding our wishes that such big organisation is ready to work in such a backward village and community like ours. I am going to organise a similar in-house training for my friends to replicate what I have learnt here."
Ruplal Ram
Chairman of Dalit Mahila Tatha Balbalika Bikas Kendra, Mudwelba-8, Rautahat.
