Two members from Hoadedhdhoo Association for Development(HAD) and Maldives Youth Action Network (MYAN) had participated from Maldives in the South Asian Youth Camp held in Pune from 1 February 2010 to 5 February 2010. The camp which was organised by the Centre for Youth Development and Activities (CYDA) intended to bring youth of different South Asian countries together to discuss diversity, gender, democracy, good governance and environment.55 youngsters from India, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal Bhutan, Afghanistan and Mauritius participated in the camp. The camp was inaugurated by the honorable Mayor of Pune Mr. Mohan Singh Raajpal. Acting Vice President of MYAN and HAD’s Director General Mr. Ahmed Ameez spoke on behalf of all youth participants in the inaugural ceremony . In his speech he mentioned about the role of youth in the development and reforms in the society. He highlighted the example of the role of youth in bringing a modern democracy to the country by bringing an end to a 3 decade dictatorship.
The camp comprised of skills building workshops held throughout the camp where participants were divided into four groups namely film making, newsletter making, theater and dancing. In addition to this Sessions on diversity, democracy, civil society, global warming and role of media were conducted which were facilitated by the experts of the field. At the visit to the MIT School of government Ahmed Ameez spoke on the challenges in consolidating democracy in the Maldives.
The colorful closing ceremony was held on 5th February where the skills building groups presented their work. Apart from these stunning cultural dances from Afghanistan was presented by Afghan students in Pune. One participant from each country spoke on the experience from the camp in which all of them described the camp as a fruitful program. In this regard HAD’s Director – Program Development Mr. Hussain Fayaz stated that the knowledge and experiences he got from the camp were valuable and he would utilize it in bringing developments to his community. He also called upon South Asian countries to work against global warming which is related to Maldivian’s right to live