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SC Media Centre - Young Leaders Conference (YLC)

The 7th Young Leaders' Conference begins on July 1st 2008

Karachi: June 24, 2008 - With the theme of 'Bataa Teri Raza Kya Hai' and economic prosperity of Pakistan, the 7th Young Leaders' Conference (YLC-2008) is scheduled to take off on July 1, 2008 at Ramada Plaza Karachi Airport Hotel. The hub of country's business, Karachi, will play host to over 300 young people from all over the world who will stay together from July 1 - 8, 2008.

Since 2002, YLC has an alumni base of 1,304 who have impacted over 130,400 people by initiating more than 210 community-based capacity building projects in their localities.

Given the huge success of its previous six conferences, the 7th Young Leaders' Conference is expected to create awareness of the immense leadership possibilities in a multi-disciplinary context and inspire participants to discover and apply their leadership potential. YLC 2008 promises interaction of participants with Mr Javed Jabbar, Ms Fatima Suraiya Bajia, Mr Ardeshir Cowasjee & Ms Sania Saeed.

Believing in the potential of youth, this conference is being designed, managed, coordinated and facilitated by Ms Sana Nizamani. She will be assisted by a team of young enthusiastic youth facilitators who have been specifically trained for YLC. Sana Nizamanai, Event Coordinator stated, "We are really excited and looking forward to this wonderful event which is full of learning and full of thrill. The participants who join us on the first day do not intend to go back even after 6 days because it really keeps them enjoying their learning."

The conference team consists of Mr. Kamran Rizvi, Director SoL, Ms. Shireen Naqvi, CEO-SoL and Ms. Saima Khan, COO-SoL.

Various social, public and private organizations, such as TCS, Navitus, Ufone, English Biscuit Manufacturers, Mobilink, Bank AlFalah, Fauji Fertilizer Company, Thal Engineering, HUBCO, House of Habib, DSI Group of Companies, Sight Savers and Ramada Plaza Hotel are partnering with SoL in this initiative. Shamrock Communications is the cause partner.


Young Leader Conference 2007 Concludes on
The Path Towards Better Tomorrow:

Lahore: July 6, 2008 - On the 6th day, participants continued with the deliberations at the Summit so as to complete the bills and papers put forward by all ministries. The resolutions and proposals were put under scrutiny by the electorate (in this case, the participant body) and after vigorous debate, consensus was achieved and a coherent policy document formulated.

In the afternoon, organizations involved in social uplift were invited to address the audience on how they managed to create their organizations and work with communities; how they earned the trust of people; involved people from the communities to help themselves; what pitfalls they encountered and their success stories.

Participants were then explained that they, too, will have to get actively involved in community uplift after they return home. They can choose to set up a new organization, work on their own, build a team or join an existing organization. For this, they are given three months, after which they have to submit a report of the community work they have done. Only then will they be awarded a certificate of participation in YLC.

In the afternoon, participants said their goodbyes, and shared what they had learnt, how they had grown. "When I came here, I was experiencing personal and professional difficulties and had become cynical and negative. YLC has helped me think positive and I already feel like a different person," is the confession of Ali, a participant from Karachi.

The Conference continues to attract around 300 students from all regions of the country, and will be held for the seventh time in July 2008 in another city of Pakistan.

The Role of Political Parties in Nation Building Instructed at Young Leaders Conference 2007:

Lahore: July 5, 2008 - The 5th day of the Young Leaders' Conference was dedicated to 'Nation Building' and providing the guiding framework to the youth on the functioning of the various organs of the state and the role of political parties in decision making.

Participants were required to form political parties with a relevant mandate and also propose one candidate for the post of head-of-state of a mock parliament. The activity brought out the creative best in the participants as they carried colorful and intelligent campaigns for their candidates. Instead of fierce competition, participants from various parties collaborated to ensure that the nation they were collectively building, would acquire the best leader. The strength of a party or leader was not how competitive s/he could be, but how they can bring out the best in the other party/people.

After completion of the campaigning session, general elections were held, in which 100% participants voted to elect a head-of-state. Election results were announced and the head-of-state proclaimed the responsibility of formulating a government and presenting the agenda. Candidates from other parties, who did not win the position of head-of-state, were asked to join the nation-leading body (government) as ministers. They were able to choose which ministry they would like to take on according to their interests, while remaining participants were asked to do the same, i.e. join the ministries as enablers and facilitators.

Members of the ministries then put their hearts and minds together to come up with a mandate of their ministry. After intense deliberation, each ministry came up with its policy statements. In the evening, in the open-air theatre of the Chand Bagh School, ministries presented their bills for approval by the house, under the guidance of the senior facilitators. The debate carried on till late in the night. Participants realized how much effort it takes to win consensus of people, how tough it is to express ones point of view and to defend it and how much more they have to learn to demand from themselves what they expect from others.

A special dinner was arranged, sponsored by Bank Alfalah and attended by its top management. Mr Bakhtiar Khawaja's, Executive Incharge HRD, message motivated the youth to put to use what they have learnt at YLC. He encouraged them to extend themselves to others in their communities so that society may benefit from what they learnt at YLC. Learnings thus shared, multiply and create the much needed change we all must create and lead.