REPORT OF THE MESSENGERS OF PEACE AFRICA COMMUNITY

LEADERS TRAINING

Bungere Scouts Camp, Gitega-Burundi 1st to 3rd August 2012

A Report of the Kenyan Delegation

REPORT OF THE MESSENGERS OF PEACE AFRICA COMMUNITY LEADERS TRAINING HELD AT BUNGERE SCOUTS CAMP IN GITEGA BURUNDI DURING THE 6TH AFRICA SCOUT JAMBOREE FROM 1ST TO 3RD AUGUST 2012 Preamble The Messengers of Peace (MoP) Africa Community Leaders Training took place immediately after and in the same venue as the Reloaded 6th Africa Scout Youth Forum at the Bungere Scouts Camp in Gitega, Burundi as from the evening of 1st August to the afternoon of 3rd august 2012. The training was part of the implementation process of the World Scout Foundatio funded Messengers of Peace project. The project aims at reinforcing the movement through an online community network that would provide an opportunity for scouts from all over the world to take action on a global scale through the. The purpose of the network is to build a movement around the Messengers of Peace initiative and to make it clear to everybody how Scouting creates a better world. This training was organized to train the first batch of young community leaders for Africa who would promote the MoP initiative in their respective countries and collectively in Africa and the world. In practice a Community Leader is an online leader that helps fellow Scouts tell their stories, inspire so that Scouts want to come back, and help other Scouts participate. They will do all this while ensuring a warm and friendly tone in the community. These are vital ambassadors and play a key role in the success of the online community. Participation The training attracted participation from the twenty six (26) countries and thirty (30) young people most of whom attended the 6th Africa Scout Youth Forum. These were:

1. Benin

2. Botswana

3. Burkina-Faso

4. Burundi

5. Cameroun

6. DRC

7. Ethiopia

8. Gambia

9. Ghana

10. Ivory Coast

11. Kenya

12. Lesotho

13. Madagascar

14. Malawi

15. Mauritius

16. Mozambique

17. Namibia

18. Niger

19. Rwanda

20. Senegal

21. Sierra Leone

22. Swaziland

23. Tanzania

24. Togo

25. Uganda

26. Zimbabwe Also in attendance were afew selected adults from Zimbabwe, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo and staff from the Africa Regional Office of the World Scout Bureau. Facilitating the training was a team of five MoP trainers including Cynthia, Ronni, Collie, Christopher and Kim. Kenya was represented by Nelson Ochieng Opany the National Youth Representative and Grace Nyaruai Michuki the newly elected President of the Africa Scout Youth Forum.

Left to Right: Jonathan Omondi-WSB/ARO, Grace Michuki-Kenya, Nelson Opany-Kenya and Jacques Sandrizi-

WSB/ARO during the Messengers of Peace Community Leaders Training Training Content The entire training programme covered four aspects relating to the work the Community Leaders would be expected to perform. These included storytelling, using social media, community leader patrols and social media planning.

Storytelling Participants were taken through how to develop good stories for communicating peace messages focusing on what really matters with simplicity, precision and sincerity. Some key highlights of this included the powers of storytelling, the element of a journey in a story, tips on how to craft news stories and a practical storytelling session. Social Media Platforms Social media have changed the way we communicate and thus changed societies. Thus they form an important tool in peace building. Participants were however made aware that “social

media is not social, people are.” And that every post made on social media should support a greater overall goal. It was also revealed that the MoP project is targeting an online network of 20 million scouts (messengers of peace) worldwide sharing stories and promoting peace locally in their communities and globally in www.scoutmessengers.org. Participants were also exposed to the thousand of social media platforms available for them to use. Community Leaders Patrol An old saying by Henry Ford goes, coming together is the beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success.” For the community leaders, they were expected to form six member patrols/teams through which they would work to support each other in achieving the aims of the project. Every member of the team would have certain skills necessary to support the delivery of the project. The team would comprise of people with skills in writing and graphic design, videography and editing, research and online content generation, page administration and online discussion moderator and photographers. The patrol would have to find members both online and offline, motivate and encourage them and help them whenever need may be.

A demonstration of team work during the Community Leaders training

Social Media Planning Great things are not done by impulse but by a series of small things brought together. These words by Vincent Van Gogh opened this session. Participants were told that for there to be effective, consistent and progressive delivery of messages on social media it is important to plan the communication. They were advised to focus on just a few social media platforms best suited for their community and be very active on them. Proper recruitment of messengers of peace to the community and continuous discussions together with a day to day monitoring of the community page is very important. Amahoro Amani Project Case Study An officer from the Amahoro Amani Project by the Scouts and Guides of the Great Lakes Region in Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo was also invited to share with the participants information about their project. He mentioned some of the challenges and success they have made as well as disclosed that they would be soon expanding their project to other parts of

Africa and the world. He further welcomed the participants to get in touch with them to see how they would support each other in the peace building initiatives. Training Outcomes

At the end of the training the participants were awarded Messengers of Peace Diplomas as the first batch of certified MoP Community Leaders in Africa. This came together with an MoP scarf and badge.

Each Community Leader officially joined the MoP Network as a registered as Messenger of Peace. They would also be registered at www.communityleaderzone.com from where they can access training material and constant support from the trainers.

The Community Leaders were divided into working patrols in which they shall support each other.

The Community Leaders were mandated to go out and recruit many more Messengers of Peace as well as undertake community action projects to promote the MoP Africa Community Leaders Network both offline and through their online communities with the support of the National Programme Commissioners under the supervision of the Africa Regional Office.

Participants were also able to share some of the ways through which they would use to promote the MoP initiative.

National Scout Organizations would soon be contacted within about 2 months from the date of this training with special material to support the incorporation of MoP in their youth programme

Participants concentrate at a session just before the close of the MoP Community Leaders training

Recommendations to the Kenya Scouts Association We the Messengers of Peace Community Leaders from Kenya; Having successfully undertaken the Community Leaders Training Understanding the ideals and objectives of the Messengers of Peace Project Aware of our mandate and responsibilities in promoting the Messengers of Peace Network in Kenya Desiring to make positive contributions that would impact community and promote peace Do hereby recommend that:

We be provided with the necessary support to enable us fulfill the mandate for which we were trained

The National Youth Forum be mandated to design and implement a one-year peace project with funding from the Messengers of Peace Support Fund as the country heads to the 2013 general elections so as to provide an opportunity for the youth to play a constructive role in peace building before, during and after the polls as well as to help strengthen the youth forum at the grassroots.

KSA considers making an application for a full-scale national peace project upon the completion of the youth forum project.

Projects and/or bases around the Messengers of Peace project be included in the questionnaire for the 2012 National inter patrol competitions and rover challenge. The same shall also form part of the agenda for the National Youth Forum alongside an MoP Workshop for observers at the same competitions and at all levels in the other subsequent ones.

The messengers of peace badge be included as part of the badge system in all the sections

One of the Community Leaders Patrol with its mentor J.Omondi-WSB/ARO. Left to Right:H. Maujo-Malawi, G.

Michuki-Kenya, S. Dikgathatso-Botswana, N. Opany-Kenya, E. Hilundwa-Namibia, V. Atipaga-Ghana.

Conclusion Baden Powell once said that since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed. As trained MoP Community Leaders, the participants were tasked with the task of becoming young champions of peace in Africa through scouting. With a target of 20 million scouts the work ahead is not a mean one. However it is expected that they should be able to put to practice the knowledge and skill learnt at the training to progressively grow the numbers of scout messengers of peace across the world. The training ended well with each participant well aware of what is expected of them and having made a commitment to work towards the development of scouting through the Messengers of Peace project.

Participants display their MoP Community Leaders Diploma certificates at the close of the training

Report jointly compiled by: Nelson Ochieng Opany & Grace Nyaruai Michuki National Youth Representatives Kenya Scouts Association Wednesday, August 08, 2012 Nairobi, Kenya