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Youth Training Program in Responsible Citizenship and Responsive Leadership

Training-Home    Topics    Goals   Students   Speakers  TrainingSchedule   Budget  Evaluation   Student Roster   Photos 2004

Goals - 2004

GASA has engaged in “band-aid” types of projects (toothbrush, books, pencils, old clothes) and will continue to do so for as long as resources are available.  But beyond these short-lived measures, GASA envisions a legacy of “teaching people how to fish” by educating the youth through a yearly leadership training program, tailored to the needs of the island province. 

 Mission/Program Curriculum

 GASA believes that there is a wide field of topics that can be discussed at this seminar:

• Public Service & Governance – discuss responsibilities of government ranging from barangay captain to president of the country; public revenues and expense budgets, government structure

• Health Issues – cost of health care, prevention of diseases, role of the public health services

• Heritage Conservation and Restoration

• Education – discuss literacy,  the lack of libraries, literature, Science Hi

• Public Information –the role of newspapers, what do our people read, media, Siquijor Today

• Agriculture/Commerce/Economics – future of agribusiness, small-scale or backyard farming, agriculture/commercial infrastructure

• The Justice System – people’s basic legal rights, land titles

• The Environment – What we're doing with or to our environmental resources such as water, land, ores, fishing grounds, etc.

• Career Choices – what is relevant to the island if the youth were to stay to serve the island as professionals or as public servants

Teaching methods will include panel discussions; student-driven interviews of professionals and public officials including mayors, councilmen, judges, lawyers, small-scale businessmen, farmers, journalists and educators; lectures by experts; field trips; educational video presentations; reports on interviews and selected readings.

The leadership training program will be GASA’s definitive legacy.  It is a program that responds to current problematic issues of life on the island, while enhancing and complementing existing formal educational processes.   It is practical yet idealistic, affordable and noble.  It is geared to be a yearly event that in due time will make a difference in the quality of the lives of the people in Siquijor in the years to come.  It is an investment that will be well spent. 

GASA hopes that this workshop will motivate  the students to become responsible citizens and above all, responsive leaders when they so become.