Pal-Think concludes the «Preparing Young Leaders» programme

Pal-Think for Strategic Studies concluded the activities of the “Preparing Young Leaders” programme, which ran from August 2022 to July 2023, in continuation of Pal-Think's efforts to strengthen the culture of dialogue and rational discourse among youth.

The programme targeted 55 young men and women from the Gaza Strip. It began with a training programme in the art and foundations of debating and the mechanisms of conducting them, with the aim of developing their abilities in delivery and in persuading others of their ideas and viewpoints on their issues in a civilised, peaceful manner, and of strengthening their debating skills, life skills, and creative thinking so they can take part in decision-making. After the training, Pal-Think formed the Pal-Think debate team, which went on to hold 20 debates with several civil-society institutions and universities of the Gaza Strip, ending with a debating league among the team's own members. Those debates rested on networking among youth and adopting the values of dialogue, respect for others' opinions, acceptance of difference, and the strengthening of peaceful discussion among young people. The team took up several motions drawn from the issues touching Palestinian society as a whole and youth in particular — chief among them the comprehensive Palestinian elections, student-council elections and academic freedoms, national awareness among youth, the concepts of tolerance and gender justice in Palestinian society, community accountability, the youth movement, and other related topics of concern to all Palestinians.

The programme also produced policy papers on the repercussions of the absence of Palestinian elections on youth in the Gaza Strip and on effective national policies for strengthening youth participation in Palestinian elections, in addition to producing videos showing young people's views on their aspirations for the elections. The Pal-Think debate team also took part in advocacy campaigns to amplify young people's opinion on the various issues from their own perspective, to widen mutual understanding, build bridges of convergence around those issues, and put them before society with the aim of contributing to its building and development. The team also took part in the radio programme “Youth Dialogue” to discuss the different ideas and opinions addressed through the debates and dialogues, and to present their most important debating experiences and how to use the tools of dialogue and discussion to solve their problems.

At the close of the activities, Omar Shaban, director of Pal-Think for Strategic Studies, distributed certificates of appreciation to the debate team, affirming that Pal-Think aims to graduate a young generation of leaders for society who possess the varied skills that qualify them to be effective in their communities and in any position they attain, that Pal-Think will always continue devoting all its efforts and resources to empowering youth and strengthening their role in their society, and that it will keep up its relationship with its trainees after the programmes end through their continual inclusion in its workshops, conferences, research papers, and many activities.

For their part, the team members expressed their satisfaction with the level of awareness and skills they gained through the programme's various activities, which instilled in them a culture of peaceful dialogue among youth through debates that teach them to use logical arguments to build a balanced, evidence-based discourse.