Taqaddam was such a good experience to go through it. I will be very honest and spontaneous writing this paragraph, without being formal or without overreacting!

I can see how I am different now. I feel more confident and I can share my ideas easily. Let me share a short story with you, in my first course in university I was taking one course with a doctor who loves sudden presentations. No preparation expected. All the students felt afraid of that moment. But, I had always presented simply without fears, and he was always complimenting me for being this brave. And after the that course, the doctor and the head of our major had chosen and invited me to attend the preparatory forum for the second international conference on sustainability and flexibility with the engineer Esam bin Abdullah Khalaf. And also, asked me to participate in international competition for presentation skills in Bahrain society of engineers. I was over the moon to improve a product to make life safer in Bahrain (img 1,2,3) and it was easy for me because we did something similar in taqaddam.

So, I was not really thinking that I will be spotted in university as I used in school. But due to the skills I gained from this program I feel I am ready to deal with different communities!

Thank you! I think this change is a must for all the students around Bahrain!

Zainab Hassan, Student, Jidhafs Secondary Girls School

“Being a part of the Taqaddam community has helped shape my character in more ways than I predicted. I would describe myself as introverted, yet I was able to comfortably socialize with people and engage in conversations with them due to the skills I developed.

For two years, I had an irrational fear of public speaking. The thought of giving a speech in front of a crowd has driven me to the point of having panic attacks on more than one occasion. I didn’t know how to combat this issue that I desperately wanted to overcome. This was the case until I joined the program. Along with my team, I was able to present our “make it happen” project in front of a crowd of roughly 400 people, and that’s something that I never thought I’d dream of due to my anxiety.”

Sheikha Mohammed Al Dosary

Student Ambassador, Hamad Town Secondary Girls’ School

Three is the Magic Number

Three is the magic number. Yes, it is, it’s the magic number. Or at least that is what it feels like in the world of Taqaddam, as we stretch into this year’s training and workshop events. Magic is in the air as the Taqaddam teams – the British Council, HSBC volunteers and Goodall Foundation trainers – harness the infectious energy generated over the past two years of delivery.

We certainly are stretching this year, flexing our learning muscles even further to provide an iteration of the programme that is bigger, bolder and more impactful than ever before.

We are reaching hundreds of young people in each of the six countries, Egypt, UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.

We are delivering life skills training to school leaders and teachers, promoting a school-wide educational approach that allows students to navigate and take responsibility for their own learning and development.

We are offering training to Student Ambassadors in each country, developing their public speaking and coaching skills, and much more.

The response to the life skills training has been impressive, with teachers planning to use the Taqaddam tools and lesson plans across their classes, rather than just in the Taqaddam classes. Discussions between school leaders have been just as exciting, with conversations on building in electives for students across the year groups to access lessons that actively develop life skills.

‘This will benefit my purpose in life and hope that you continue to aid me in inspiring the students.’

‘I will encourage students to go out of their comfort zone and go deeper and deeper in their stretch zone, dealing with different people. Maybe with their colleagues from different classes or other grades.’

‘I hope to always be a part of Taqaddam and continue to help to build a better world for our students. I’m super excited.’

The impact of the programme on the young people is clear. Ambassadors who took part in the programme last year and the year before are full of stories of how the project helped to build their confidence; allowed them to connect with friends they would never have otherwise met; encouraged them to feel like they are positive change-makers in their communities. These are the voices that resonate, for the project team and for the new programme entrants. 

So what do the new students make of the programme this year? Here are a few words from them:

‘I will use the learning from the workshop in my life by being who I am no matter what, speaking up, and loving myself.’

‘The thing I will not forget about today was my first presentation in front of strangers.’

‘I will spread positivity and I’ll give not only take! I’ll tell my beloved ones about everything I’ve learned.’

Lucky To Be Young

Mohammed Sweid, a high school student from the south of Lebanon reckons he is lucky to be young because it gives him a chance to learn on programmes like Taqqadam. Nadine Saassouh, a teacher who attended the teacher training course this year, agrees. They reflect on their learning experience on Taqqadam in Lebanon this year.

Creating global citizens

Nadine is an English language teacher at a public high school in Lebanon and believes the programme is a vital tool to help prepare young people for the realities of the outside world after school life. ‘Taqaddam prepares and equips students with the skills they need. The world has progressed and I believe it needs critical global citizens who are able to solve a problem, who are able to think locally and globally about an issue, to think critically and innovatively.’

Get active, get involved

Both Nadine and Mohammed agree that it is the way Taqaddam is taught which is crucial to its success. For Mohammed the highlight of the programme was taking part in all of the activities and workshops which make learning so much fun. Nadine agrees, she noticed that at the start of the programme there were a number of pupils who didn’t seem interested and were not engaged – by the end they were enthusiastically joining in and participating in all the activities. The energising and inclusive nature of the Taqaddam programme means that everyone has to work together and the benefits are clear to see.

Inspiring confidence

As the students participate in the activities, their confidence grows and they start to realise their own potential. Mohammed believes he is stronger as a result of participating in the programme: ‘Before I took Taqqadam I was very shy, when we introduced Taqaddam I felt my self-confidence become high, I can introduce myself properly now and everyone knows me and they like me. I now have the confidence to show my work.’

Making changes for the future

As a teacher, Nadine recognises that it is vital that the learning from Taqaddam is continued in the classroom. She believes that teachers from across the different subjects should work together to encourage critical thinking and problem solving and build communication skills. By making students work together, they can be collaborative and work as a team and find new solutions to the problems facing society. This might mean conducting interviews and conducting data research. Nadine believes it is time to harness the technological skills these young people have and put it to meaningful use: ‘This amazing and extraordinary programme will give our students the skills to do things on their own and seize the change they want in society.’

Change starts with us all

While Taqaddam helps develop real skills to help young people navigate their way in the world, one of its most important lessons is that we all have potential to make change happen – if we are equipped with the right skills.

Sameh, an HSBC volunteer on the recent Taqaddam programme in Oman, was asked which song most closely represented the programme. He chose Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror, because ‘If I want to make a change in the world, in society it starts with me, I need to make a change to myself to participate and develop in society. I start with the man in the mirror.’

Time to give back

Sameh, an experienced communications professional at HSBC, shared his knowledge with students during the workshops. He believes it is important that organisations such as HSBC give back to society through supporting educational programmes such as Taqaddam through partnerships with organisations like the Goodall Foundation and the British Council. He hopes the students will make good use of the skills and knowledge they have learned during the programme in their personal lives, as well as their careers.

A wealth of knowledge

This wealth of knowledge includes the value of teamwork, prioritisation and self-awareness. Alissa, a teacher at Caledonian College, observed many students who became very reflective, thinking about themselves and identifying their weaknesses and their strengths. This helped them grow in confidence and by the end of the programme they felt able to participate in activities and open up to other students. Sameh agreed, and observed that there was a marked change in the students in the first and second workshops, as students returned energised and enthusiastic to share their progress and improve their skills.

We can all learn

But it’s not just the students who can learn from Taqaddam. Sameh has learned many things which he will use in his career, and also learned from the students themselves. For Alissa, the most valuable lesson is the new techniques to motivate and encourage students to participate. One of her courses is a part-time course for older learners. They attend lessons after a day at work and often turn up exhausted and demotivated. By using some of the techniques she had picked up at Taqaddam, Alissa was able to energise her class and found that the environment changed very quickly once the students were engaged.

Making it happen

For Alissa, it was the projects where the students themselves took ownership which really built confidence and helped them make the most of the skills they had learned. This will help students to make the changes they want in society, and in the world.

Taqaddam comes to Oman

The thing about Oman is … it is a little bit different. Lewis and Anna from the Taqaddam project team tell us why.

What is different about the Taqaddam programme in Oman?

Oman was unique for a number of reasons, the main reason being that all the students taking part in Taqaddam in its first year in Oman were enrolled at the same college studying engineering. The college, Caledonian College of Engineering in Muscat, is trialling embedding Taqaddam into its core curriculum. In place of their normal weekly skills clinics, students in the foundation years of the college are studying Taqaddam instead.

When we delivered the first workshops, many of the students had only just started at the college so they were still making new friends and many of them did not feel comfortable talking and working with each other. Many of the students are older – some are in their early twenties. This is rare as we usually work with students who are aged 15–16. A number of the young people are from rural villages outside the capital city, Muscat, where the college is situated. They board at the college campus and go home at weekends.

The teachers all work together so they know and respect one other. As a result there was a sense that Taqaddam is building unity between a team that has a pre-existing bond, rather than creating a new disparate network of teachers.

How did this change the dynamic of the teacher training and the workshops, compared to other countries you have delivered in?

The teacher training was different in that the teachers knew they could take real ownership of the programme. While most teachers are looking forward to running the programme in their schools, they can often be the only person delivering Taqaddam. As a result they have to juggle their priorities alone or with one other person. In Oman it is set up to be a joint effort, with teachers holding their own classes but with a strong peer-to-peer support system in place.

During the teacher training it was great to see the teachers asking so many questions and providing great ideas and insight into how Taqaddam could be further embedded into the school and combined with the curriculum. We felt the students would be getting a great experience but also these teachers would be able to give us great feedback on how the model works when it is fully supported in schools.

What is different about the Taqaddam programme in Oman?

The biggest challenge was the young people taking a while to open up. The boys and girls were not used to working with each another and everyone was obviously feeling a little shy. After some interactive activities they all warmed up during the session. We are looking forward to seeing the difference in student confidence during the second workshop.

What was the highlight?

Working together was great. We have been the core project team since the start of the Taqaddam programme and so we both felt comfortable adapting the content and sessions to the needs of the students more radically than in any other workshop. The British Council team were also amazing and the HSBC volunteers were engaged and eager to support. All in all, the people made the experience what it was!

About Taqaddam

Taqaddam, meaning ‘move forward’ in Arabic, aims to support young people to build confidence and develop personal skills as they leave school. The programme has been developed by and is run in partnership with HSBC and the British Council. The content for the programme has been developed by Spark+Mettle, part of the Goodall Foundation.

April Taqaddam Storify

Want to know what has been happening with Taqaddam throughout the month of March 2017? You have come to the right place!

We have been in Egypt, Bahrain and Kuwait running workshop two and MAKE IT HAPPEN SHOWCASES.

Lots of great things and positivity but don’t just take our word for it, let the pictures speak for themselves….

(if you don’t see anything below – please hit the refresh button)

On the ground in Lebanon

During the second year of the Taqaddam programme, workshops are taking place in seven countries to over 2,000 people. Lebanon is the only country to have a local facilitator who co-delivers the workshops alongside a Spark+Mettle facilitator from the UK. We asked Eva-Maria Ghanem, a member of the British Council project team in Lebanon in to share some thoughts on her experience.

An inspirational experience

Being the first local trainer on the Taqaddam programme was an amazing experience. I was really inspired by the students, especially because we had students from different backgrounds and from different regions of Lebanon who would not normally have this kind of opportunity. It was so interesting to see how some of them were really shy at the start of the programme, but slowly opened up as their confidence was boosted through the programme. Some of them were unstoppable at the end!

The experience facilitating Taqaddam also helped boost my confidence and challenged me to think in different ways and make the most of my own skills and character strengths.

Making a difference

Some of the students came back to me to ask for more information about websites I talked about and wanted to know more about studying abroad. I really felt I had been able to make a difference and help get these young people on the right track.

It’s all about the journey

I think that the Taqaddam programme should have been given to us when we were kids trying to figure out our way in life – what we would be good at, what we would really want to focus on, what is our purpose and all of that. At the same time, I do believe the journey getting to where I am now and facilitating a programme like this one is at the core of Taqaddam – it’s about the journey not just the destination. I have learned from my mistakes and my failures and this made it easier to relate to the young people and give them real experiences from my own life.

I really do hope that our Ministry of Education will introduce Taqaddam or a similar project to the curriculum so that more students can benefit from it.

About Taqaddam

Taqaddam, meaning ‘move forward’ in Arabic, aims to support young people to build confidence and develop personal skills as they leave school. The programme has been developed by and is run in partnership with HSBC and the British Council. The content for the programme has been developed by Spark+Mettle, part of the Goodall Foundation.