CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM IS IMPACTING YOUTH IN FORT PORTAL

This past week, ITI carried out yet another training for youth at King of Kings High School in Fort Portal. The activity targeted the club members and students leaders. The students were able to select Youth Character Development (YCD) Club leadership for their school. The club is composed of 30 members with representation from each class. Each class selects 5 representatives to the club. The club selects its Patron who, from time to time, provides additional technical support to the club members. The Patron, who's normally a teacher, is ITI's official representative at the school. Both the Club Patron and members of the Youth Character Development Program are trained in 6 pillars of building better behaviours and morals. They are further equipped with information on life skills and drug awareness. This helps the youth to become assertive, grow-up uprightly as responsible citizens with high morals and self esteem, and as change agents within their schools and communities. Upon completion of the training, the club members are tasked to reach out to fellow youth - class by class, holding education sessions that promote better characters and actions in the school. By the end of the training session, the youth were able to understand that good character means that, a person has such admirable traits as honesty, responsibility and courage. Also, that is beneficial for an individual to have good character and being honorable and honest in the work. All actions one have and ones relations with others, are essential in a person's life. They were able to learn that a person is considered to have good character if he or she exhibits attributes such as integrity, honesty, courage, loyalty, fortitude and other important virtues that promote good behavior and habits.

THE 6 PILLARS OF YOUTH CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM INCLUDE:

TRUSTWORTHINESS Be honest, don’t deceive, cheat or steal, be reliable doing what you say you’ll do. Have the courage to do the right thing, build a good reputation. Be loyal, stand by your family, friends and country. RESPECT Treat others with respect by being tolerant and accepting the differences between individuals and cultures, use good manners, not bad language. Be considerate of the feelings of others, don’t threaten, hit or hurt anyone. Deal peacefully with anger, insults, and disagreements. RESPONSIBILITY Do what you are supposed to do. Plan ahead, persevere and keep on trying. Always do your best, use self-control, be disciplined, think before you act, consider the consequences of your actions. Be accountable for your words, actions and attitudes. Set a good example for others. FAIRNESS Follow the rules. Be open-minded, listen to others. Don’t take advantage of others, don’t blame others carelessly. Treat all people fairly. CARING Be kind, be compassionate and show you care. Express gratitude, forgive others and help people in need. CITIZENSHIP Do your share to make your school and community better. Cooperate and get involved in community affairs. Stay informed, vote and be a good neighbour. Obey laws and rules, respect authority. Protect the environment and often volunteer to help.

The youth expressed deep appreciation to the trainers and sponsors of Youth Character Development Program and committed themselves to continue training their colleagues in an effort to build good moral values, improve teachers - student relationship, and student- student communication. They have also vowed to fight drug abuse in their communities.