The first three days focused on introduction and getting to know each other, leadership and conceptual understanding of environment issues and how young people can get their hands on solutions.The rest of the three days were focused on media campaign where participants divided themselves into a country mix group and created campaign using arts and audio-visual. All the posters and video presentations were presented to the students at school nearby Rajasthan.

Also, each day, cultural night was organized where each country shared their country’s social-political status,history,culture, arts,food etc.Non formal education method was used throughout the training. In next months, a handbook will be produced in English and in local languages that will have all the sessions and training materials and young people will organize a media campaign in their communities. For more info about the project, check out the website www.greenyouth.eu

Through different indoor and outdoor activities such as leadership exercise, communication and trust building activities, individual and group work, presentations and interaction with young political leaders and debate on the contemporary issues like local elections and Constitution, the program  focused on current democracy and governance issues, challenges and opportunities, affecting the country’s development progress.The program’s major objective was to identify  multiplier youth leaders in their respective fields and communities, bring them together in one platform, sharpen their leadership skills, equip and empower them with the tools, ideas, and networks necessary to start taking the initiative to bring about transformational change in their communities.

The first day was focused on leadership activities and sharing of basics of democracy and participants understanding of democratic processes and identifying democratic challenges in their organizations and communities. The second day went little bit intense as the participants learned democratic movement and youth involvement in Nepal through chit chat youth politician. The participants then did a group work on prioritizing constitution that allowed them to learn about individual’s priorities to be included in the constitution as well as the process of drafting constitution.

Later in the day, they got to take part in civic bingo allowing them to learn how involved they are in their communities. The third and final day started with a documentary that helped them think about bringing change in the community. Then a debate on the contemporary issues following British Parliamentary Procedure was the high point of the day as participants not only got to debate but also learned the style of debating. The final session was to work on the solutions, whereby 8 groups from both the batches came up with some great ideas to promote democracy in their communities. We will bring you stories about their follow on work in months to come.

]]> http://sambhawana.org.np/young-people-coming-together-for-democracy/feed/ 0 http://sambhawana.org.np/call-for-applications-democratic-challenges-solving-by-youth-participation/ http://sambhawana.org.np/call-for-applications-democratic-challenges-solving-by-youth-participation/#comments Sun, 18 May 2014 17:02:18 +0000 http://sambhawana.org.np/?p=710 Background:A politically active civil society is critical to the sustainability of any democracy. An informed and active citizenry is the driving force behind a genuine and competitive political process. Because democratic transitions are rooted in people and movements, sustainable democracy programs cannot be delivered in a top-down, one-off, and short-term manner. This three day program will be a platform for exchange of ideas on strengthening democratic processes and building the capacity of young Nepali leaders on key issues concerning Nepal’s democratic transition.

Program Overview:   To underline the importance of a strong civil society, a three day intensive residential program will focus on the current democracy and governance issues, challenges and opportunities, affecting the country’s development progress. The program will invite 20 youth from different walks of life. The program’s major objective will be to identify  multiplier youth leaders in their respective fields and communities, bring them together in one platform, sharpen their leadership skills, equip and empower them with the tools, ideas, and networks necessary to start taking the initiative to bring about transformational change in their communities.

Goal: The goal is to encourage committed youth and activists in the promotion of democracy to be proactively involved in public affairs; to recognize the core values of human rights, democracy, good governance; to recognize the challenges and opportunities for strengthening the culture of democracy.

Participants: 20 youth between the age group of 16-22 years .

Program Design: The three day program will be broken down into conceptual ideas about democracy, governance, human rights, interaction with prominent figures /youth leaders, cooperative leadership games, debate/discussions, A/V, Individual and group exercises, community service projects.

Venue: Dhulikhel

Date: 28-30 May, 2014

To Apply: Send in your CV at info@sambhawana.org.np by 25 May 2014, 17:00 hrs.

Registration fee: NPR 500 only (all expenses related to travel, food, accommodation and program materials will be covered by the organizer) payable if you are selected.

For details : call at 4478042 ( from 11 am till 3 pm)

Last month, Mr. Stefan Voinea , Director of Gazeta de Sud, Romania visited Nepal under the Partnering for Stronger Communities Grants Program for Community Solutions Program Alumni. Mr. Voinea and our director Ms. Anita Thapa are Community Solutions Programs Alumni, a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, and implemented by IREX.

During his two week stay, Mr. Voinea helped Sambhawana in developing and designing communication and marketing strategies. Through series of communication workshops with our staff and volunteers, he helped re-think communication and promotion strategy of our work and guided us through different online and offline communication tools.

Mr. Voinea also visited 4 secondary schools in Kathmandu Valley that we are partnering under Civic Schools project and conducted communication workshops with ninth grader students. Through different engaging activities,he helped students learn about the importance of communication, types and mediums, the culture of respect, empathy etc. Besides, he also guided Sambhawana Team on skills like photography and fundraising. His workshop has been helpful to develop capacity of staff  & volunteers and improve & enhance communication skills and promotional strategies of Sambhawana.

The main aim of the project is to raise awareness about environmental problems and how we confine ourselves in the exerc

ise of an active citizenship.
To create an open platform for dialogue and mutual comprehension regarding environmental issues,

Specific objectives of the project are:

• To contribute to the promotion of solidarity and tolerance among young people from different countries
• To share best practices among the different countries from Europe and Asia, and creating activities to ensure the respect for environment.
• To assure the access of young people to good practices in the field of environment protection.
• To supplement/compliment the good work of people/organizations active in the field.

The project will target youth from the age group of 18-25 with fewer opportunities, youth who are willing to be actively involved in community life.

About 25 guests from different background/field such as youth environment activists, environment lawyer, youth organizations leaders, community mobilizers and students were invited for their invaluable inputs and feedbacks as we implement the project. Some of the inputs shared by the guests were to focus on existing youth and adolescents club, school’s eco club, grass root level youth as well as advocacy programs such as in the area waste management, urban bird observation, bio-diversity, reusable sanitary pad. Project activities will kick off from January 2014.