Preamble

Civic Concepts International (CCI) will hold a conference called International Youth Leadership Africa (IYLA), in Cape Town (South Africa), in January 2007.

The IYLA is a weeklong conference, which will be attended by 200 students from Africa (African participants) and around the world (International participants). The week will consist of site visits, panel discussions, special events, and simulations of important African Intergovernmental Organisations, which will culminate at the end of the week with a Model Pan-African Parliament. There will be several events and topics of discussion during the week that will be used later in the Model Parliament Debate.

The site visits will consist of a visit to Robben Island, where there will be a Truth and Reconciliation Committee Presentation, and an afternoon spent with Habitat for Humanity in a Cape Town suburb. There will also be several speaking panels dealing with African issues during the week, which will include topics concerning HIV/AIDS, corruption, poverty and good governance.


The simulations, which are overseen by facilitators, guide the participants through the week, encouraging them to take an active role in their groups. The simulations aim to build the confidence of participants, enable them to bond with each other and improve their teamwork, communication and leadership skills.

The first simulation is a New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) meeting, followed later in the week by a mock African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights’ (ACHPR). Finally there will be the Model Pan African Parliament, where participants will debate 8 topics facing Africa today, vote on the motions and then create a statement summarising the Parliament’s position.

This statement will then be presented to representatives of the South African government at the Special Event dinner that will close the week.

Background

Civic Concepts International (CCI) is an organisation that facilitates a cross-cultural exchange of ideas on the future of world leadership by bringing young people from across the globe together, to spend a week discussing international issues of common interest through acting out simulations of international institutions and participating in group discussions.

The International Youth Leadership Conference, Civic Concepts' main project held bi-annually in the Czech Republic, has grown from a small European base to one which this January brought together over 150 students from more than 40 different countries to address pertinent global issues.

Project Overview


CCI is responding to the lack of opportunities for young people to engage in debates about the future of Africa, by launching an innovative project, International Youth Leadership Africa (IYLA). The IYLA will provide a forum for student representatives from around the world to discuss and develop ideas of African leadership, and strengthen their understanding of different cultures and political systems.

Such a focused exchange, built on the principle of mutual learning, aims to make an important contribution to fostering innovative strategies for dealing with important issues.

Participants will receive all the necessary documentation prior to the conference in the form of a Guidebook and will be required to make adequate preparations to ensure they can make valuable contributions during the conference.


Aims and Objectives


CCI seeks to bring young students from all continents together annually in South Africa through the IYLA. Participants will engage in, and gain a deeper understanding of, African politics and culture through debates, simulations and presentations on international law, relations and politics.

In a rapidly globalising world, countries need to foster common values and come together to understand and deal with the challenges facing the world today. Although Africa currently faces many challenges, these can be surmounted. The IYLA wants to contribute by trying to foster a tangible and substantive understanding of the past, present and most importantly the future of Africa.

Our approach

The IYLA is designed to expose participants to real world environments and introduce them to African institutions through simulations. Participants will be able to debate topics and issues in forums such as the Pan-African Parliament or the Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, learning and gaining insight from fellow participants. Guest speakers will compliment these activities and site visits, which aim to strengthen the participants’ understanding of the topics, and encourage them to voice their opinions, whilst opening their minds to new ones.

The three main Simulations will be:

New Partnership for Development


A crisis will be presented to each small group. Each participant will either be a diplomat representing a country, a representative of the African Union facilitating the debate or a member of a group with a special interest in the crisis. Once the crisis is announced participants will play out their specific role in an attempt to solve the situation. Participants will be given enough time to debate their point of view, lobby fellow diplomats to their side, and propose a solution to the given situation. At the end a representative from the African Union will conclude by stating the position that they have reached.

African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights


Participants will be assigned roles to hear a specific case concerning human rights violations in Africa. There will be a Panel of Judges and Prosecution and Defence teams, who will pick and assign Expert Witnesses to give testimonies at the hearing. Each side will be expected to draw on statutes and articles of charters to build their case. The case will be tried and the Panel of Judges will make a decision based on the arguments presented and will then write and state their judgment.

Pan-African Model Parliament


This simulation is the grand finale of the week, drawing on the week’s events with a view to making a conclusive statement regarding the future of Africa, agreed upon by all IYLA participants.

The simulation involves eight caucuses that will focus on a specific issue concerning Africa today and in the future. Each caucus will come up with four points that address their issue. They can suggest a course of action, propose a solution, request international assistance or allocate funding. Once they have come up with their four points they will present it at committee hearings to ensure that it is in the proper format for parliamentary debate.

During the Parliamentary Debate, participants will give speeches on each of their four points. If there is any opposition to any of the points, then the opposition will have ten minutes to create an alternative statement and to present a rebuttal speech or argument. Each participant will then have a vote on which point will be in the final statement reached by the Model Parliament.

Each Caucus will be in charge of one of the eight threads that will be discussed, researched and developed during the week. During an allotted period of time during the conference each thread will brought to the spotlight and focused on by all caucuses and participants so that they can gain basic knowledge on the issue while each small group specializes on one of the specific issue. The threads will be covered in Panel Discussions, by simulations, guest speakers and site visits.

The eight threads will be:
Corruption and good governance.  African governing traditions (ACHPR)

At the end of the parliamentary session there will be a draft resolution, which, once agreed upon, will be the final statement made by IYLA. This statement will then be presented to representatives of the South African Government at the closing dinner.



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