DESPLAY SEASON 4

Youngstars Foundation, Jos, Nigeria with support from the National Endowment for Democracy, NED USA, is glad to announce the call for application from young people across African for its foremost youth democracy and good governance program DESPLAY, beginning in January 2009. Democracy Series: Participation – Learning and Active Youths (DESPLAY) is a knowledge based and activity oriented youth program that brings together youths from different places to deepen their democracy knowledge and foster active youth participation in good governance processes. Since 2005, DESPLAY has directly trained over 250 youths from Nigeria and Ghana, and over 2000 youths indirectly through her peer education component called Passing-it-On (PiO).

As Africa strides to become the continent of our dream, governance and leadership remains one of the critical vehicles for achieving a better Africa. Different arguments continue on the subject of the continents growth and development, many questions continue to be asked about Africa’s democratization and development. Interestingly, more young people who remain the bulk of the African population and the emerging leaders are showing interest in issues of governance, leadership and development in the continent. It is not farfetched to cite that from Liberia to Lagos, Abuja to Accra, Yaoundé to Swaziland, Senegal to S. Africa, and Nairobi to Niger Republic, etc, young Africans are faced with many challenges that could be easily resolved if there is good governance. Bad governance and corruption predicated on the absence of people power and active citizenship have become the bane of our underdevelopment as a continent. Africa is a great continent and great Africans are in demand to make it great! Transformational leaderships, genuine people based development programs and homegrown reforms and governance empowered by active citizenship are foundational for the new Africa.

The world is changing. The just concluded America election and President Elect Sen. Obama further demonstrates the audacity of hope, the power of a dream and the importance of active participation. Democracy is built on participation. Richard Lerner opines that “to live is to participate”! democracy provides the space for everyone to be involved, including young people! This is what DESPLAY is about. In DESPLAY, we no longer ask for space to participate, we are taking our space. We no longer ask for our voice to be heard, we make our voice heard. We no longer ask to be represented, we are finding out how to represent ourselves. In DESPLAY, we no longer believe that youths are tomorrows leaders, we are learning how youths are leading today! DESPLAY affirms that youth are a critical segment of society today and have significant roles to play today in entrenching our democracy and nation building today. DESPLAY equips young people to become more active in making democracy grow, making leadership more responsive and accountable, promoting human dignity and the rule of law among others. DESPLAY is one program every emerging African leader needs to attend. Those over the age bracket and interested can apply as an observer. Facilitators are drawn from the Academia, Civil society, Government and Social entrepreneurs.

DESPLAY semesters:

DESPLAY Season 4 shall admit 30 youths from Nigeria and African countries for a rich year long democracy education and networking process. A DESPLAY year comprises (3) semesters of training schedule to take place every 3 or 4 months, that is, three (3) semesters in a year. Each semester last four (4) days and has two (2) phases. Phase one (1) is the 4 days in-house training, while phase two (2) is called PiOO (Passing it On) a very integral component of the project which requires each participant to transfer knowledge gained from a semester to a minimum of 25 youths before the next semester. Only those who conduct the PiO excises are qualified to attend the next semester or participate in other DESPLAY activities.

Semester 1: Thematic focus is on Understanding Democracy and Good Governance”. Where concepts of democracy, regime types, issues of democratization in Nigeria and other Africa countries are meticulously engaged.

Semester 2: Thematic focus is on “Participation”. Exploring what participation means to young people, available strategic entry points into our democracy space, what are available tools of engagement among others.

Semester 3: Thematic focus is on “Leadership and Aspiration, with special emphasis on how leadership impacts modern governance. Character and ethics based leadership is explored with focus on transactional and transformational leadership models. The Personal Vision Development exercise shall become an exciting addition from Season 4.

Aside from presentations from seasons resource persons, the use of film shows, role plays, group

works, reading exercises, debates, sports and community service are part of what makes a DESPLAY

semester a truly learning, participatory and unforgettable experience for participants.

Other Basics:

Legislative Internship:

Interested participants apply for the funded legislative internship for 3 weeks in the National

Assembly of the participants country of residence. The internship is a strategic process for educating

young people on law making processes and encouraging youths to begin to contribute to law making

processes. It is also meant to begin inspiring young people to aspire towards it at different levels.

The legislative internship also happens at other relevant social institutions of choice. Since 2005 when

this component was introduced, many youths have interned in the National Assembly of Nigeria,

state assemblies and other social institutions like NTA Network and Voice of Nigeria.

Learning Visit:

This component was introduced 2yeasrs ago with the aim of providing participants a first hand

experience of another country practicing democracy in Africa. During the learning visit, participants

interact with different sectors of the country, ie, the parliament, media, students, civil society, private

sector, government, etc. The Learning Visit is usually a weeklong exercise with participants taking full

responsibility for their travel cost. However, from DESPLAY Season 4, limited number of participants

shall be enjoy partial travel scholarship courtesy of NED – USA. Those that can afford it are also

welcome. Past DESPLAY teams visited Ghana, DESPLAY Season 4 is sure to explore another African

democracy.

Youth Day on Democracy and Leadership:

Introduced as a new component of DESPLAY is scheduled to happen during the 3rd Semester of

Season 4. The Youth Day shall recognize Nigerians who are credible examples in the enthronement

of democracy values like accountability, rule of law, good leadership, social development, human

development amongst others. DESPLAY participants shall paly very active roles in the nominating and

selecting awardees. Moreso, participants of DESPLAY shall also be recognized for exceptional

participation during Season 4.

Community Service:

During each Semester, participants shall take out time to conduct community service within the host community as a way of directly and immediately impacting its host community with the values of democratization vis-à-vis reaching out to the youths in the area. This exercise shall also go a long in instilling the culture of community service and volunteerism among our youths.

International Candidates:

From DESPLAY Season 4, funding subsidy has been secured by the NED to cover the travel cost of only 2 international participants to attend all 3 semesters in Nigeria. Please note that the travel subsidy available may not cover the full travel cost. Porspective international candidates shall be fully briefed about the available subsidy and how to qualify for it prior to final selection. However while in Nigeria, accommodation, feeding and all other costs are covered fully by the program for international participants. Foreign youth interested and who believe they can secure funding to cover their participation are very much welcome. Youngstars shall provide such with supporting documents to pursue sponsorship.

Eligibility and Application Process:

Young persons between the ages of 21-30 living in Nigeria and African countries are eligible to

apply and participate. The application process is in 2 phases opens from ……and closes on Saturday

20th, December 2008.

Phase 1: involves completing the application form and references and sending to Youngstars before

the closing date. From the pool of applications, the first set of prospective participants shall be

shortlisted and contacted for the second phase by Friday 9th, January 2009. All other participants

shall also receive a letter later than Friday 16th January 2009.

Phase 2: the shortlisted candidates complete another set of questions and random phone

interviews are conducted from which the list is narrowed to only 35 participants who are informed via

email about their final status. The final list is generated from this phase and contacted by Monday

19th, January 2009. However, an awaiting list is also generated from which candidates can be

picked should any of the selected candidates is unable to attend the program.

Training Commencement date:

DESPLAY Season 1 Semester 1 is scheduled to hold from Monday 26th to Saturday 31st, January 2009 in Jos, Plateau state, the middle belt region of Nigeria. More details about venue details and other logistics shall be communicated accordingly to selected participants.

Participation Fee:

The National Endowment for Democracy – NED USA covers about 90% of the program cost, including accommodation, feeding, conference tools, transport subsidy, internship subsidy, among others. However, selected participants shall register with a token fee of N5,000 or $43 only per semester. This payment is made a week before the semester to secure your space.

To apply:

Download application forms from www.youngstarsfoundation.org or send an email requesting the forms through desplay@yahoo.com , ystar27@yahoo.com or ystargh@yahoo.com for those in Ghana

Entry closes January 12th, 2009.

For Further Details:

Bola +234, 8065479817, +234 7035535876

Irene +234 7033407177

Naa (Ghana) +233 244682776

Youngstars Foundation:

Int Office: Chief Botmang House, A.M. Dung Str. Sparkling Junction, Dadin Kowa

P.O. Box 515, Jos Plateau State Nigeria

www.youngstarsfoundation.org www.youthlens.org

info@youngstarsfoundation.org

DESPLAY…… fostering active youths participation in democracy and governance

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