British Council organises training course for youngsters

KARACHI - As many as 35 young people between the ages of 18 and 25 from Karachi, Hyderabad, Badin, Jamshoro, Umarkot, Mirpurkhas and Tharparkar received training in a three-day visioning workshop to support young people in becoming active citizens.
A statement here on Monday said that the moot was organised by the British Council and the Youth Parliament of Pakistan (YPP). It said that they recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in response to the global citizenship challenge young people face in an increasingly interconnected world.
Greatly appreciating the efforts of the Youth Parliament of Pakistan in bringing young people together to achieve a shared vision, Syed Mashhood Rizvi, Director British Council, Sindh and Balochistan, briefed the participants about the British Council’s Active Citizens Programme.
Abrarul Haq, Chairman Youth Parliament of Pakistan said that the youth are 61% of the total population of Pakistan and can work as a catalyst to bring positive change in their communities by initiating small scale youth driven community focused social welfare projects from the platform of Youth Parliament of Pakistan. Since the launch of the project we got tremendous support from the youth of Sindh and we hope that with our partner organisation like British Council we will be able to positively channalise their energies and passion to work for the betterment of the country, he added.
The Project Co-ordinator of Youth Parliament of Pakistan, Bilal Ahmed Rana, briefed the audience about the objectives and working of YPP. He shared the fact that YPP will be convening the National Youth Assembly later this year in Islamabad and 10 districts will be identified to start Districts Youth Assemblies and by 2012 YPP aims to establish Provincial Youth Assemblies in all four provinces and District Youth Assemblies in 139 districts of the country.  
Syed Mashhood Rizvi and Abrarul Haq distributed the certificates to the participants.
Over the next two years, Active Citizens, a British Council programme, aims to empower young people help build more peaceful and cohesive societies.
Through this programme, young people will bring a new spirit into their communities as active citizens and participants in the democratic life of the nation. To do this, the programme will help build the capacity of young people as leaders who will actively engage within their communities as well as developing an understanding of global citizenship by working collaboratively with the UK.
A network of young people will be formed with those who want an opportunity to learn, share and meet people from other places and make a positive difference in their communities. The aim is to empower young leaders to work towards positive social change. This is done by creating opportunities for young people that develop their advocacy skills and instil the spirit of volunteerism as contributions to democratic development.  Young people of varied backgrounds, including those outside urban centres, will also be provided with life-long learning opportunities. Towards this end, a series of twenty Interaction Visioning Workshops began on 26 June 2008 across the country. One thousand young people aged 18 to 25 from all over the country are participating in these workshops.
They will work with other young people to establish district youth councils in 30 districts across Pakistan over the next three years. Using their newly acquired project development and delivery skills, they will then manage community social action projects connecting with national and international organisations.