Linden students undergo leadership and local democracy training

– ahead of appointment of new junior Mayor

A number of students from Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Berbice) recently received a two-day training in leadership and local democracy ahead of the appointment of a junior Mayor who will serve for the period 2019-2020.

Linden Mayor Waneka Arrindell said the aim was to strengthen and advance leadership, communication and fluency skills so that the youths can be better able to represent themselves and others on social platforms.
The Linden Mayor and Town Council (LM&TC) commenced the junior Mayor initiative in 2018 with 18-year-old Devon Beckles serving from 2018 up until now. This year, Arrindell noted, the junior Mayor will be chosen from Grade Six.
“This year we’re working with the Grade 6 classes to choose the junior Mayor. Last year we chose from the Secondary school, this year we want to choose the children who are now going over into Secondary school…”, the Mayor noted.
Beckles was also part of the training along with students from other grades.
“We brought back in the junior Mayor and the team and we also took children from the Grade 10. We worked with every group on leadership, volunteerism, self-esteem development, local governance”, Arrindell said.
The junior Mayor project is expected to commence in July while the junior Mayor is expected to be chosen in the final week. According to Arrindell, $500,000 will be awarded to the successful junior Mayoral candidate to undertake a humanitarian project.
“Like something within the schools – if they see children without shoes, children without textbooks, something humanitarian. And then we’re hoping to do a community project”, she stated.
Arrindell also noted that the outgoing junior Mayor will be working alongside others to spruce up the aesthetics of the cenotaph at Mackenzie, Linden.
Likewise, she noted that it is expected that the new junior Mayor also undertakes a community enhancement project.
Asked about the success of the junior mayoral initiative, Arrindell said the outgoing junior Mayor would have benefited greatly. She noted that two of the key aspects learned was the spirit of volunteerism and participation. Arrindell pointed out that the outgoing junior Mayor would have donated finances towards the development of a “space” at his school which had been in a deplorable state.
“I think one of the things we would have seen is the junior Mayor’s development in terms of how he’s now able to present himself…we’ve seen an improvement in terms of how he’s now able to write and articulate, in terms of development of self-esteem to be more effective in the community. That is something that we wanted to see – where the person would develop overall to be able to become a leader in their community and I think for that I would say that it was successful”, she noted.
Arrindell added that the outgoing junior Mayor was also able to attend Council meetings and give suggestions as it relates to the community’s youth.