Introducing the new Guruship

Last year, Nation Building School initiated a leadership program called Guruship to expose, educate and empower youth to be the best version of themselves. The 90-day program consists of orientation, halfway review and graduation. During this period, they were taught the best practices of community organising and exposed to leaders from various backgrounds. A total of 49 Gurus graduated from the program. 

This year, we have redesigned the Guruship. While youth development has always been our aim, we decided to deep dive into a critical issue -- youth unemployment. Globally, youth unemployment is close to a historic peak since the global recession and global financial crisis. According to ILO, over 71 million young between the ages of 14 and 24 are officially unemployed. The unofficial estimates could be significantly higher. In Malaysia itself, youth unemployment is triple of the average unemployment at 10.7%. Over 200,000 young graduates are unemployed. 

With this in mind, the Guruship is targeted for youth not in education, employment, or training (NEET) to ensure they have access to training and development. The Guruship is divided into 3 phases: Personal, Professional, People (3Ps). 

Personal: Participants are connected to leading figures from public, private and social sectors. This exposure allows them to expand their horizon on career prospects and entrepreneurship.

Professional: Subsequently, participants are provided in-house career guidance such as resume, interview and networking. 

People: While job-hunting, participants organise community projects or campaigns (e.g. climate change, women empowerment, statelessness). They will harness soft skills such as communications, problem-solving and teamwork. These skills will be crucial when they seek employment. 

We have restructured the Guruship as well. As opposed to a 90-day program, we have converted it into monthly gatherings. During these Gatherings, Gurus share their progress in their studies and career, and are matched with fellow Gurus who can assist them. In addition, the Gatherings serve as a sounding board for their community projects or NGO's. We were inspired by its potential to be a mix of Benjamin Franklin's Junto (platform to share ideas), BNI (find opportunities to collaborate) and DrinkEntrepreneurs (easy-going way to meet new people). 

The pictures above were the 3rd Guruship Gathering held at Liberal Latte (Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur) on 8th November 2017.