MCW HOLDS SECOND COMMUNITY LEADERS SEMINAR IN ZAMBIA
16 Youth from Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia Attend the Event
KAFUE, ZAMBIA, May 25, 2011– MCW organized the Second Community Leaders Seminar in the Zambian city of Kafue, 40 minutes south of Lusaka, from May 23-27, 2011. The event brought together the leadership of MCW’s community center network in Africa to learn about MCW’s mission and operational approach and to develop workable solutions to some of the centers’ most pressing challenges.
MCW Executive Director Eddie Bergman opened the seminar at ¡Revolución! Mexican restaurant in Lusaka. Also in attendance were MCZ Trustees Kabinga Pande Jr and Andrew Chilufya, MCW board member Anna Condoulis, and MCW staff member Khalid Elachi.
“For most of us, it was such an impressive moment to meet all community center leaders for the first time in one place and be able to recognize that we all share challenges which we will definitely turn into opportunities and solutions as far as our efforts are combined,” said MCW’s country coordinator in Rwanda Jackson Vugayabagabo.
The seminar, which was facilitated by Solomon Kayiwa of Educate! Uganda, covered a wide range of topics including business planning, social entrepreneurship, innovation, marketing, sustainability, and assessing impact.
Each participant wrote a business plan for a new social enterprise at their respective community center. Ms. Condoulis linked the ideas discussed at the seminar to MCW’s actual operations on the ground. The plans will be shared with MCW’s Advisory Board for input and advice. They will then be sent back to the participants, creating a new level of interaction between MCW’s leaders in the field and its leaders in New York.
“It was a pleasure to welcome my fellow youth leaders to Zambia for this seminar in Kafue where, for the first time, I was able to learn from my friends and colleagues. Our experience was very productive and my work will become easier now that I’ve shared challenges, ideas, and solutions,” said MCZ country coordinator Joe Hamweene.
On the closing evening of the seminar, the team took an evening cruise on the Kafue Queen river boat along the Kafue River where they were presented with books that will build on their knowledge of entrepreneurship, business and other lessons they learned during the seminar.
