Bhutanese community of New Hampshire organized and observed two days Youth Leadership Summit 2014, September 26, 27 at Southern New Hampshire University that focused on youth leadership development through capacity building.
Keynote speaker, Bill Gillette, Dean of Business School, SNHU, emphasized on beauty of having diversity with an appreciation that “refugees and immigrants make New Hampshire rich”. Highlighting the progress made by resettled Bhutanese in the Granite State, Bill commended BCNH for being in the forefront to advocate on behalf of fellow refugees and immigrants. “Bhutanese have stronger sense of community which makes them unique as compared with other populations”, he said.
Associate Director of International Affairs of American Jewish World Service (AJWS), Aaron Acharya highlighted on leadership development, prospects of higher education and social media, its risks and importance in today’s world. Speaking about leadership development, Mr. Acharya stressed on improving the issues of accountability, delegation, trust, consistency, transparency, ethics, socialization and professional development for effective leadership by capacity building.
Leela Kuikel, the Project Manager at Children Hospital of Philadelphia educated the participants about the developmental progress of children and encouraged each participant to learn and identify about developmental delays in children and help them to overcome barriers to live a dignified life.
Speaking about the multimedia section of BCNH in the event, Tilak Niroula, Communication Coordinator at BCNH encouraged participants to engage in the work of the newsletter, Community Voice, TV Program, Hamro Aawaj and other volunteer programs at BCNH. Mr. Niroula also moderated the panel discussion at the end of the event focusing on youth leadership development.
Jane E. Skantze, Microenterprise Program Coordinator at International Institute of New Hampshire (IINH) spoke about College for America. It is developed by prominent higher-education and workforce strategy innovators primarily to support working adults achieve a profoundly affordable and accessible college degree, she added.
Upendra Dhungel, one of the participants of the event expressed, “events like this help youth to boost their leadership skills to combat emerging issues in the community and help organize around the needs of the community”.
BCNH Executive Director, Tika Acharya moderated the event and energized youth to make good use of the event. Likewise, Bhagirath Khatiwada, the Director for Programs and Development at BCNH, gave closing remarks and motivated youth to work together for service to the community honing their leadership skills through capacity building.
Business School, SNHU sponsored the venue space for two days.
