The Academy
The WCA Youth Academy (“WCA YA”) is the arm of the World Council of Arameans (Syriacs) (“WCA”) that is responsible for educating and connecting with the Aramean (Syriac) youth worldwide.
The WCA YA aims to inform the Aramean youth about the relevance of the mission and activities of the WCA. The ultimate goal is to find talented young leaders with the intention of educating, preparing and guiding them as the next generation of leaders in the local, national and international organisations of the Aramean people worldwide.
Educational events are provided in different settings, including but not limited to study sessions, seminars and conferences in both national and international contexts.
Since its foundation in 2011, the WCA YA has organised and hosted several study sessions in cooperation with the national federations affiliated to the WCA. That same year, the WCA YA also organised an international training week with the support of the Directorate of Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe. This highly successful event did not only include participants from Europe, but also the youth from the Middle East and India. These events have not only created lifelong friendships and international contacts between young Aramean men and women, but some of the participants have also assumed important leadership positions (today’s chairman of the Syriac Aramaic Youth Federation in Sweden is just one example).
Through a combination of formal and non-formal training methods, participants learn more about the values of the United Nations, the European Union and the Council of Europe in an appealing way. The team of WCA YA facilitators and special guest speakers complete the successful outcome of each event. The facilitators keep in touch with the participants after the events to see how they are doing and whether the facilitators can assist them in a meaningful way. All of this, coupled with the tireless motivation of our participants, turn them into self-aware and motivated activists, into the envisioned Aramean leaders of the future.
Through the WCA, the WCA Youth Academy can refer to a global network of more than 80 local associations in which the Aramean youth are working voluntarily but eagerly within the respective local boards or youth committees. Thanks to our study sessions, we are furthermore able to attract the Aramean youth who hitherto were not yet connected with the associations.
