The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award is one of the world’s leading youth achievement Awards. It empowers young people between 14 and 25 years with practical and life skills that prepare them for adult responsibilities. It is an initiative of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband to Queen Elizabeth of England. It operates in over 120 countries in the world and its Secretariat is in London.

In Africa, the programme operates in Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, Ghana, Zambia, Cameroon, Swaziland, Ivory Coast and South Africa among others. It operates in high schools, higher institutions of learning and youth organisations. We should introduce the programme in Rwanda so as to inspire our young people to achieve their full potential.

The Award programme has three progressive levels which include: Bronze, Silver and Gold. The Bronze level takes a minimum of six months, the silver level takes one year and the Gold level takes one-and-a-half years. At each level, the participants engage in four mandatory sections which include: community service, skills development, physical recreation and adventurous journey. The activities are categorized as follows:

Community Service

In this section, participants do community service in form of public clean-ups in hospitals, schools, markets and any other public places. They also offer support to the needy who may be orphans, people with disabilities or the elderly. The objective is to develop a spirit of volunteerism and compassion among the young people. It also makes them aware of the needs of society. This activity can be carried out in groups to build teamwork. It is similar to Umuganda which is carried out every last Saturday of the month in this country.

Skills Development

Each participant selects a skill that he develops over the specified period for a given level. The list of skills may include: public speaking, creative writing, singing, dancing, drama, event management, carpentry, photography, ICT, knitting, tailoring, weaving, commercial farming, entrepreneurship, first aid and metal fabrication among others. The objective is to enable young people to acquire practical skills that help them to create their own jobs or add value to the organisations that they may work with in future. It also helps them to set goals and work towards achieving them. The participant has to dedicate at least one hour per week to develop a skill.

Physical recreation

This section, requires each participant to engage in a sporting activity that enhances physical fitness, team work and development of talent. The sporting activities to choose from include: football, volleyball, basketball, tennis, badminton, cycling, swimming, martial arts and athletics among others. Physical recreation also helps the individuals to spend their leisure time in activities that are safe to them.

Participants are required to spend at least one hour per week doing a physical recreation activity.

Adventurous journey

Towards the end of a given level, participants undertake a journey to a place that is hitherto unknown to them most especially the wilderness. At Bronze level, the journey takes two days and one night; at Silver level, it takes three days and two nights; at Gold level, it takes four days and three nights plus a residential project. The adventurous journey may be carried out on foot, by use of horses, by use of canoes or by cycling depending on what is convenient to the participants. As they embark on the journey, they use maps and manage their own affairs in terms of map reading, preparing food and setting up tents.

The Award leaders who accompany the participants play an auxiliary role to enable the young people develop the spirit of self-reliance, teamwork, perseverance, leadership skills, problem solving skills, decision making skills, creativity, adventure and interpersonal skills.At Bronze level, participants cover a minimum of twelve hours; at Silver level, they spend a minimum of twenty one hours; at Gold level, they spend a minimum of thirty two hours.

Participants are mentored and assessed by trained Award leaders who may be teachers/instructors, community leaders or youth leaders. The Bronze and Silver Awards are issued by the African Regional office of the Award which is based in Nairobi, Kenya and the Gold Awards are issued by the Award Secretariat based in London. Award leaders are supposed to ensure that the programme is run at minimal cost to encourage many participants to join.

For more information about the Award programme, you may visit the Award website which is: www.intaward.org. The Africa Regional office offers licenses to the high schools, higher institutions of learning and youth organisations that may want to have Award units. The Africa Regional Director can be reached on: edwin.kimani@intaward.org.

I strongly believe that by operating the Award programme in this country, many of our young people will become more vibrant and work towards attaining self-reliance. The programme challenges them to learn how to set goals and to deal with the challenges of life with courage and determination.Let’s go for it!

The writer is an English Instructor and a trained Award leader