I think true leadership is not taught, but unlocked. My growth as a leader, from YMCA Europe Generation Next to the Youth Leadership Academy (YLA), is a perfect example. This path quickly helped my work as a citizen and my academic journey. Generation Next started things for me and showed me why I wanted to help my community. After that, the YLA training, gave me the tools to take real action. This training has made me a strong youth leader and activist. It has also helped me build a plan for my future.
My belief in this work became stronger because of the core values I learned in Generation Next. This program truly “unlocked” my abilities. It gave me confidence for community work and kept me motivated for university life. When I was accepted into the YLA, I got the chance to learn important skills formally. The YLA began with a week in Malta and was a training session that taught me more than just theories. I got key knowledge, tools and international connections. The most important thing was having to plan and do my own project. This was a true test of leadership.
Doing this project was the most important step in my growth as an activist. I created and finished a sensitive community project in Georgia. The project wanted to build better relationships between two main ethnic groups. I was very careful and used the “Do Not Harm” principles I learned at the Leadership Academy. This whole process: from Malta, doing the project in Georgia, to the last week in Northern Ireland was a great training. It showed me how to deal with complex social issues, share resources fairly, and get clear results. This is the experience every young leader needs.
The skills I learned during the YLA are useful everywhere. They connect my activism and my academic work directly. Also, I am a scholarship holder and these programs gave me confidence and clear focus. It has allowed me to focus more intently on my academic journey and pursue a higher-quality education, while also building on the valuable experience I’ve gained at YMCA.
The Academy also taught me excellent lessons about working well by watching the team. The YLA planning team was very skilled and friendly. They showed the perfect “Juste Milieu” – finding the right balance between being personal and being professional. Seeing how they met big goals in a “non tiring” way gave me a strong model for managing people and having a positive team culture. This example has made my goals clearer.
To conclude, the both YMCA Europe programs developed me. It took the potential I found in Generation Next and turned it into the professional skills of the YLA. This experience proved that a good leader needs both clear core values and a good plan for action. I will use the YLA’s project management and resource skills, plus the study skills from my current education, to keep my projects going. The Generation next and the Leadership Academy did more than just gave experience, it made me a young professional and activist who knows how to plan and is ready to lead change for a more connected and fairer world.
