Empowering youth to serve in their communities

Nearly 800 young people from Sinhala and Tamil communities in the east have completed a six month training in a ‘Youth in Transition Programme’ (YITP) supported by UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) and WUSC (World University Service of Canada).

As part of the project, youth from the age of 14 upwards were trained on leadership, career guidance and provided internships in their chosen field of interest.

The UNICEF supported project has helped establish nearly 800 youth in their communities. “My proudest moment was when I saved a nine year old girl from drowning in the floods in January,” said Jagath Kumara. “The confidence and leadership it took to do that came from my YITP experience,” he said.

The YITP focuses on helping conflict affected youth rebuild their lives. The goal of the programme is to build self-confidence, encourage community participation and civic responsibility, as well as to provide knowledge and guidance about future opportunities.

“These kinds of initiatives will give more opportunities for youth,” said Reza Hossaini, UNICEF Representative for Sri Lanka. “Leadership and career guidance will help them develop their self confidence and increase their chances for employment.”

“We first used the YITP concept in the south with tsunami affected youth. The impact proved to be so beneficial that we were asked to run a similar program for conflict affected young people in the East,” said Helen Patterson, Project Director, WUSC.

Speaking about benefits of the programme, a parent Anasha Priyandharshini said: “My daughter is teaching others in the community and contributing more at home. After YITP, the community identified positive changes in my daughter. They started asking what she did to make these changes, because they wanted other youth to also benefit.”

The last batch of the UNICEF/WUSC initiative ended on a high note in Trincomalee last weekend.  Over 80 youth and their parents attended a final reflection and integration program at Sarvodaya, where youth from Tamil and Sinhala communities told their stories of their experience on the program. “This project helped me connect with youth from other ethnic and religious communities,” said Jeevanesan, a participant living in Kilevetti IDP camp.

As part of the programme young people from mixed communities were able to communicate through art and peer discussions and shared their future aspirations with each other. Similar programmes will be held will be held in Ampara on 5 and 6 June, and in Batticaloa on 20 and 21 June.

By bringing youth from different communities together to learn, share and build better lives for themselves and their families, UNICEF and WUSC hope to empower more youth to continue building a positive and peaceful future.