ACDP participation at the Youth Leadership Summit

ACDP continues to work by its goals and has been promoting behavior change, improving mindset and creating leaders in the communities by empowering and equipping youths.  

Through recognition, 3 ACDP youths were selected to participate in the Youth Leadership Summit organized by Equal Playing Field (EPF). The youths selected were Henry Mekere,  Jomeda Yoni and Nadya Evi who took part in the program hosted at APEC Haus from November 15th to 19th .  30 youths in total participated from Morobe, East Sepik, East New Britain, Milne Bay, Hela, Southern Highlands and NCD.

With the Theme: “Strongim Yut, Strongim Nasen” participants undertook an intensive workshop on identifying social, political and economic issues in their communities and collaboratively sourced for creative and effective solutions.

The participants shared their experiences with their fellow ACDP youths after the summit. The youths spoke about having the opportunity to meet up with other young people from other centers. They described how working together and learning from each other was a key highlight in the summit.  

Henry, who is a yoga teacher and has been part of the ACDP program for almost 5 years said that he was able to meet other youths at the YLS2021 and discussed issues that have affected youths with effective solutions.  

“I learned how to be a good role model in the communities. If we do not have good role models,  this community will not change; it will be the same. It’s important that we have good role models in the communities.” 

They also had the privilege to learn about storytelling, filmmaking, communication and ethics as well as how to use technology to affect positive change. 

“The fun part was to learn skills in a short period of time. They taught us how to make films and documentaries using our phones.” He added. 

Jomeda Yoni is a yoga instructor and has been part of ACDP for almost 5 years. He saw the importance of youths coming together to discuss problems and possible solutions. He acknowledged the summit and said even though only three youths from ACDP joined the leadership summit, this is a learning experience for ACDP as all that they experienced and learned will be shared with their fellow youths at ACDP. 

Jomeda continued by stating, “I learned about constitutional equality, which is basically constitutional rights and human rights balanced with gender equality. I learned that we need women’s opinions on issues, and I agree with this whole heartedly.” 

“Leaders should step up and lead in all situations. I am happy to learn all this and to share all that I have learned during the summit” he added. 

The third participant, Nadya Evi, has been part of ACDP for almost 5 years. She is part of PNG Circus and is the only current female circus-aerialist in PNG. Regardless of her already accomplished skills, she continues to train with hopes to empower more females to take up try out new skills. 

The YLS2021 has motivated her to take lead of her goals. 

Nadya said, “I have learned a lot and will incorporate what I have learned to promote ACDP and ACDP values in communities, as this program is for everyone.” 

ACDP is proud to provide youth from the most disadvantage areas of the city with empowerment to be able to lead the change by taking part in important activities such as this.