By Moses M. Tokpah,mosesmtokpah@gmail.com
As part of efforts to build the public speaking skills of young Liberians, a vibrant educational system and educating young people on the four Sustainable Development Goals, Impact Summit Liberia has ended a two-day national program in Montserrado County.
It included a day-long Impact Summit Liberia Debate 2019 and an Impact Summit Liberia Symposium, respectively. The two events which were held in the conference room of the Ministry of Health,, brought together about 450 young people from several of Liberia’s fifteen Counties including Montserrado, Margibi, Bong, Bomi and Nimba Counties, among others.
The debate named and styled, “Impact Summit Liberia Debate 2019” wasthe held on Thursday October 31, 2019 was being organized by Impact Summit Liberia with Yoner-Liberia serving as co-host.
The focus of the debate, according to Impact Summit Executive Director, Albert Oliva was on education in Liberia, the significance of Sustainable Development Goals in Liberia and the importance of gender equality in Liberia respectively.
Mr. Oliva stated that the topic of Quality Education and Sustainable Development has been chosen because he believes in the power of education, especially through real-life examples and first-hand experience of established people.
“I place a huge emphasis on the quality of the workshops offered as a part of the conference, as each student has its unique story that might help many students present in the audience to gain more confidence and feel more motivated to express themselves and work towards the fulfillment of their dreams,” he explained.
Mr. Oliva indicated that he believes in the significance of debates on such topics as they provide students with a deeper understanding of the issues, which lead to well-rounded knowledge of the problem and possibly revolutionary ideas for its solutions.
The Symposium similarly focused on education and the Sustainable Development Goals. The symposium which took place at the same venue on Friday November 1, 2019 brought together about 250 delegates representing various organizations as well as representatives of the Ministries of Health and Education.
Mr. Oliva has informed www.newspublictrust.com that he has been able to achieve all of the Organization’s goals especially where participants tried their public speaking skills.
He disclosed that after the event, people approached him and said he has encouraged them to establish their own NGOs something he added is one of Impact Summit’s goals.
Commenting on his experience in Liberia, Mr. Oliva said he has spent over 10 days in Liberia and visited 5 counties, including Montserrado, Bomi, Bong, Nimba and Margibi where he met with hundreds of kind and welcoming people.
“I must admit I was surprised, Liberian nation is certainly a very welcoming one; I tried local food in each county, I met with NGO leaders and most importantly met with over 200 children in each. I had the unique opportunity to speak with them, do with them a little training on public speaking and then just answer their question which they had about my culture and organization. In my opinion children are the future and we should not neglect them,” Mr. Oliva added.
He said he could have spent the days touring tourist sites, but would not worth anything, noting that spending time with the future generation of Liberia and listening to issues they are facing gave gives him hope and motivation on grounds that he could see how smart and talented they are.
The overall aim of the event was to educate students about the 4th Sustainable Development Goal and elaborating on education. The Impact Summit Executive Director thanked participants for attending event.
Meanwhile, an appeal has been made to all young Liberians who attended the events never to be afraid about raising their voices when an issue they are facing is negatively affecting them, even if they don’t become a part of Impact Summit Liberia.
The Impact Summit Organization and leadership team is an organization, which aims to raise the awareness about all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (2030 Agenda) in less economically developed Countries. It does this by involving local students and volunteers in establishing a local Impact Summit Conference.
Impact Summit Team, which based in Czech Republic, supervises the work done by local representatives and encourages people to participate and attend.
Meanwhile, participants of the one-day debate have described the initiative as educative and welcoming, thereby thanking Impact Summit Liberia for truly imparting knowledge to them.