Leadership Academy!

Writing this on my way back from the third and final session of YMCA Europe's 2018/19 Leadership Academy in Malta.

Got the call to help out on the facilitator team with Illenia (our Advocacy, Projects and Fundraising Officer at YMCA Europe) being off on maternity leave and feel privileged to have been given the opportunity (even if I am a poor substitute for Illenia!!!).

The project (now in its second year) brings together young people from across Europe to equip and prepare them to become future leaders within the movement and beyond.

The third session kicked off on the topic of communication, introducing those attending to the theory that sits behind it, through to practical tips on things like public speaking.

With these seeds planted, day two and three moved the group into the topics of advocacy and campaigns.

Put into teams, and put through a series of exercises, we tasked the group with developing a campaign from scratch on topics of their choice.

The teams researched the evidence behind their topics, identified solutions and asks, pulled these together in policy papers and then created a social media activations for their campaigns.

With such a big task (and so little time to do it!), you never really know how these things will turn out, but I was completely blown away with what the teams managed to produce.

You'd pay good money to a marketing agency or consultant to create what they did, so I hope one day these campaigns see the light of day. I genuinely think they could stimulate real and lasting change on such important issues as climate change, gender equality, mental health and addiction.

But with anything like this, it is not all about end point, it's also about the journey. To be just a (very!) small part on this journey with young people there was amazing. People from such different countries and backgrounds working together, coming to common understandings and ideas and creating lasting bonds.

Like with any international experience, the welcome and seeing first hand the work of the local YMCAs is always a very special part (plus got another photo of a YMCA sign for the collection!!!).

The work YMCA Malta, and the challenges faced by the people they work with, mirror so closely to work of YMCAs in England and Wales. Given these ties, there must be opportunities for our national movements to work together more closely!!!!

Anyway, I'll stop rambling on, think you get the gist - it was pretty special and am grateful for the welcome from YMCA Malta, the facilitator team, most importantly the young people.

On a personal note, traveling back I feel part broken, part emotional wreck. This might well be my final international experience at YMCA, if it is, I'm glad I got to spend it with such an amazing and inspiring group of young people who epitomise exactly what makes our movement so very special and the part I'll miss most.