My Two Cents On Youth Training Programs Part One

Courtesy: SchoolMattaz

According to Wikipedia, Youth Empowerment is a process where children and young people are encouraged to take charge of their lives. They do this by addressing their situations and taking action to improve their resources and transform their consciousness through their beliefs, values, and attitudes.

There have been lots of talks on ways to empower or what youths can do to be empowered. This is good because youths are challenged to be open-minded, courageous, and ready to see and grab opportunities. 

Not all youths indeed want to be entrepreneurs or tender entrepreneurs. This is because we are all different and unique, thus we can’t have the same, passions, desires, and goals in life. Our success stories are different just from our definitions of what success really is.  

There have been and are going to be so many Empowerment programs, Workshops, Forums, and seminars for young people with different themes. The themes and activities will be null and void to many youths if they do not get value from them. We all have a little knowledge adding what we do not know makes us better people

That isn’t what I want to address today. Today I want to talk about the Training Programs and opportunities that are happening daily all over Kenya and the world. Their authenticity and impact on the youth. 

 

Courtesy: Randstad. few

Few months ago I was lucky to be a participant in a three days entrepreneurship training program for youths that was advertised by the government. I was so optimistic and excited about the training I had objectives that I hoped were going to be met. I believed as a new entrepreneur my skills will be sharpened more and my thinking challenged. 

It was indeed sad when we got to the training space. That was the most disorganized training I have attended in my entire life and the fact that it was a government program surprised us even more. We kept going back with hopes that the next day will be better only to be more disappointed. 

As we all think and plan for Youth Programs and Activities those activities must go hand in hand with the theme so that we aren’t preaching water and drinking wine. Apart from the venues here are some of the things that were not quite right

Fake Promises.

It was entrepreneurship training whose main aim was to equip youths with 21st-century skills to enable them to be successful entrepreneurs. We were taught the definitions of business terms, the advantages and disadvantages of different enterprises, and market analysis. There was no mention of skills and no follow-up mentoring sessions as promised. In fact, I tried calling to follow up and was told they will communicate what next via email.

Equipment.

The training space was a huge hall and we had almost 500 youths in attendance. Just imagine training such a crowd with no microphone and speakers. Those who were seated at the back could barely hear and understand what was happening. The projector was not clear at all. To make the situation even more difficult the writing materials were not enough. Half of the attendees did not get them.

Read: Safe Spaces Available At Decent Conversations

Facilitators.

The facilitators had very negative energy and the attitude of someone who had been forced trus. First of all one of them was just reading from the phone during the whole time they trained. Question and answer sessions would turn out to be like political debates and not learning sessions.

Ensure the facilitators have vast knowledge about the topics they are going to be sharing. They should be engaging and audible enough in case there is no public address system. A facilitator who can’t connect to the audience I believe is wasting time because very few people will really benefit.

Courtesy:sustyvibes.com

 

My Two Cents 

Do not plan or organize training without proper strategies and plans in place.

 

We are in a technologically evolving world and the same should apply to any training provided not only to youths but to men, women, and even children. We can't keep using the old ways of service delivery, yet we have amazing new ways of doing things. As a facilitator, one should be updated on what is current concerning the themes and topics to be tackled

 

Training is good, the key thing is they must add value to what we already know in that we get more empowered and positively imparted with information and skills that will help us be self-reliant.

If you have planned for youth training it is important to deliver so that you can measure results after some time. Facilitators need to be well-equipped and prepared to facilitate. They form part of the success story of any training.

Young people are linked with most of the vices we see in society. Idleness, Corruption, drug addiction, substance abuse, and juvenile groups just to name a few. It is also true that as young people we have so many opportunities around for us to use for our growth and development. We can only put to use what we have learned. Youths do not just need skills they need Coaching and Mentorship.

It is sad to get a certificate for completion of training which has no real significance to me! 

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