Photo: Yahya Ashour (YES 2014 - 2015), Mohammed Alasttal (YES 2014 - 2015), Heba Alsaidi (YES 2013 - 2014), and Ibrahim Saqer (YES 2013 - 2014) preparing presentations.

Throughout the month of February, YES alumni in Gaza were busy becoming hands-on trainers through the Learn to Teach Project, which included two main phases. During the first phase, 20 YES alumni received a 30-hour intensive training for three days. A professional trainer worked with the YES alumni on three different topics.

First, the alumni learned about the general skills of an effective trainer. Then, the participants were exposed to presentational skills and leadership skills. Each alum got the opportunity to deliver a presentation to their peers and receive feedback on how to improve. Finally, the trainer taught the YES alumni how to effectively use social media to launch projects. The participants divided into groups and went through all the steps to launch a social media campaign on an issue of their choosing.

Photo: Sami Zimmo (YES 2013 - 2014, Gaza, hosted by AFS in Landenberg, PA) leading a training session for YES alumni.

At the end of this first phase, the YES alumni felt well prepared to become effective trainers and leaders on a wide variety of topics. They learned the skills of delivering great presentations and launching social media campaigns. But the hard work was not over yet!

One week after their training, these 20 YES alumni were ready to start the second phase. They divided into three groups to train 60 newly enrolled English Access Microscholarship students. They split up to work with students from North Gaza, Gaza City, and the Middle Area.

Photo: Heba Alsaidi (YES 2013 - 2014, Gaza, hosted by CIEE in Lake Stevens, WA) learning about posture for presentations.

Each group met for two days so the YES alumni could train the Access students on all the topics of effective leadership and presentations that the trainer had taught them. The Access students were also given a chance to give presentations and get feedback, and many expressed that this experience helped them prepare for the next steps in their journey on the Access program.

Photo: Anas Ismail (YES 2010 - 1011), Ibrahim Saqer (YES 2013 - 2014), Marah Alamallak (YES 2014 - 2015), and Sami Zimmo (YES 2013 - 2014) working together on pre-training materials.

The goal of the training was to create 20 leaders, but instead we ended up with 80 (20 YES and 60 Access)! All of the participants are now prepared to spread what they learned by training other people and creating even more leaders.