Student leaders at the Dr Hilla Limann Technical University (DHLTU) have received practical training on fundraising, conflict management, leadership as well as public speaking at a leadership seminar on campus.
The seminar was organized by the Students' Chaplaincy Council (SCC), a body of all Christian denominations and para church organizations on campus, at the weekend.
The leadership seminar, aimed at enhancing the skills of students to become effective leaders, brought together lecturers and experienced young leadership who took turns to address the various segments of program.
Speaking at the seminar, Mr Mulumba Songsore, Executive Director of Necessary Aid Alliance (NAA), implored the students to leverage fundraising techniques in mobilizing resources for their activities and programs.
He said no one person had it all and thus, intimated that fundraising was crucial in the lives of individuals and organizations "because no man is an island."
Mr Songsore, who commenced his talk with a fundraiser to help the SCC acquire a universal banner, inspired the student leaders to see fundraising as a viable tool for resource mobilization.
He urged that successful fundraising campaigns must be driven by compelling objectives and led with credibility.
"Credibility plays a very key role [in fundraising]. As a body, they're credible but on individual basis, that's where the problem lies. So as an individual, you've to build personal credibility...if you don't build that credibility, nobody would want to donate to support your cause.
"But for sure, religious bodies like the SCC which is a registered, formidable well-known body, they can leverage on the reputation that this has, but then if their leaders are not credible, people will not even be willing to donate to them," he stated.
He said the students could leverage such fundraising events as annual giving’s, silver collections, online crowd sourcing, and use of souvenirs to mobilize funds for their activities and projects.
Catechist James Baba Anabiga, an alumnus of the SCC and Speaker of the Upper West Regional Youth Parliament, who was addressing the topic of conflict management, said conflicts were inevitable in every human setting but that when they arise, swift steps must be taken to resolve them.
He stated that the initial and most crucial step to resolving a conflict is by first, recognizing that there is a friction which will then pave the way for the next steps.
“The fact is that if you don’t recognize there’s a conflict, how do you go about managing it?” he quizzed.
He emphasized tackling the root causes in resolving conflicts as he likened it to uprooting a tree.
“The key issue you should be looking out for is the root cause of the conflict. In felling a tree, you don’t just cut the branches, the fruits or the leaves. You need to cut down from the roots if you want to kill the tree entirely,” he intimated.
Cat. Anabiga also took the students through public speaking skills as he emphasized confidence building and health self-esteem as essential traits.
Dr. Nicholas Addo Tetteh, the Master Chaplain of the SCC who doubled as a lecturer and Director of the university's International Relations and Collaborations Directorate, shared some techniques of effectively balancing leadership and academic roles with the students.
Among others, he entreated the students to set clear goals, prioritize their tasks, create schedules and practice time management and more importantly, to seek assistance from peers, lecturers and mentors when needed.
Mr. Timothy Kaleonaa Mwinibanbu, a participant, sharing his experience, said he acquired very essential skills from the seminar which he was optimistic that it would improve his overall leadership qualities.
"It has been so enlightening and some of the things I learned among the many things is that, in public presentation, we can practice in groups to build our confidence or practice in front of a mirror or alone to monitor our gestures, and seeking feedback from people after public presentation sessions.
"And with fundraising, we should have targets so that when you approach people, we let them know that, this is what we really want to raise. But if we leave it open, at the end, we might not even get half of what we need, yet people don't know that that wasn't the amount we needed," he said.
The summit was held in collaboration with Safeguard the Future Foundation, a female-led organization.