The NewGen Leadership course was a one-week training where all the sessions were specially designed to create friendly spaces that encouraged young leaders to actively engage in sharing their experiences, success stories, good practice, challenges and perspectives, and also to discuss, reflect, develop and use new ideas and innovations beyond HIV. “I am very happy to see the positive energy, the diverse set of experiences and optimistic visions that youth have brought into the workshop. I have always believed that young people are not just the future but also very much our present. We know that effective change can never be imposed from outside. It should come from within and your leadership in creating these ripples of change is the need of the hour”, said Santosh Khatri, Education Specialist, UNESCO Phnom Penh, when opening the training.
The training gave young leaders a platform to express themselves freely about different issues that were often sensitive without fear of being judged. The workshop was a great opportunity for the participants to come out of their comfort zones and engage in stimulating discussions and take part in various interesting activities. The most remarkable part of the workshop was that the spirit and positive energy of the participants in the room was always at its peak. "The training facilitation and outcome of the discussions are clear indications that we are the experts of our issues and young people are the leaders of today. We are quite confident that the trained young leaders will contribute to shape the HIV response of Cambodia and beyond.” – Gaj Gurung, Program Coordinator, Youth LEAD, the Asia-Pacific regional network for young key populations.
One of the impressive results from the training is that the youth participants have developed the realistic work plans and expressed strong commitments to deliver to their peers and youth networks through their organizations and the community networks of key populations. “The NewGen Leadership Training is a very important course to build up the capacity of young key populations to become good future leaders in the HIV/AIDS response. The training course is very practical movement of young people to gain new knowledge, information and practical skills to work effectively in the community in terms of leadership, advocacy, HIV & AIDS and sexual reproductive health and rights. After the training, I have developed my work plan, together with my team, to continue delivering the courses to my network focal points in early next year. I also will share what I have learned to young community leaders, and outreach worker of the National Smart Girl Network.<//em></ em=""><//>”- Ms. Keo Kheng, a youth representative from the National Smart Girl Network, CWPD.
Following the success of the first national training, the NewGen Team aims to develop a regular informal coordinated platform with the government, development partners, local communities, community networks of key populations and NGOs to engage young key population meaningfully and especially to mobilize the support to realize initiatives led by young people. “The Youth LEAD Focal Points continue to play significant roles at both national and community levels to mobilize technical and moral support to the participants in delivering the contents of the NewGen Manual and implementing other youth led initiatives successfully within their communities. Coordination and communications among the participants and the NGO partners including the community networks will be enhanced to ensure the lessons learned and experiences from the community implementations are shared. With the great success of the first training, we are all as the focal points are encouraged and passionate to deliver more for our communities.”, shared Phorng Chanthorn, Youth LEAD Focal Point for Cambodia.
According to different partners and stakeholders, NewGen Cambodia was a unique training experience since it brought together young people from different backgrounds to work together and assess the current issues on one platform. Stakeholders praised the interactive and youth-friendly training, noting the importance of youth facilitators in accurately defining the problem and facilitating positive discussion. Moving forward, participants from Cambodia are motivated and encouraged to strengthen the pool of young leaders and to develop a new consolidated work plan for young key populations Cambodia. “I observed that the training introduces a set of skills to young and potential stars among key populations and has built their confidence to participate actively in eliminating HIV and promoting rights of young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, people living with HIV, entertainment workers and people who use/inject drugs. The training course marked a kick-start and KHANA will continue providing technical support to this initiative towards 2017”, confirmed Hong Reaksmey, Policy and Strategy Manager at KHANA.
The first New Generation Leadership course in Cambodia was hosted by Cambodian Community for Women Living with HIV/AIDS (CCW), in collaboration with Cam ASEAN Youth Future and Bandanh Chaktomok, with technical support from the National AIDS Authority (NAA), Youth Technical Task Force, UN agencies and NGO partners and with financial assistance from UNESCO, KHANA and National and Regional Youth LEAD (Cambodia and Bangkok Secretariat).
Contact: Nimol Soth, UNESCO Office in Phnom Penh at n.soth@unesco.org
Source: UNESCO Office in Phnom Penh
Related Links: