“We unfold lives… It’s about finding your voice, finding your place of belonging, finding your passion.”

                                                                                                                                                                     Jon Hinojosa

Youth leadership has been eleborated upon as a theory of youth development in which young people gain skills and knowledge necessary to lead civic engagement, education reform and community organizing activities.

​Youth development is a process that prepares a young person to meet the challenges of adolescence and adulthood and achieve his or her full potential. Youth development is promoted through activities and experiences that help youth develop social, ethical, emotional, physical, and cognitive competencies. 

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Youth leadership is part of the youth development process and supports the young person in developing:

(a) the ability to analyze his or her own strengths and weaknesses, set personal and vocational goals, and have the self-esteem, confidence, motivation, and abilities to carry them out (including the ability to establish support networks in order to fully participate in community life and effect positive social change); and

(b) the ability to guide or direct others on a course of action, influence the opinions and behaviors of others, and serve as a role model.

Providing the conditions for positive youth development is a responsibility shared by families, schools, and communities. Countless programs around the world seek to teach young people particular skills associated with leadership, particularly those programs associate with youth voice or youth empowerment, but less programs are dedicated to developing creative youth leadership skills among young people. 
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​Our Approach to Managing Creative Youth Leadership Programs:

• Strategic outreach to under-represented youth, providing them with crucial tools, such as language, computer literacy and leadership training, to pursue higher education and other human development programs.
• Engage promising young people and emerging leaders in key national development fields.
  
• Initiate a host of special enrichment programs and activities for youth that promote innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development. 
  
• Build strong networks of young leaders who will continue to collaborate with one another and become leaders in their local communities.
  
• Conduct workshops for youth teams that foster teamwork through increased trust, improved interpersonal and intercultural communications skills, and the development of strong team relationships.
  
• Strengthen creating learning and creative training skills of youth leaders by developing workshops for trainers and facilitators.  CYLA’s workshops focus on effective delivery of core content using interactive training methods and group process skills.
  

These efforts achieve a significant multiplier effect to promote wide-scale economic development and citizen participation in countries where it is most needed.

Key Themes for Youth-Led Creative Workshops for Youth and Youth Leaders:

Leadership and Management Fundamentals

To enable youth leaders to envision and execute strategic leadership processes and to apply effective management techniques that position youth-focused organizations to perform well and engage youth leaders effectively.

Community Engagement

Seeking to engage youth in developing targeted ways to play a role in civil society, to initiate and sustain community projects and to involve peers in unique youth-led programs that improve community life.

Entrepreneurship Skills

Our initiatives provide young people with knowledge of entrepreneurship and the skills for enterprise start-up to spur them to explore their creative and entrepreneurial ideas.  Activities include conceptual and skill-building workshops, guest lectures by entrepreneurs, field visits and business simulations.

CREATIVE LEADERSHIP PROGRAM: A TRANSFORMATIONAL EXPERIENCE

Our creative leadership programs are usually run as part-time executive education program for creative leaders who want to realize their full potential and bring significant ideas to market. We take an innovative youth-centered approach to leadership, creativity & innovation.

We believe in the power of transformative education.

We recruit young people who are leaders in their own right who want to create an even bigger impact as a leader.
We offer a unique experience by bringing together young European participants from across sectors and industries to come up with new insights and solutions to some of the most pressing societal challenges we currently face.

Our participants are young leaders with truly big ambitions to scale their own projects.