THE Anna Catherina Islamic Complex (ACIC) and the Guyana United Sadr Islamic Anjuman will shortly commence a series of capacity building programmes countrywide, particularly targeting young people in the Muslim community to assist them in meeting a number of challenges.

The organisations plan to hold leadership/capacity building sessions, debating, quiz and public speaking competitions throughout Guyana.
The leadership /capacity building seminars are intended to train persons, especially young people, to effectively and efficiently function in leadership positions in their respective organisations.
Sessions will be held in Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo and the first is scheduled for the Anna Catherina Islamic Complex, West Coast Demerara.
The debating competition is being organised for young people to discuss some of the many pertinent issues in the society while the public speaking competition will target mainly the Imams and other leaders, and the quiz will involve Maktabs (Islamic schools) within the country.
The competition will be conducted in two stages – the Preliminary Round and Semi Finals and the Finals.
According to sources, this idea was first introduced to Guyana by Shaikh Safraz Bacchus, now Imam of Masjid Al Abdin, New York. President of ACIC, representative Hakeem Khan in an interview explained that the relevance of these programmes is rooted in the recognition that we live in a media-centred society and much of our days are spent communicating and/or listening. He said “naturally, for us to be successful and to improve the state of our respective communities, we must be able to excel in proper communication.”
He further stated that many of the beautiful messages of Islam and its relevance to present day society is lost because Imams, Muslim scholars and other leaders are unable to make proper presentations and communicate with their audience effectively.
He explained that the idea of these programmes came from the recent visit to Guyana of His Eminence, Huzoor Maulana Zain ul Akhtab Siddiqui who displayed good and effective communicating skills. He was lauded for his ‘innovative’ ways of having interactive discourses with his audiences rather than just lectures. Facilitators will be both Muslims and non-Muslims drawn from Guyana, North America & the Caribbean.
Interested persons, Jamaats and organisations are invited to contact the organisations via email muslimjournal@yahoo.com or their respective Imams or Presidents.
Non-Muslim organisations and persons interested in participating in these activities are also welcomed. For the debating and public competitions, trophies and prizes will be awarded to winners.