Dermot Earley Leadership Programme Graduation

Galway University was the destination for the Cuala participants of the Dermot Earley Leadership programme last Saturday. Not everyone got there due to a red weather alert and the impending match in Parnell Park. Cuala’s group of young people Graduated with a level 6 (Leaving Cert is level 5) Foundation Certificate in Youth Leadership and Community Action. While not in a position to attend five young Zambians graduated for the first time this year. These graduates were introduced to the Dermot Earley programme by visiting facilitators from Cuala in 2022. With the help of Foroige, funding (€300 per graduate) was secured to ensure five selected Nsobe school students would have the opportunity to complete the three modules and  graduate. The graduates from Nsobe are true community leaders who are invariably the first generation of their families to complete second level education. That they now have an internationally recognised 3rd level qualification is a wonderful achievement. One of the young Zambian women volunteered at a local primary school for her module three project. Foster is now working in that school as a teaching assistant. Cuala has twenty teenagers on the programme this year and teachers from Nsobe school continue to facilitate the programme having been trained up by Foróige who visited Zambia last year at the request of Cuala. If future funding can be secured it is hoped that more young Zambian leaders will continue to graduate alongside their Cuala peers.