Global Social Leaders Lands In Abu Dhabi!
Last week saw our first ever Global Social Leaders Catalyst at the British School Al Khubairat. The wonderful Lina Akbar was the Course Director and programme kicked off on Sunday 11th of February until Tuesday 13th February. In the UAE the weekend is Friday and Saturday and over there right now the temperature is in its high twenties! Lina led a group of 9 students through 3 days of exciting experiential and practical based activities.
The timetable for each day involved a mix of experiential activities with opportunities for deeper reflection on how each student was developing individually and as part of a team. The young people were really keen to better understand leadership in its various incarnations, as well as how the different styles can have certain outcomes depending on the context in which they are used.
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100% of participants rated this programme as 5 out of 5
I really enjoyed my learning time and had fun! Great teacher.
The objective of the catalyst is to empower young people to bring about personal change and develop their understanding of social leadership, so that they can take on bigger global issues. The students were introduced to the Sustainable Development Goals and their importance as a framework for helping us all take action so we can move to a more egalitarian global society.
A great moment for Lina on the programme was during the Marshmallow Challenge, when a group had a tower but with only two minutes left they decided to tweak the structure and it fell. The learning for the whole group was about being aware of the time and taking risks. There is so much that can be learnt from trying and not being successful. The important thing is to try and not allow the fear of failure to stop us!
The BSAK students really focused on building their self-confidence and presentation skills. On the final day each team presented their project ideas to a panel of Social Dragons. Our thanks goes to Tonya Pesco from Universal Academic Management Organisation and Brij Bali from Emirates Foundation who were the Social Dragons for the final day’s project presentations. The projects addressed themes such as healthy eating and nutrition; and raising environmental awareness in the context of the UAE.
It was wonderful to receive the following feedback from Tonya on her experience,
From the short time we spent with the students it was obvious to see their passion for their chosen projects. The skills that they have learnt will be invaluable throughout their life. In such a short time the students had learnt so much, how to work as a team, support each other through some tough questioning from the dragons, give structured and creative presentations, showing understanding of resources and budgets. It was truly inspirational to see and an honour to be a small part of it.
When listening to them introduce themselves and were they were at the start of the programme to where they are now, showed how each student had gained from the course in terms of their skills and confidence.
