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The International Award for Young People (IAYP), recognised by the London-based Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Association (IAA), organised a two-day Award Leader Training workshop at the Award Training Center in the National Capital to guide potential “Award Leaders” about the philosophy, framework and functioning of the award programme. The IAYP has been helping young students between the age of 14-24 develop and hone extra-curricular skills. The workshop ended on Friday.
IAYP India which has more than 232 centers and over 35,000 participants across India, including schools, colleges, universities, corporate entities, NGOs. The IAYP has been training young students bring together practical experiences and skills to create and equip young students with social service, physical, recreational and adventurous skills for life.
Bivujit Mukhoty, programme manager, IAYP India, told The Sunday Guardian, “The vision of the award programme is to engage young people from diverse backgrounds, equip them with life skills, empower them to succeed in life and reward their achievements. The simple philosophy of this award programme is to connect people, institutions and generations with the common purpose of development of youths and inclusion which students can utilise in their future.”
Ankit Durga, co-founder of LEAP Skills, an academy on skill management in Delhi, spoke to The Sunday Guardian about how IAYP helped him. He said that it is through this that he was inspired to start a skill management academy. “When I was in class 10, I got to know about The Award Programme through my school. I did not really know the importance of it back then, which I realised it later on as I completed my programme. I learnt soft skills as well as social skills which are top requirements in today’s job market while pursuing the programme and it shaped me a lot as a person. Not only that, the award also adds weightage to your CV by highlighting that you are capable of working out of your comfort zone.”
The award programme has been divided into three levels namely Bronze, Silver and Gold for which there are four mandatory sections at each level except the Gold level where there are five. The participants are required to complete these mandatory sections to fulfill the award journey. The four mandatory sections include Service, Skills, Physical Recreation and Adventurous Journey and one additional Residential Project required to complete the Gold level.