Tibetan Leadership Workshop for Youth

Youth development, particularly in areas of leadership has been a largely unaddressed need in Bay Area Himalayan communities. In order to provide resources to young leaders in her community, CHAA Tibetan advocate Tsering Yangkey organized a Youth leadership workshop on Saturday, June 22, 2012. The workshop was organized to strengthen public speaking skills in voicing concerns about Tibetan issues to the world, strengthening skills in planning and hosting campaign activities, and other skills.

There were three presenters at the workshop. First was CHAA's Angelo Ercia, who led a workshop about event organizing and outreach. Participants joined in a planning activity, where they were asked to break out into groups to organize an event. Angelo covered the different challenges that can often come up in event management and planning, and what the participants could do to avoid these issues to make their events as efficient and effective as possible. After a lunch of traditional home cooked Tibetan food, Nadia Hussain from CHAA presented a quick training on social media and storytelling, encouraging the participants to reach within to express their true passions when it comes to the issues they are advocating for.

The last training was led by speaker Kala Mendoza, who gave a fantastic workshop on public speaking. Kala helped the young leaders tighten up their messages and had them practice making quick videos on flip cameras so that they could watch themselves in action as they spoke of human rights in Tibet and the need for support for Tibetans in exile. The participants were grateful for the workshop and all that they learned. Tsering looks to do more youth leadership trainings for the community so that leaders can gain further tools and insights for making the greatest impact when it comes to their advocacy efforts.