Everything Under The Sun: Developing A New Generation Of Leaders

Friday, April 8, 2016

Developing A New Generation Of Leaders

Two young men started an organization.

It started when two young men, who were volunteer coordinators for SUPPORT FOR INTERNATIONAL CHANGE, were raising HIV awareness in Arusha and Babati, Tanzania. Both continued working together when they moved on to the FULL CIRCLE AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM. Both then created an educational game together, GAME FOR THE WORLD.

From these experiences, this twosome developed RENEW, running workshops for the youth of Tanzania, helping these young students to realize their potential and empowering them within their communities as leaders. The two young men, Adam Rubin, now Executive Director, and Uswege Mwakapango, now Managing Director, came together from their separate lives on two different continents, united in friendship and common goals.

The structure of the workshops unfolds in two different parts. The first involves involves developing life skills, like communication, decision-making, goal-setting, increasing self-esteem, and improving emotional intelligence. The second focuses on such aspects of leadership as project planning, community service, and developing a project within their own communities. Their most recent workshops have taken place at Nzonda Haki Secondary School. The group also provided its first workshop with 25 university students, with the support of Tanzania Institute of Community Development.

Since the beginning, RENEW has reached more than 700 students in four different high schools. There have been plans to reach more than 2,000 students in 12 different high schools, as they face into the future.

But the best way to judge the impact of RENEW's workshops is to find out what the most recent participants are saying. One girl said, "I gained confidence and encouragement. The learning about leadership has helped me a lot; in the past people used to tell me that I am a leader and so I should run for a position, but I used to tell them that I am not a leader and I don't have confidence. This year I am going to run for the election and I believe I will win the election because I have the confidence in myself and I believe in myself."

The first workshop for university students.

Another girl said, "School is one of my communities which I depend up on, and spend most of time at. Rescuing my school from a growing valley that is threatening the safety of all of us will not just save us, but also more students who will be joining this school after us. That is why I want our community service project in our school." One of the young college students said, "I learned that transformation comes from building positive attitude; in order to change the world I have to change myself first. I gained confidence in my leadership - I learned that I can be a good leader regardless of my age." Empowerment and knowledge - it's what makes thoughtful future leaders.