“I came to know that every little goal is achieved only after hard work and consistency… I could interact with the other people in the program well because of the beautiful theme of the program. Somewhere deep in my heart, I am pushed towards my goals and decide to work until I achieve it.” —Sandhya Paudyal

Global Peace Young Leaders (GPYL), a youth initiative of Global Peace Foundation (GPF), and Hopes of Change initiated the Lead Yourself program on December 30, 2017, bringing together a diverse group of twenty-one young people in Nepal.

Lead Yourself- Get. Set. Go. was designed to develop moral and innovative leadership capacities in youth ages 18 to 22 by first helping them cultivate strategies for self-discovery. The initial workshop provided tools for youth to understand their own potential (Get); plan accordingly in the direction of their goals (Set); and actually implement steps to accomplish their goals (Go).

The tech-savvy Ajay Pandey, representative of the International Youth Federation, shared his own series of dilemmas as an aspiring young leader and entrepreneur. Touching on the importance of perseverance, consistency and hard work, Ajay said, “Set your goals and work on it with every inch of your expertise and knowledge by keeping all the distractions at bay.”

GPYL General Secretary Sandhya Paude

GPYL General Secretary Sandhya Paudel urged her fellow participants to use hard work and consistency as key terms on their path towards achieving their goals. “I never thought I would question myself on how I am working to actually accomplish my goals until I attended this workshop,” she said. “I came to know that every little goal is achieved only after hard work and consistency. The presenter gave some examples to actually motivate us to work with dedication. I could interact with the other people in the program well because of the beautiful theme of the program. Somewhere deep in my heart, I am pushed towards my goals and decide to work until I achieve it.” The workshop helped the participants to identify their own status and draw their long term and short term goals and then work for it to bring it to reality.
Participants claimed the program pushed them to vocalize their internal issues, acknowledging personality types and assisting in character development. Gokul Joshi from Hopes of Change said the program helped him understand what real leadership looked like, both in leading himself and in leading others.

GPYL President Muskan Prasai shared, “The workshop was very insightful and made absolute sense in terms of the principles and values. The information and acquired skills learned in this workshop will greatly help me achieve my goals in social and my personal life.”