AMA Youth-Led Projects Initiative Program Ended on Tuesday

By Youssef El Kaidi

Morocco World News

Fez, April 18, 2013

After six days of presentations and workshops on communication skills, leadership skills, conflict resolution, project management, team building, and civic and political engagement, the Association of Moroccan Alumni (AMA), Youth-Led Projects Initiative Program, organized by the AMA, came to its end on Tuesday, April 16^th, 2013.

This leadership training initiative, which was sponsored by the US Embassy in Rabat, the city council of Tiznit and the delegation of National Education in Tiznit had as an objective to impact the lives of young people and contribute to positive change as a priority in their work and future vision. Despite their little resources and the multiple challenges of bringing together 43 participants from twelve different parts of the country (Taza, Tahla, Fez, Fnideq, Tetouan, Kenitra, Casablanca, Benslimane, Agadir, Tinghir, Ait Melloul and Tiznit), thanks to the joint efforts of Ms Samira Edelcadi, Mr. Ahmad Atlagh, Mr. Idriss Lamqadem, Mr. Youssef El Kaidi and all AMA members, AMA succeeded in making the necessary legal and administrative provisions and arrangements to guarantee a successful program.

Throughout the six-day time span of the program, the 43 youth participants were trained in a variety of leadership areas with the hope of encouraging them to create, manage and lead their own projects back in their schools and communities. AMA strongly believes in the power of grassroots and synergic work in making change and contributing to sustainable development. Accordingly, its training projects target young impressionable minds from different social and cultural backgrounds.

“At the beginning I thought the training would be boring, but as I got to experience its activities I found it very interesting. I learned a lot and made a lot of friendships. It was fun and I really hope to do this again,” says Nissrine Makhfi from Taza in a statement to Morocco World News.

Ayoub Agouram from Casablanca tells MWN: “First of all, I want to thank AMA for this great opportunity. I want to say that if you want to learn you must enjoy and have fun and that’s what we did. We enjoyed and we learnt. I’m sure that we will, inchallah, meet again in the future with a lot of experiences and projects to share, and will, inchallah, celebrate our success together!”

Latifa Taamart from Tiznit also expressed her appreciation for the training: “I would like to first thank all the AMA members for such a great training. What we learned here will help us to build a new country, a new Morocco with new breath. Our projects will be realized in the future inchallah. Thank you AMA members for your friendship and thank you for every moment that we spent here.”

In a statement to MWN, the president of AMA, Ms. Samira Idelcadi, insisted on the importance of recognizing such initiatives. “It’s recognition that makes us push ahead. We don’t ask for a return in exchange for what we do for our country, but sometimes it hurts to see our efforts go unnoticed. Our youth are so creative and can create miracles if we support them and recognize their work.” Concerning the future projects of AMA, Ms Idelcadi said: “We have a lot of ideas in AMA. We will sit and decide on the next step. We will suggest these ideas and projects to our partners and see how we can concretize them.”

As the closing ceremony at the conference and training Center in Tiznit came to an end, participants made their final tearful goodbyes to new friends and trainers.