As the project Youth Voices nears its climax after a three year operation in the districts of Abim and Pader, we decided to conduct a weeks long training of youth leaders and activists in corporate management and fundraising as well as equiping youths with skills on handling the participatroy radio programme.

There was need to help empower the youth leaders with skills and knowledge on advocacy and management so as to enable them to start and maintain self reliant intitiatives.

Like the Chinese say, “give me fish and I will eat for a day, but teach me how to fish and I will eat fish for the rest of my life.” In African Youth Development Link, we value so much the need to have people with diverse ideas to keep them moving forward.

In the month of April, we conducted two trainings on corporate management and fundraising in the two districts of Abim and Pader for the youth leaders. The training attracted over 75 youths in each of the districts.

The key objectives of the training were; to equip youth leaders with skills in fundraising for their initiatives and to be able to gather relevant information for the participatory radio programme among others.

It is therefore expected that the youth leaders from the two districts of Abim and Pader shall be able to utilise the knowledge gained from the training to make their ventures a success.

In his remarks, the residence district commissioner Pader District warned youths against engaging in dangerous politics. He also boasted of how supporting the NRM regime helped him to be a man he is today. “i call upon all the youths present here to support government programmes and it is not also a bad idea if you supported the NRM” he stated hilariously.

The district security officer equally warned youths from getting funds from any funders as some may be security threats to the country. “We therefore warn you that whenever you are looking for funders, try to cross check with us so that you don’t land yourselves in problems” he said.

Despite the training attracting the attention of the security personnel who earlier thought it was a bad training, almost all the leaders who turned up for the sessions acknowledged that the training was timely as it will help guide youths on how to live independently. “I would like to extend this appreciation to you AYDL for the great job done. I must accept that, ever since AYDL came to Abim, there has been a change in the lives of many youths” the youth chairperson Abim District Mr. Simon Peter Olum elucidated

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