YPC learns about democracy and human rights in a new training module
Pal-Think for Strategic Studies launches the fourth of five training modules for the Youth Political Club (YPC), which will extend from 8th – 12th December 2019 within a project funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). This module aims at complementing the objectives of the project in building the capacity of 20 Palestinian emerging youth leaders who were selected carefully.
Human rights lawyer Belal Al-Najjar, the module’s trainer, welcomed the trainees saying “The importance of this training comes through empowering youth and broadening their knowledge in democracy and human rights. They need to be aware of their rights in order to demand them in lawful ways. It is our intention to also engage them in practical applications.” He also detailed the training headlines like: human rights categories, democracy and good governance, as well as lobbying and advocacy skills.
The training’s first day included a variety of interactive exercises where the YPC members worked in groups to collaborate on defining critical concepts in human rights, its history, development, categories, and properties.
Trainees were thoroughly engaged as Maysara Abusultan, 28, said “learning the concepts of democracy and human rights helps us better express our cause eloquently both in the local and international realms.” He had also recognized Pal-Think’s important role: “Pal-Think taught us new things we can build our futures with.”
Mona Abu-Shawareb, 26, also stated “getting to know human rights and democratic systems is crucial, and I expect to conclude the training with proper knowledge of my rights and how to demand them using means of lobbying and advocacy.”
The YPC project will extend to April 2020 and will have covered a variety of activities programmed to found a human infrastructure of change. It started with a series of lectures on law, history, democracy, and other topics of priority to Palestinians. Lectures are then followed by a series of training modules in the following topics: Communication and Leadership Skills, Social Media and Personal Branding Skills, Conflict Resolution and Community Peacebuilding Skills, Policy Writing Skills, and Lobbying and Advocacy Campaigning Skills. The capstone project for the YPC members in this project will be planning and implementing community initiatives to apply their skills in giving back to the community.
