Global Peace Foundation (GPF) Nepal is striving to empower youth during the global pandemic with a series of virtual sessions that have engaged more than four hundred enthusiastic young people who want to make their time productive during the lockdown.
Recent lockdowns have brought up incalculable uncertainties and fears among people around the world. In Nepal, police departments have reported more than 2,000 suicide cases during the lockdown, highlighting the tragic effect the pandemic has had not only economically but socially. Through online sessions, GPF Nepal aims to empower the youth with awareness and capacity building so that they can utilize the knowledge for themselves and within their families to keep them mentally healthy.
Online Mindfulness and Public Speaking Session
Youth learned about how to shape their habits, practice mindfulness, and how to cultivate emotional self-awareness during the pandemic during the virtual sessions. They were also able to utilize their time to develop creative writing skills and public speaking skills.
Pralisha Adhikari, a participant of the Mindfulness and Public Speaking session, shared, “Both sessions were very practical and could be easily related to daily practice. Mindful speaking, practice, attention, acceptance, looking at the positive side as much as we can be some key takeaways for me. The session on mindfulness was amazing. I’m definitely applying mindfulness to everything I do in my life.”
Workshops on Moral & Innovative Leadership have also continued virtually so youth in Nepal can learn about the core values of leadership, self-discovery, and inside-out conflict resolution. These opportunities have not only made the attendees more aware of themselves but also encourages them to take ownership of the challenging situations around them and start to become changemakers in their communities.
One of the graduates of the workshop, Abhigya Parajuli, shared her experience saying, “The ‘Moral and Innovative course’ added a new definition of leadership to my life. The process of self-discovery with all the practical tasks added a new dimension of finding the leader in yourself. It was all about exploring your core values, self-discipline, and sense of identity, strengths, and weaknesses. One of the major takeaways was ‘In order to lead others; you must lead yourself first.’ It was one of the best sessions I have attended in this lockdown. It has really helped to acknowledge our purpose in life as a human being. Thank you so much GPF Nepal and the whole team for providing such amazing, interesting, and insightful content to aspiring youth leaders like us.”
“This moral and Innovative leadership workshop has really been a beautiful experience for me,” shared another graduate Anusha Shrestha. “It not only helped me utilize my leisure time but also helped me explore within myself. It has been more than leadership training for me. We got to learn about our strengths, weaknesses, coping measures, and the way to connect with people around us. Most specifically, I got to know other enthusiastic youths and that helped me stay more committed, motivated, and positive. I have received a life-long lesson from these sessions which will certainly help in my career and personality development. I express my immense gratitude to the organizer for providing me this amazing opportunity and recommend every individual to participate in upcoming workshops to help foster themselves. Looking forward to similar events from the Global Peace Foundation.”
Stella Mainali, not only a graduate of previous leadership workshops but now a workshop facilitator, for now, more than a year, shared her reflection:
“As a facilitator of such leadership development workshops, I can vouch for the fact that such programs guide youths like us on a path that truly helps to develop new perspectives, boost our confidence and hone our communication and networking skills by connecting us with people from all walks of life. Most of all, programs like these enable us to reflect on our strengths and inspire us to lead a purposeful life. Participating in GPF’s Moral and Innovative leadership workshop four years ago marked the turning point in my life because this platform further opened the doors of opportunities and rewarding experiences that have shaped me into a better person.”
GPF Nepal Moral & Innovative Leadership workshops have been running for several months virtually and will continue every month throughout the year to assist youth in leadership development and coping strategies during the ongoing pandemic crisis.
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