Red Cross – Introduction to Humanitarian Leadership

By Vivian Liang

The participants of the Gold program of the non-profit organization, Vision Youth Leadership Program, had the privilege of participating in a humanitarian-based leadership workshop led by the Canadian Red Cross.  Two charismatic and dynamic facilitators, Lynda Watson and Maria Luz Siva, ran several activities with the youths in order to help them better understand what leadership is and what makes humanitarian leadership different than the different kinds of leadership.

 

Red Cross Facilitator Lynda Watson in the session 

In the first module, the participants brainstormed about different aspects of leadership, focusing on the very important question – how should a leader make you feel? Quoting from Maya Angelou, “at the end of the day people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel”. The Gold participants had a chance to self-reflect and found out what kind of leadership they were best at.  It was stressed that different leaders are defined by different qualities and these are all shaped by the dynamic of the group and the situation.

Gold Visioneers participated in Human Knot

Lynda facilitated the second module, which focused on humanitarian leadership. The objective of this module was to help the participants understand what makes a humanitarian leader different than the other types of leaders.  The Gold participants decided that to be a humanitarian leader, he/she must be “a person that makes decisions that create a positive future for all of humanity”.  This activity required a lot of reflection and decision making among the Gold participants as the word “humanity” itself is overwhelming to describe.  It gave them a chance to understand that there are different types of leaders given the goal that needs to be accomplished.  It is important that the participants learned about humanitarian leadership because it encouraged them to improve the humanitarian system as a whole, hopefully inspiring them to be active in their efforts to better the community.  Learning about humanitarian leadership is a good stepping-stone for the Gold participants as they continue to mature while they prepare to enter the “real world”.  This type of leadership specifically emphasizes the compassion to help and improve the welfare and happiness of people, making this type of leadership different than others. This workshop compliments the Vision Youth Leadership Program since the emphasis of the day was to empower youths through leadership- the type of leadership that can occur with everyday activities.

Gold Visioneers Brainstorming for ideas

The recurring theme in this workshop helped the Gold participants understand that as they move forward into the world, they will encounter different types of leaders in different scenarios.  Thank you Lynda and Maria!