Steps in Political Leadership: From World Forum For Democracy to FES Young Leaders Training

Today I was excited to participate in the opening session of the Young Leaders Training (YLT) which is being run by a German based organisation called Friedrich Ebert Sifuting (EFS).  EFS is a mature organisation having started as early as 1925 and is involved in promoting democracy, political and civic education among others globally. In Zimbabwe EFS started operations in the 1980’s (You can learn more about FES Here: http://goo.gl/yd7cbZ )  For this programme there were more than 600 applicants nationwide, 40  youth who are engaged in civic participation and politics from diverse political persuasions and backgrounds from around all the provinces in Zimbabwe were selected after a rigorous interview process. By Gods grace I was selected to be one of the 40.

The leadership course will take 8 months  being conducted  bi-monthly  on  Saturday’s and Sunday’s. It comprises of modules on Leadership, Economics,Gender, Human Rights, Politics and Religion , Media among others. The programme will also involve interaction with political players, academia, leaders of the civic society among others.

Today we starred a module on Presentation and Moderation  focusing on how to make effective and engaging presentations from planning to actual dilivery working in groups. I took up the responsibility of being the group leader of our small group and lead the process  of  drafting our presentation, our topic is “Can Youth Revitalise Democracy?”

In general I was inspired by the level of tolerance and political maturity evidenced by the ability to work together despite our differences in political ideologies as youth. This is the future of African Politics that I dream, that of political pluralism where political players interogate issues objectively from various viewpoints towards a common future. I also enjoyed the debates between tea breaks and lunch on Zimbabwes political terrain.  I was also excited to see some familiar faces  from the days of student activism the likes of Tinashe Chisaira Pride Mkono among others.
It is my hope that this platform will equip me with knowledge and skills on how I can navigate the political frontier towards the development of my country  especialy in the thematic area of Education as well as improve my leadership capacity as the ADP Youth Movement President through a Global perspective to politics. #WFDYouth #FESYLT