As a community, one of the core duties that you should have is to empower the next generation. If everything starts and ends with your generation, then you are not doing well. Just to let you know, the youths and children of today are the future leaders of tomorrow. You will be surprised that when you give them the right tool - like knowledge, support, opportunities, they will make a huge difference in not just the community but in the world at large. This is why you need to empower these young ones to become better in the future. However, you need to know that empowerment is not what happens by chance but by choice and work. We shall take a look at how to empower the young ones.
The first and very important tool for empowerment is education. No people gets empowered without education. In fact, it has been said that education is the key that unlocks a lot of doors. Investing in quality education in the young ones will give them the required skills, knowledge, and even the confidence to succeed in life. It is worthy to note that education is not only limited to what you do formally in the classroom - it goes beyond that. There are other informal learning that they can grab, and some skills they can learn outside the four-walls of the school. For example, you can teach them ICT skills. In the world that we find ourselves in, you will agree with me that ICT and other digital technologies are now taking over. Teaching them these skills will help them to flow with the trend.
In addition to training them, there is also a need to mentor them. Mentorship is a higher level of education because it shows them insights, gives them direction, motivates them, and shows them how it is done. That is; education tells them how it is done, while mentorship shows them how it is really done. So while educating the young ones, you also need to mentor them, because it provides them with an easier way to gain mastery in life. More so, mentor serves as a role model for them. Which means, you are trying to replicate yourself in others. So you have to have something good which you can replicate in others.
The next way is to provide them with opportunities for leadership at various levels. The young people need to be given the opportunity and privilege to lead. It may not be a large group, they may start from a small group and then learn how to lead on a larger scale. From the small groups that they are given then opportunity to lead, they will learn what it takes to do the same when they find themselves in a larger group. I once attended a function, and in the course of the event, they invited the youth leader to come and speak, when he came out, I could not believe my eyes. I asked my friend if this is the youth leader or he is representing his son, but he said he is the one. How would someone as old as that be a youth leader when there are youths that can be given that opportunity? When you allow the young ones to lead at their own level, you will prepare them for future leadership.
Another way to empower the next generation is to encourage the mindset of entrepreneurship. With the high rate of unemployment in many part of the world, what you can do to the young ones to help them is to teach them how to create job opportunities for themselves. That is, instead of being over-dependent on government for jobs or for stipends, it will do the young ones a lot of good if you empower them to become entrepreneurs. They can start from where they are, and with the right support, you will be surprised what they can achieve.
The last point is to teach them value, respect, and character development. There are more things to skills and empowerment; there is a need for character. A young person who has been empowered with technical skills and entrepreneurial acumen but lacks good character, value, and attitude, may not go far in life. Your skills may get you into certain doors, but to be able to be sustained there, you need character. By incorporating good values into the young ones, they will become better and make positive contributions to the society.
Thanks for reading
