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Archive -Seychelles

Workshop in preparation for alternative report on the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 2017 |25 November 2016

 

‘Engaging youth in democracy’

 

Earlier this month 42 students aged 17-18 years from four different tertiary institutions had a chance to demonstrate and develop their debating talents.

The workshop, held in the STC conference hall, was under the watchful eye of the National Council for Children’s (NCC) director Ruby Pardiwalla and members of her staff as a preparation for engagement of children and youth in the drafting of the alternative report of the Convention on the Rights of the Child to be sent to the United Nations CRC Committee in 2017.

The workshop was facilitated by Craig Francourt to motivate students throughout Seychelles to practice debating topical issues while showing respect for others and making their voices heard on issues of concern and developing their public speaking skills through the art of dialogue.  

Mr Francourt is a youth engagement specialist whose expertise lies in engaging young people in the democratic processes.

By allowing the participants discuss some of their own issues, the workshop gave them the platform to talk about, explore and take action on the issues that truly matter to them, Mr Francourt said.

The event also helped to create a stronger link between students’ education and real-country affairs.

Through identification with a super hero, Mr Francourt got the students to passionately express themselves in a matter of minutes by making a ‘case’ to convince the other superheroes on their table why they should not be thrown out of a hot air balloon so as to lighten the load and save the rest! All the students had to agree on the one to survive.

He then introduced the students to a culture of practicing critical thinking, listening attentively and accepting or disagreeing with differing opinions while demonstrating a sense of control and maturity.

Mr Francourt made it a point to bring a diverse range of interesting statements like – “All drugs be legalised in Seychelles” and “Seychellois must do anything to satisfy a tourist”. Participants had to vigorously and convincingly defend their positions.

Moving through the day Mr Francourt then used a speed dating approach to get participants to reflect on an issue they felt very passionate about and express it in a clear and articulate manner.

Qudrat Pillay, one of the participants from the Seychelles Institute of Technology (Sit), said, “Through this exercise we learned about the importance of being concise and going straight to the point as sometimes one will not have enough time to tell a whole story.” 

In order to enhance their skills and some new found confidence the students were given the task of identifying different issues they were passionate about on their respective tables and then had to negotiate and agree on the top three issues before presenting it in plenary.

The work that followed included articulating and illustrating a common issue on a problem tree. The problem tree is a methodology of three steps for identifying main problems, along with their causes and effects, helping individuals to formulate clear and manageable objectives and campaign strategies on how to achieve them. A problem tree is important in planning community engagement or behaviour change projects.

Videos were later shown to explain and demonstrate good campaign ideas , the issues they were raising, audiences they were targeting, key messages they were passing, platforms and medium they were using and what actions were going to be taken.

Later in the afternoon when identifying their own concerns and in coming up with their own solutions to the problems the students demonstrated that they had their own preoccupying concerns which were also in tune with national challenges.

The young people demonstrated that they could help tackle the challenges they face – including poverty, discrimination, alcohol and substance abuse, bullying, child abuse, inadequate funding for youth development programmes and barriers to education and employment opportunities.

“We didn’t just talk about problems,” said Sarah Petrousse, a student from the School of Advanced Level Studies (Sals), “we were also encouraged to come up with actionable solutions. Mr Francourt advised us to start small but to think big and to dream about the ideal outcome”.

“Through the event, the NCC succeeded in promoting awareness of the value of giving youth a voice on their aspirations for a decent life based on justice, equality and free debate,” said Ms Pardiwalla during an interview.

“Debate is the art of language. It aims to teach us to understand and accept others. It breaks boundaries and allows us to grow. Debate is an art. It helps build a stronger personality. You learn to defend the causes you are passionate about,” she said. 

“The rapid and continuing growth and development in ICT is transforming the way in which our young people live, work and reach out to others across the world,” Ms Pardiwalla added. “However, we should pay attention to and harness one of the largest global phenomena among young people – a growing demand for dialogue. The extraordinary success of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, instagram and snap chat illustrate a need to communicate. We must use these platforms to mobilise young people to change the world for the better and shape the future they want for themselves”.

The NCC will be organising similar types of workshops during the coming days because like Mr Francourt said in his closing remarks: “It is vital that we continue to equip our country’s young people with the knowledge and skills to confidently engage in civil society, so that their voices are listened to by leaders across all sectors in our country.”

 

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