I was very excited three weeks ago when I learnt that the Secretary General of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award for Young People, John May and the Africa Regional Director, Edwin Kimani were coming to Rwanda to meet with the Minister for Education and the one for Youth and ICT. The two Award officials met the ministers at Select Hotel in Kigali on 27th November, 2014. They also met administrators from Kigali International School, Riviera High school and Akilah Institute for Women. I am optimistic that the Award programme is on its way to Rwanda and once it is established, our young people will benefit highly.

I believe that with the government coming on board, the programme will be established in the near future. As I indicated in one of my previous articles, the programme is one of the world’s leading youth achievement awards and it caters for young people between 14 and 24 years. It empowers them with life and practical skills that make them self-reliant. It has three progressive levels which include, Bronze: six months, Silver: twelve months and Gold: eighteen months. At each level, each participant gets involved in four mandatory sections of activities which comprise, community service, skills development, physical recreation and adventurous journey.

In the community service section, participants spend at least one hour per week doing community service in form of public clean-ups in hospitals, schools and public offices. They can also help the orphans, people with disabilities and the elderly. Participants can also get involved in the campaigns against HIV/AIDS, malaria and drug abuse. Through community service, they develop compassion and they are able to realise the needs of society.

In the skills development section, each participant selects a skill and spends at least one hour per week developing it. The skills to choose from may include: public speaking, creative writing, ICT, knitting, decorating, event management, carpentry, metal fabrication, entrepreneurship, customer service, first aid, building and construction, music, dance and drama among others.

The physical recreation section requires each participant to choose a sporting activity that requires energy to perform as a way of keeping fit and developing talent. The list of such activities may include: football, volleyball, basketball, tennis, swimming, martial arts, athletics, rugby, cycling and baseball among others. The participants are expected to spend at least one hour per week doing physical recreation.

The adventurous journey section requires the participants to undertake journeys to unfamiliar places in groups most probably in the wilderness. At Bronze level, participants spend two days and one night, at Silver level, they spend three days and two nights and at Gold level, they spend four days and three nights. The journeys are carried out using maps and the participants move in groups of between six to seven members. Each group is accompanied by Award leaders who assess the progress of the individuals involved but they do not show them the routes to follow. The journey is challenging but it is also exciting to the young people. Some groups may get lost for some time but they have to rediscover the right routes to be able to complete the journey.

The journey may be carried out on foot and as the participants undertake it, they observe nature, interact with the local people and do community service in order to impact positively on the local community. They manage their own affairs with little support from the Award leaders who accompany them. They fetch water, cook food, set up camp fire at night and assemble their tents. The adventurous journey helps them to develop teamwork, interpersonal skills, self-reliance, goal setting skills, problem solving, report writing, map reading, creativity, decision making, adventure and perseverance among others.

The programme is supposed to operate at minimal cost so as to benefit as many young people as possible. The schools, institutions or youth organisations may offer full sponsorship of the participants or they may cost share with them. In some places where those interested can afford all the costs, they sponsor themselves.

The Africa Regional office offers operating licences to the applicants whose schools or organisations meet the required standards of the Award. Once the operating license has been issued, the Award officials conduct training workshops for the Award leaders who may be teachers or youth leaders. Then, the Award leaders sensitise the students about the Award programme before enrolling those who may be interested in joining.

At the end of each level, participants are awarded medals and certificates which are internationally recognised. This is one way through which our young people can develop their curriculum vitae to get access to sponsorships in universities. They can also create their own jobs or compete favourably in the global job market.

For more information about the Award program, please visit: www.intaward.org.

The writer is an English Language Instructor and Award leader