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BRITISH COUNCIL CONNECTING FUTURES
BEYOND BORDERS

PROJECT TITLE:
Connecting Futures Beyond Borders: Youth Leadership Program
OBJECTIVE:
To explore identity and develop in consultation with young people for the young people.

DESCRIPTION:

Beyond Borders is a Connecting Futures (CF) project of the British Council providing a platform for young people from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the UK Democracywatch takes great pride in implementing this project that has Noble objectives for the future Citizens of the World. The project started in September 2004 and will run up to the end of March 2006.
The YLP program was designed in such a way that the target group was able to learn about contemporary issues and themes such as Diversity and Tolerance, Gender Equity, the Environment we live in, HIV/AIDS, Consequence of Drug abuse, Culture & Heritage, Governance and Democracy and can raise their voices regarding these issues for a positive change.
PHASE 1 (September 2004 - March 2005)
More than 100 young participants from Dhaka and 30 from Mymensingh went through a life skill training program (YLP) called youth leadership program conducted by experts and resource persons. YLP included a youth Festival, sports, drama and rally.

ACTIVITIES

International Youth Summit 2005: Democracywatch with the support of The British Council organized an International Youth Summit from 20th February to 22nd February 2005 where participants from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan shared their experience on various international issues and built a bridge of cultural exchange.
India Fair: As a part of this project Bangladeshi young participants went to India to attend the Beyond Borders India Fair '05 at New Delhi from 3rd - 4th February 2005, where they exchanged their views and ideas with other participating countries - India, Sri Lanka and Scotland.
Pakistan Festival: From 5th -7th march at Rawalpindi and Karachi the Pakistani festival was held where four BB Bangladesh members actively took part .
In both occasions, Bangladeshi participants had opportunities to learn about the activities and initiatives taken by their fellow young people from diverse backgrounds. Those experiences helped them to develop understanding with the young people of those countries. They were benefited immensely and were expected to adopt certain elements that would promote youth activities beyond the borders.
Another long-term vision by Democracywatch is to establish a youth Parliament in Bangladesh. Today's youth will be the future leaders of tomorrow. It is important to inculcate vital democratic values and culture as well as develop leadership skills. Democracywatch has already started planning for such an initiative with the help of UK Youth Parliament.

PHASE 2 (April 2005 - March 2006)

India festival 2006 - India BB core group arranged their second Beyond Borders India festival on 29-30th November in New Delhi , India. Five participants from Bangladesh BB group joined the festival and took part in different interactive sessions and cultural programs which reflected various contemporary issues.
Once the formal training program ended, performance and interest of the young participants were evaluated based on their participation in different activities during the initial phase. They were judged according to various factors. After thorough discussions within the group and consulting with experts, the core members decided to go with the following projects:-
Entertainment Program for the Street Children: Friday based program for under privileged children, which includes training on health care and hygiene, etiquette, education with entertainment opportunities.
Since 20th May 05 around 50 under privileged children from different locality of Dhaka are participating in this program. They receive free Medicare and once a month free medical consultancy. As part of the program, Annual Sports and Cultural Competition has been arranged. Prizes and Eid Gifts were distributed among them also.

Life Skills Training for the Youth of the "Geneva Camp" (Urdu speaking Bangladeshis aspiring to go to Pakistan): The program incorporates the vision of creating opportunities for the Urdu-speaking people of different camps through identifying their Life Skills and training needs. 30 potential youth will be trained to fit in the job market and later will be involved to build up their own society instead of going back to Pakistan. The campaign also includes cultural exchange to resolve identity crisis faced by them. With the help of Al Falah Bangladesh, BB Core group are working with the core members of Association of Young Generation of Urdu Speaking Community (AYGUSC) for the betterment of the Urdu Speaking Community in the Geneva Camp. They have already conducted few sessions to identify their problems and LifeSkills training needs.
Nationwide Awareness Campaign: With Bangladesh Debate Federation (BDF) and other Democracywatch projects (PRC, LGI, ARD, MG) BB will launch this campaign where young people of at least 18 districts will come to know about BB activities and the message of Active Citizenship. The program includes debate workshop, team building exercises and FGD's. End of the project data from all the districts will depict the scenario of the Youth Community of Bangladesh. The program started with Sylhet campaign on 15th July 05.
Participants Reflection :
"I think this workshop has helped me to become much more socially aware."
"I gained confidence and knowledge."
"We learned how to work as group and do the right thing right."
"Developed my skills and know something different."

Youth Court: The youth court is a new concept for Bangladesh, which will work for the youth ,by the youth. It would need some time to work actually as a court but in the mean time; the core members of Beyond Borders will concentrate on establishing the ground and orientation of this court. This will monitor, evaluate and train the youth in the socio economic perspective in order to develop active citizenship.

Upcoming grand event: To hold Beyond Borders International Youth Summit in 2006. Young Participants from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Srilanka and the UK will share their experiences of Active Citizenship Campaign though different interactive sessions during the Summit.
This project already has created positive impact, because in this part of the world young people have adequate potential but lack opportunity for self-actualization. Street Children Program