The Kectil Program hosted it’s second one-week intensive leadership conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The workshop will take place from July 22nd- July 27th, 2019. The Kectil Program selected thirty-one participants from 15 developing countries to attend. The countries represented are Colombia, Egypt, Guyana, India, Israel, Kenya, Lesotho, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saint Lucia, South Africa, Uganda, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.
The conference held at the Georgia Institute of Technology Campus included intensive leadership training on various topics moderated by Kectil Program Founder and Executive Director Sherry M. Knowles. We were thrilled to have Mr. Martin Luther King III, Kectil Program Advisory Board Member, and a Human Rights Advocate and Community Activist joining us during the conference with his daughter Yolanda King for personal discussions with the youth.
We also had our advisory board member Dr. Alison Montgomery joining us to present a talk on techniques for raising funds for community efforts and larger scale community projects. Dr. Montgomery is highly experienced in the area of grants and loans for developing countries. We were also very honored to be able to have a presentation by Dr. George Luber, a noted environmental
activist who studies the effect of climate on disease demographics. He is the Chief of the Climate and Heath Program for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”) in Atlanta.
We were also pleased to that AT&T, the huge telecommunications and entertainment company, invited us to tour its AT&T Drive Studio in downtown Atlanta. We received a talk about AT&T’s innovative efforts to use the internet in all aspects of transportation and commerce. In addition, we were also invited to tour the world headquarters for the business operations of The Coca-Cola Company. We will received talks from Coca-Cola executives and the youth
were able to have photo opportunities there.
The highlight of the conference however, was the youth participants country presentation. Each participant gave a one-hour presentation on their country’s geography, history, culture, demographics and the political and social environment. The youth also shared with us what it is like to grow up in their
country, the youth challenges, education, mentoring and how to identify and support transformational youth leaders from their countries.
A critical aspect of the Conference was to create a youth leadership network of these highly talented individuals who will form the Kectil Generation. They will support and draw from each other after the conference and as they mature and take on various roles in their lives. Toward that end the Conference include activities that are bonding experiences as well as ample time to discuss key topics facing each of their communities.