Do you want to be the next President in Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan or Germany?
A social change maker? A democratic future leader in your country or region?
Would you like to learn leadership & debate skills from international experts?
And would you love to visit Berlin, meet politicians, CEOs and young future leaders from Germany?
Are you striving for peaceful social change, but lacking the skills and resources to take action?
Then we have the perfect program for you – without participation fee!
Lead & Debate Academy (LDA) trains and empowers around 150 Arab and German young leaders from 4 countries/regions to become future political leaders. 🇱🇧 🇵🇸🇯🇴 🇩🇪
We, the elda, are more than ever convinced that a peaceful future is only possible through empowerment and inclusion of pluralistically inspired young leaders and the strengthening of democratic change in societies.
The participants are young leaders or would be leaders from Lebanon, Jordan, Palestinian territories and young leaders from Germany (age: 18-29) who want to drive democratic change in Middle Eastern societies by engaging democratically. We empower, activate and connect Arab young leaders with like-minded young leaders from Germany.
The program consists of three phases, starting with a digital summer school, then continuing with live trainings in Lebanon, Jordan and Germany and ending with a final networking week in Berlin and a public debate event. The participants will not only learn and enhance their communication and leadership skills but also develop their own digital video formats to further visualize their topics on social media.
You will be enabled to start innovative and effective campaigns to promote a social issue of your choice during …
… a series of online classes with experts of communications and political engagement from Germany and MENA 🧑🏽💻
… intensive consultation by the elda team 💁🏽♂️💁🏻
… seminars in Amman 🇯🇴 or Beirut 🇱🇧 or Berlin 🇩🇪
… and the chance to be selected for a final seminars and debate event in Berlin, Germany! ✈
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What are you passionate about?
#democracy #environment #genderequity #feminism #civilrights #humanrights #womensrights #empowerment #noracism #equalrights #poverty #migration #nodiscrimination #healthcare #nobullying #awareness #freedomofspeach #medialiteracy
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Phase I: Online seminars: Digital Summer School | 15.07.2024-15.08.2024
In Phase I, min. 150 participants will be taught by proven experts in the areas of storytelling, democratic debate culture, rhetoric and non-verbal communication. The focus is on applying these skills in the spirit of democratic discourse in order to consolidate democratic values and culture on the one hand and contribute to positive change on the other. The first phase therefore focuses on the digital and media preparation of the theoretical knowledge taught.
As part of the masterclasses, we would also like to offer a protected space for female participants only. There should be time for the female participants to discuss relevant topics among themselves and develop solutions for the biggest challenges together.
Following this phase, the participants apply for the second phase by means of a short video or an alternative digital medium.
Masterclasses:
Tuesday, 16. July 6 – 9 pm Kick Off & MC 1: The role of youth in peace making and democratic social change & networking
Tuesday, 23. July 6 - 9 pm MC 2: Advocacy & Policy Making in MENA
Thursday, 25. July 6 – 9 pm MC 3: Storytelling & Rhetorics: the perfect speech
Tuesday, 30. July 6 – 9 pm MC 4: Create followers: Social Media and PR
Thursday, 8. August 6 – 9 pm MC 5: How to debate: winning every argument
Tuesday, 13. August 6 – 9 pm Kick Out & MC 6: Self-Empowerment & Leadership / Female Leadership
Deadline for applications for phase 2: Tuesday, 06. August
Hand in your own video (up tp 2 min) with a speech on a topic for young adults that needs to be discussed!
Phase II: Face-to-face seminars | Berlin, Amman & Beirut |
Berlin: 9. – 11.09.2024 > for German participants
Beirut: 16. – 18.09.2024* > for Lebanese participants
Amman: 19. – 21.09.2024* > for Palestinian and Jordanian participants
*Exact dates can still vary and will be announced to participants in time for application!
In Phase II, the selected participants (up to a maximum of 20) will be trained in presence, with a team in Germany and a team in Lebanon and Jordan. The aim is to train the participants to present their own topics convincingly and coherently in front of the camera and to develop their own social media formats for publication. This enables the project to have a wide media reach. Furthermore, it creates digital meeting places for joint exchange and democratic discourse. Once the videos have been published, 50% of the decision to take part in the final phase will be made by a jury based on predefined criteria (reach of the video, quality of the content, digital preparation, storytelling, promotion concept, etc.) and 50% by the likes received. In this way, we want to ensure that the content reaches the target group outside of the participants as widely as possible. The creators of the selected clips (up to 10 participants) will be invited to Phase III of the project as finalists.
Phase III: Final Week | Berlin | 2.12.2024 - 6.12.2024
In the final seminar of Phase III, the finalists - from the MENA region and Germany - will meet in Berlin. In Berlin, they will receive targeted individual support in coaching sessions, take part in networking events with German politics, media, administration, business and non-profits, and compete in a public debate format at a festive closing event. Here, they are allowed to present a topic of their own choice that particularly addresses the issue of political participation of young people and/or offers an innovative solution. In a moderated debate, their arguments must be presented convincingly and coherently to a public audience. A jury ultimately decides on the winners.
The participants are encouraged to document and publish this phase. Professional documentation and publication will also be organized.
frequently asked questions
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
Nothing! There is no participation fee – because of the generous funding that is provided by the German Federal Foreign Office
WHO CAN APPLY?
The lead and debate academy is primarily aimed at students, activists, journalists and young leaders aged 18 – 30 from civil society, media, science and politics from Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Germany who already are or want to be engaged in politics, civil society and social change. Proficiency in English is required.
HOW DO I APPLY?
Fill in the application form until July 10th.
You can choose if you want to hand in a written text or a video of yourself telling us who you are, why you would like to be part of the program, what your experiences are and which issue of you are most passionate about. If you decide to make a video, please post the link.
WHAT‘S NEXT?
Please note that we will inform you about your possible participation via mail.
