In line with OIRC project motto; Enabling young people to make a difference
Author: Irina A Tanase, OIRC President 2023 – 2024
This year, Oslo International Rotary Club had the honor of hosting the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards in District 2310, and the result is two and a half days of wisdom, empowering, inspiration and fun with some of the most notable personalities in the local leadership.
The RYLA Chair was our Club’s member and earlier Club president Siri M L Joli, supported by Lederne, a union organisation for managers and middle managers. This year it was located at Lily Country Club and the conference created space for ten intense sessions and workshops on communication, mental health and conflict management. The approaches of our speakers could not have been of higher relevance: from finding out together how to collaborate to create an ad-hoc drums orchestra (icebreaker), to learning about leadership in war, leadership and healthy work relations, leadership in global organizations where several cultures meet each other, leadership of one’s own life, when the society is not ready to receive us with open arms, to building and educating leadership skills, leading efforts for good mental health, or leading the fight against bullying. You may read more about each of our speakers, as well as about their presentations here: https://oirc.online/ryla/
The 45 participants – selected and supported by the Rotary Club’s in our District – made us proud, both for the wonderful, enthusiastic, hardworking young people they are, and for the inspiring, motivated leaders they are becoming. With experience from entrepreneurship programs for youth, international study programs, social engagement in various organizations, or maybe from their hobbies, our attendants have received with joy all the knowledge and inspiration from our amazing expert speakers. In exchange, they gave us thousands of times more inspiration, motivation, trust in our own values and capabilities to continue our work with enabling young people to make a difference. For this, and for the wonderful time spent together, we thank them, and we hope they will stay close friends of our Club.
Special thanks to our District Governor, Torhild Hallre, for supporting our efforts and giving the opening speech on the first day of the conference, and to our Club’s awesome RYLA 2024 team, who made this event possible, with all its details, challenges, lessons to be learned and achievements to be celebrated: Siri M. L. Joli, Irina A Tanase, Ena Beso Isakovic, Besir Isakovic, Syed Nuruddin and Lars J. K. Haug.
