Last month, 7 young leaders courageously took to the front of the room, making a promise to apply their new learnings and skills to their lives and to the broader community. These promises marked the end of the Bounce Back Leadership Program for 2021.
The significance of the graduation was strengthened by those in the room. Alongside the 7 young leaders we’re key supporters of the program, including:
- Viv Nguyen and Bwe Thay,Chair and Deputy
Chair of the Victorian Multicultural Commission
- Anthea Hancocks, CEO of the
Scanlon Foundation - Archangelo Nyuol Madut - Centre for Multicultural Youth
- Stephen Sibanda - City of Melbourne
- Charmaine Hunzwi - Incubate Foundation
- Monica Forson - Human Rights Commission
- Monica Deng and Deng Yong; the founders of South Sudanese Australian Youth United
The program was founded by the South Sudanese Australian Youth United in partnership with Leadership Victoria to improve the leadership capacity of young South Sudanese Australians and better position them to give back to their communities. For these young folk, the promises marked the beginning of their leadership journey.
A theme throughout the promises was the realisation within the young folk about their ability and capacity to lead both themselves, and their respective communities. That they can be the agents and influencers of the positive social change they want to see. This speaks strongly to one of our central principles of leadership at Leadership Victoria: Anyone can lead, anywhere, at any time. And that leadership is not a position but an activity.
This leadership runs all the way through to the creation of the Bounce Back Leadership Program. Before Co-founding South Sudanese Australian Youth United, Deng Yong would dedicate his time after work to mentoring and playing basketball with young people in the South Sudanese community.
Deng, alongside Co-founder of South Sudanese Australian Youth United, Monica Deng, were later selected to participate in the African Community Leadership Program, a program run by Leadership Victoria which helped empower them to develop the Bounce Back Leadership Program.
So as we come full circle, we look forward to being a part of the impact these young leaders are creating in their community. If you would like to find out what these newly minted Leadership Victoria alumni are up to, or you'd like to reach and support SSAYU in some way, please get in touch at info@leadershipvictoria.org.
