Youth Development Training Programme (YDTP)

It was refreshing speaking with 

Wyidat, a 16 year old student at the Government Senior College, Maroko, Lagos as she spoke proudly about her love for the Youth Development Training Programme (YDTP) in her school. Having gone through seven sessions since the programme commenced in September 2015, she narrated excitedly, numerous accounts of how the training had made a significant impact in the lives of her friends and herself.

Wyidat who is often known to be aggressive, selfish and boisterous said, “The YDTP makes me look at life more positively now. I tolerate people more than before and I brag about the programme to my sister and mother at home”. She spoke confidently about her future plans to be a news presenter and believes lessons on leadership and self awareness will help her achieve her dreams.

Although she is in her formative years, Wyidat didn’t sound too young to articulate her vision for the future. She also shared intelligently on how she would utilize the lessons learned to implement an operative library where she and other students can take the time off, especially at the weekend to read, learn and develop academically, rather than lay idly at home. “We have a lot of people in my community that want to make a lot out of their lives, but their parents cannot afford to provide for them. I want to build a library in my community where these students can freely go to, to read, learn and develop academically despite their challenges”.

The YDTP programme is a curriculum-based training which equips young secondary school students with the necessary developmental training aimed at making  them exceptionally valuable to themselves and the communities they live in. The programme is being implemented in 5 public secondary schools in Lagos state; Birchfreeman High School, Surulere, Army Children Senior High School, Ikeja, Mushin Community Senior High, Mushin, Government Senior College, Maroko, Government  Senior College, Ikoyi  and Clegg Girls High School, Surulere.

The programme began in September 2015 with the Training of Trainers workshop for 10 teachers from 5 public secondary schools in Lagos.  The interactive workshops created an opportunity to equip these teachers with leadership and facilitation skills to enable them cascade the YDTP curriculum to 200 student benefactors in Lagos State.

For many of the teachers, the journey has greatly inspired them to manage time and teach more efficiently. An economics teacher at Government Senior College, Maroko, Lagos, Mr Dabiri said he is now more deliberate about living as a result of the training because he wants to model the right values to his students. In his words “Leadership is about doing the right things. I am a role model to these children, therefore if I want them to change, I must be the change. I have become more self aware, therefore, it's difficult for me to do certain things openly or privately. Before I do, I often consider that these children are observing and some will definitely take after me”.

Mr Ebinizer, another YDTP  teacher from Government Senior College, Ikoyi believes that the ToT has helped him to creatively project his ideas on various subject matters. The facilitation skills he has acquired, enables him to connect better with his students by just being able to simplify concepts that would have been difficult to explain. “Facilitating for me, is a little bit different from the normal class setting, because of that, I have gotten a broader knowledge of how to present so many other things to the students, especially my subject based areas. It has opened up my horizon to go deeper with the students".

These transformational changes, mindset shift and learning culture have remained unique features of the YDTP and what it seeks to accomplish in different states across Nigeria.