QCU Conducts First Module of its USAID-funded Executive Course for QC Barangays and Community Leaders

The Quezon City University successfully hosted the first module of its online Executive Course for Barangay Leaders on System Delivery Support for the Out of School Youth (QCU BLeSDS for the OSY) on November 27 and December 4, 2021, with University President Dr. Theresita V. Atienza as a special lecturer.

Organized through a grant provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Opportunity 2.0 Program – Education Development Center (EDC), the two-day session on Bridging Leadership held via Zoom introduced to participants its three core elements – ownership, co-ownership, and co-creation, and its relevance to the out-of-school youth.

According to Dr. Atienza, bridging leadership is a leadership style that focuses on promoting multi-stakeholder processes to address complex social, institutional, and environmental challenges by convening stakeholders to address social problems through collaborative actions.

Gusto nating gumamit ng bridging leadership para mag-create ng isang enabling environment para sa ating mga institusyon tulad ng local government, mga eskwelahan, at mga barangay na magtulong-tulong para sa mga out-of-school youth ng ating lungsod (We want to use bridging leadership to create an enabling environment for our institutions such as the local government, schools, and barangays to work together for the out-of-school youth of our city)

Dr. Atienza explained.

The online sessions included interactive activities that helped the participants describe their leadership journeys, and identify the pressing problems concerning the out-of-school youth. Selected faculty members and administrative employees of QCU served as facilitators during the sessions.

More than 190 participants including barangay officials, community leaders, student leaders, and alternative learning system and TESDA completers attended the two sessions that were held via Zoom.

QCU BLeSDS for the OSY aims to train local QCitizen leaders in developing and designing community programs, projects, and activities that will address the situations, problems, and concerns of OSYs in Quezon City.

Module 1 on Bridging Leadership is part of the first component of the program that focuses on youth leadership and development, which will also cover topics on positive youth development, education and training opportunities, livelihood and employment, health education and responsible parenthood, and peace, justice, law, and order.

The second part will cover modules on planning, designing, and organizing OSY-related programs, and implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. A two-day workshop on project proposal development will be held at the end of the program. Selected output from the workshops will be implemented before being presented during a youth summit on June 2022.

The online executive course started on November 27, 2021, and will end on April 30, 2022. The next two sessions of the executive course on December 11, 2021, and January 8, 2022, will focus on positive youth development.

To receive more updates about the USAID-funded program, visit the official Facebook and Twitter pages of the QCU BLeSDS for the OSY Executive Course at https://www.fb.com/qcublesds and https://twitter.com/QCUblesds.