Global Youth Partnership for Africa seek to challenge what most Americans think about Africa. Africa is not one single country as many people seem to think; people are invested and enthusiastic, they are not all sick, poor, and hungry. GYPAfrica tries to focus on the good, rather than the bad that is always shown in the media. This leads to the question, how do you compromise focusing on conflict awareness vs. focusing on cultural awareness? GYPAfrica offers programs in Uganda and soon Cameroon, working with inspiring local student leaders on their projects. After this program, students come back to their universities and continue to work on the project—sustainability is key.

This workshop discusses the utilization of resources of international institutions to create space for locals to build peace. Also, through transformative action one can shift the way people think about politics, citizenship, international issues and self-interest. The discussion paralleled these topics with current crisis issues in Uganda.

This workshop focuses on what is our definition of collaboration, why do we need to collaborate, how do we collaborate with each other, what are the challenges when it comes to collaboration and how should we deal with such challenges. It is a more discussion-centered workshop and by the end of the discussion, we were able to identify the many benefits of collaboration, and how we should collaborate with each other to effectively maximize our utility.

In this workshop we discussed pursuing this intimidating yet exciting career path after college. Craig talked about the various career paths and types that can be acheived at different levels such as interpersonal, community, national and global. We discussed various recommendations for entering this field such as networking, polishing various languages and finding mentors. The workshop ended with a talk about the numerous scholarships, fellowships, and organizations that facilitate the pursuit of this career.

Social enterprise has been revolutionized in recent years, as the number of organizations and resources has grown. Social enterprise provides a valuable alternative to traditional non-profit work in its ability to work at a very quick pace. By becoming involved in a Social Entrepreneurial Organizations, you have the ability to shape the vision and future of your organization. Management is of the utmost importance in any organization, even if at times it seems to take away from advocacy, because without a good system of management, the organization will fail. Also, do not be afraid to be creative and look for fresh new alternatives: in this entirely new generation of technology, there are many innovative ways to create and market your organization.

The first step in searching for a job is to establish the domain (legal, human rights, education, etc) and the level of involvement (international, national, community, or inter-personal) in which you are interested in working. There are a huge range of jobs including positions in research, theory, and practice. Also, there are many jobs that offer valuable experience beyond government and non-profit, including international business and consulting work. When in school, it is helpful to apply for the many grants and fellowships offered to students (especially graduate ones). Idealist.org, opportunitynocs.com, act.org, and developmentex.com are all good websites to search for jobs on.

Michael explained how the internet is different than traditional media in that it is much more interactive than many organizers realize.  Michael also talked about utilizing e-mail lists because people read e-mail more than other online mediums.  Also explained how your website will never be the primary way of attracting supporters, but rather a method to further clarify your organization to interested parties.  Finally, Michael said to identify core leaders and figure out what you want them to do.

This workshop outlined the tips and tricks to using the resources your university has to offer. Key ideas are idea development, resource mapping, and resource approach. One idea to understand how to approach people/departments is to classify them by three areas: expertise, logistical, and finance. This will make your conversation more specific. Demonstrate seriousness, understand your audience, approach the right people at the right time, and do not hesitate to join forces with others (even similar groups- they will help you define yours both in the similarities and differences.) Also, it is important to know how to use existing resources, how the university works and its mission, and how your project relates to something academic. Realize that you have to dig hard, in unexpected places, to get the support and money you need. Finally, take time to build relationships with people.

Discussed the necessity of relying on leadership, how it was necessary to develop multiple skills in order to lead an organization. Also evaluated need to delegate responsibility and different methods of sharing responsibility with other team members. Various possibilities and outcomes were looked a.

Mission Developments need to be a concise, one sentence summary of your project idea which you can tell to people of your project, funders and colloboraters.

Mission statements are important as they act to unify and focus an organization, aid in desicion-making, clarify role to community, communicate idea to general public, etc.

There are 3 main components of a mission statement: why- what need are you accomplishing?, how- how are you addressing that need?, how well- how well are you addressing this need?

While working on your logistics, such as as the services you offer, it is important to keep the main mission and vision in mind to make sure that you are ulitimately achieving your initial goal.