Youth empowerment advocate, Amar Panday, is a ‘Special Person’

Dec 13, 2020 News, Special Person

Sustaining a movement of leadership transformation across Guyana…

By Rehanna Ramsay

Some of the young participants of the Empower Guyana project engage in capacity building activities.

Speaking to inmates at an Empower Guyana initiative held at the New Amsterdam Prison.

Panday and his wife Holika who is also actively involved in his mentorship project.

The youth mentorship leadership during a session with one of the children at the Hauraruni Girls Home.

Kaieteur News – We’ve all heard the saying that young people are the future. However, not many organizations and individuals are investing in the development of youth.
As such, in this week’s edition, Kaieteur News has selected to highlight the work of dedicated youth empowerment advocate, Amar Panday.
Panday has been the driving force behind a fairly new youth empowerment network, which aims to hone the best leadership qualities in some of tomorrow’s future leaders.
In this capacity, Panday has travelled across the country, conducting training and leadership initiatives with young people as the main beneficiaries. The youth empowerment advocate is looking to sustain a movement of leadership transformation across Guyana.
He explained that his private work with the Empower Youth Ambassadorship programme only started three years ago, around the same time he decided to start his own leadership training company, Empower Guyana Consultancy (EGC).

The EGC founder during a training session with participants of Youth Parliament Guyana.

“The programme was started simultaneously with the company because having worked in the development of children and young people for seven years prior; I found it was something I enjoyed doing and wanted to continue to do beyond the organization I was with,” said Panday.
The former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Rights of the Child Commission (RCC) had spent seven years at the helm of the organization where he crafted and pioneered the work programme of the Commission to ensure that children in all the regions of Guyana received and benefitted from their Human Rights as established in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
He moved on from the RCC earlier this year to expand his consultancy firm –EGC. As the head of the company, Panday has a mandate of conducting training with private and public sector entities in the areas of leadership and professional ethics.
The objective of the company is to address the shortfall in the development of human resources and help employees function at a premium level.
He opined that since human resource is seen as a necessary part of the efficiency, productivity and performance of organizations, it is important that emphasis is placed on the facilitation of the sustained education and empowerment of the staff.
The EGC founder said this is where his company plays a key role.

Mr. Panday with some of the ambassadors of the Empower Guyana project.

“We help to train entry level, middle management and other staffers in the leadership positions in the affairs of the professional ethics with a clear view of achieving the aims and objectives of the organizations,” Panday added.
In addition to his leadership capacity, this week’s ‘Special Person’ is also a proud husband and new father. The latter role he takes more seriously than any other. He counts his charming little family with wife Holika Klass and son Achilles as his biggest blessing.

MOULDED IDEALS
Sharing briefly on his upbringing, the youth empowerment advocate told Kaieteur News that he grew up at La Grange on the West Bank of Demerara, in a close-knit family.
He described the community where his parents, Pitamber Panday and Bibi Zulaika Panday, brought him and his sister Roshini up, as a place where people valued and respected each other regardless of socio-economic status or ethnicity.
“I think this element of my upbringing has moulded a passion to work to promote such ideals of community development and cohesion,” he asserted.

Some of the young participants of the Empower Guyana project engage in capacity building activities.

A former pupil of the Vreed-en-hoop Primary School, Panday also attended the Brickdam Secondary School, and later the University of Guyana, the Colonel Ulric Pilgrim Officer Cadet School (CUPOCS), and the University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill Campus.
Through his academic studies, he attained first Degrees in Communication, History and English and later a Masters Degree in Human Resource Management.
Given the focus of his study and qualification, Panday said that he draws inspiration for his work and projects from key historical figures with great mentorship qualities.
“As a student of history, I have studied the work of many historical figures that have used the practice of leadership to promote and affect the ideals of national development. Of particular significance has been the role and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I have studied his work and have been greatly inspired by his role in the civil rights movement.
I am also a student of Philosophy. I have been greatly influenced by the Hindu philosopher Patanjali as well as the Greek philosopher Epictetus who have both espoused an approach of mental level-headedness in the face of formidable challenges. This has been an important part of my

In his capacity as a youth empowerment advocate, Mr. Panday travels across the country to do development work

work,” the ECG founder explained.

DRIVING EMPOWERMENT
As it relates to his work with the youth ambassadorship project, Panday is especially proud of the growth. He told Kaieteur News, given that the company and the youth project are primarily funded out of his own pocket, the response to the programmes has been encouraging.
Panday disclosed that there are currently 35 young persons who are members of the programme.
“We have athletes, artistes, university students and aspiring journalists among whom we are helping to coach in leadership and management skills, so they can return to their community and in their own spaces and be change agents,” he said.
Panday said given its mandate, the ambassadorship programme has several different components that allow members to sharpen these skills.
“We have the discussion series on developing public speaking skills; the book club at the National Library; the Ready Readers Book club at Kairuni; the television programme on NCN that focuses on mental and emotional health as well as growth mindsets for leadership; the radio programme which features youth development oriented discussions; our flagship project with the Hauraruni Girls Home where we engage the children with educational and personal development initiatives; and then, there is the personal development workshop where we engage the female inmates at the New Amsterdam Prison,” Panday said of the mentorship project.
Additionally, he said that there are youth empowerment workshops happening monthly in New Amsterdam and Linden.
“The programme is ever-growing and evolving with our aim of pursuing youth development at the forefront. So I am very, very proud of how the youth project has grown,” Panday said.
He noted that with the right conditions for growth, young people can carry out the leadership functions in their home, community and organizations.
“As it is with staffers that are properly trained, so it is with the young people, they respond to carry out the functions of the agencies better. We have seen it happen!” Panday added.

SUSTAINING A MOVEMENT
The EGC proprietor said that he is continuously motivated by seeing the fruits of his work. He said, “There are many scenarios which could be cited as constituting such fruits.”
“The youth ambassadors are now on radio and television and doing excellent work in espousing the mandate of Empower Guyana. This kind of thing keeps me motivated,” he said.
Besides work, the youth empowerment advocate spends a considerable amount of time with his wife Holika Klass, son Achilles, his dog, Armani.
He believes in the philosophy of work/life integration.
As such, a typical day involves planning and executing the work of Empower Guyana as well as spending time with my wife and son.
“They are actively involved in my work with Empower Guyana,” he said.
Asked what advice he would offer to a person who is desirous of having a career in youth development, he noted it requires the approach of a growth mindset and emotional intelligence.
He asserted that “young people require empathy, integrity and inspiration from their mentors.”
In his view, Panday stressed that the materialization of youth leadership and empowerment will be a pivotal and indispensable factor in any viable process of community and regional development in Guyana.
“This is so because it will be primarily the youth who will be responsible for altering the anachronistic and antiquated models and perspectives which have stymied and even injured the process of community integration and development.
At Empower Guyana, I have sought to create a cadre of youth leaders with the requisite capacity to contribute meaningfully to the process of community, regional and national development,” he said of the movement.