– Youth Challenge Guyana aims to empower the younger generation

YOUTH Challenge Guyana has been training young people to take on leadership roles in their communities and to inspire other youth to empower themselves.
This is according to Executive Director of Youth Challenge Guyana, Dmitri Nicholson, in a recent interview with the Guyana Chronicle. One of the group’s recent efforts was a four-day training programme geared at teaching young people necessary life skills and training them to become facilitators in their communities and help to improve the lives of other young people, through mentorship.

“The training focused on decision-making, goal setting, personal and self-awareness training and the teaching of facilitation skills,” said Nicholson.

He said persons were exposed to those types of training and were even given the opportunity to practise their skills during the sessions which were conducted at the Catholic Life Centre. “All participants have developed their skills through the practice sessions and they have shown that they understand the materials,” said Nicholson, adding that some of the young people have worked with other youth before, so they just strengthened their skills, while others were first-time learners.

Youth Challenge Guyana believes that empowering young people to conduct activities with other young people, is one way of strengthening and empowering youth in communities.
One of the participants, Sithendisi Cameron, said she started volunteering with Youth Challenge because she wanted to improve her skills in social work. “I want to help in the area of social work, where I can be a mentor to help other young people who are facing difficulties and battling with social issues,” said Cameron.

She has been volunteering with different organisations and already has experience in her field, but the training she received equipped her with the abilities to do more for young people.

Another participant, Selena Husbands, said she chose to be a volunteer because she wanted to help individuals make better decisions.

The volunteer said the training she received from Youth Challenge helped her to take a step forward and be more outspoken.