SIT announces new concentration in Youth Program Leadership/Youth Program and Social Justice Activism

 

Youth programs are becoming increasingly popular and in demand by governments and NGOs globally, either to build youth leadership capacities or to intervene in inter-group conflict dynamics.  SIT’s Youth Leadership and Peacebuilding programs have now served over 2500 students and have 22 current programs running or under development in 2008, yet there are few professionals with the range of skills to run these programs.  In light of this, SIT and the PIM program are proud to announce a new concentration in two of our degree areas.  Within the Conflict Transformation degree and the International Education degree it is called “Youth Program Leadership” and in the Social Justice in Intercultural Relations degree area it is called “Youth Program and Social Justice Activism” . 

Youth Program concentration, continued

The Youth Program Leadership/Youth Program and Social Justice Activism concentration develops professional skills and competencies for leaders of youth programs focusing on the principles and practices of youth leadership program design, particularly in leadership, global issues, and peacebuilding programs.  This concentration consists of an intensive focus, in two courses, on the design and delivery of youth programs that develop leadership, global issues, civics and peacebuilding capacities.  These program leadership courses build on the organizational management and intercultural relations competencies gained in PIM degree courses, by adding a specialization in running youth programs.  The concentration coursework builds youth leadership skills in such areas as:   age-appropriate training design, dialogue facilitation, teambuilding and leadership activities, logistics and planning, health and safety of participants, training a program staff, and global issues curriculum development;  for example, how to engage youth about relevant current issues, such as child labor, climate change or HIV/AIDS.  The practicum in the off-campus phase should include some work with a youth program, such as SIT’s Youth Leadership and Peacebuilding programs, Legacy International, Seeds of Peace, etc. 

Two youth program courses are required for this concentration.  These courses will focus on the theory and practice, skills, and issues involved in promoting youth leadership and peacebuilding by developing and managing programs for youth (ages 14-25). Coursework will prepare students to be able to work in, design, and facilitate youth programs. 

A theory and practice course for running youth programs will cover skills and issues relevant to design and delivery of youth leadership and peacebuilding. Participants will address youth program design principles, will gain experience designing program components, and discuss issues in adolescent psychology. Participants will learn to manage contracts, grants, and budgets, do risk assessment and contingency planning, and consider legal issues. Case studies will be examined to assess best practices in program design and challenges for delivery.  

An intensive experiential course will give students hands-on experience participating in and leading activities to develop youth leadership and peacebuilding capacities, including outdoor education, group challenge, teambuilding, trust building, and dialogue facilitation.  Students will learn how to teach about global youth issues and civics, how to promote youth advocacy and activism, and how to manage social and conflict dynamics in inter-group youth programs.   The course will build skills for youth leadership in such areas as training design, inter-group dialogue facilitation, and global issues curriculum development, e.g., how to engage youth about current issues.  This course is designed to leave students prepared to work in and to run major components of social issue oriented youth programs.

In addition to the two youth program courses detailed above, students in this concentration will also take at least one training course and one program design or administration course.

For more information on this concentration, contact your PIM Admissions Counselor at admissions@sit.edu.

 

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Dr. John Ungerleider is a professor of Conflict Transformation at the SIT Graduate Institute.  He is chair of the Conflict Transformation program and teaches graduate courses in Conflict and Identity, Intercultural Communication, and Organizational Behavior.
 
John is the founder of SIT’s Youth Peacebuilding and Leadership Camps and since 1990 has directed the Vermont Governor’s Institute on Current Issues and Youth Activism. These programs have hosted over 2500 students from countries and communities in conflict, such as Northern Ireland, Cyprus, and the Middle East. These programs build youth empowerment and initiative via experiential education curriculum, such as simulations and role plays, to develop skills for social action about global issues, from environment to development to peacebuilding. John has written and published articles about youth empowerment and peacebuilding, as well as the use of music and poetry in peacebuilding.

In 1999 John founded the Child Labor Education and Action (CLEA) project, organizing Vermont teens to fight oppressive child labor. This work has included organizing statewide and regional conferences on child labor, writing and passing sweatfree legislation in Vermont, making Brattleboro the first high school in the nation to affiliate with the Worker’s Rights Consortium, and leading action delegations of Vermont high school students to Guatemala and Nicaragua to visit street children and help build a school.

John lived for a year in Cyprus as a Fulbright Scholar facilitating conflict resolution between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.  With his wife Elizabeth, he attended college at UC Berkeley.  John has two teenage sons, Jacob and Isaiah. He plays bass and sings with the SIT house rock and roll band, Buddy Folly and the Experiments. John loves all kinds of skiing, tennis, as well as eating, cooking and sharing foods from all over the world.

Tags: Youth Program Leadership, Simon Norton, Dr. John Ungerleider