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CASE STUDY: ‘BELIEVE, ACHIEVE & INSPIRE’ LEADERSHIP PROGRAMINITIATIVE DETAILSOrganisations: Federation of Australian Muslim Students and Youth (FAMSY) Victoria University Contact: Craig Dent Federation of Australian Muslim Youth PO Box 451 Newport VIC 3015 Email: contact@believe‐achieve‐inspire.org Funding: Independent DESCRIPTION OF INITIATIVELaunched in 2009, this program was designed in collaboration with Victoria University to provide comprehensive leadership development course for future community leaders. It is a multi‐streamed, tertiary accredited professional and Islamic based leadership development. It is unique amongst leadership courses of this type in that participants who complete the course successfully receive a Graduate Certificate in Management from Victoria University. Craig Dent explained: There are two streams to the program, which run in parallel. The academic stream delivered by Victoria University as our current academic provider is taught in classroom, small group, and large group scenarios along with individual‐based work. The second stream, delivered by FAMSY [Federation of Australian Muslim Students and Youth], covers a range of topics and is delivered by recognised subject experts. The course objectives are to: explore social, economic and environmental issues, with a ten‐year horizon canvass a variety of issues, with a focus on the coming decade, and work with your peers to decide on what to tackle within and for a community, how to do it, and why explore and challenge your own values, philosophies, prejudices and beliefs, with the help of experienced program leaders ƒ build trust, rapport and networks between people with different world views ƒ learn about how community resources work, so you understand how to seek out opportunities and resolve challenges communities face.
The program has been successfully run with demonstrable achievements and is now in its second year of operation. Program Chair and co‐founder Craig Dent told us: Students of the program have gone on to be active within the community, workplaces and personal lives utilising the knowledge and experiences gained whilst undertaking the program. We have past students of the program involved in this program this year, which is great. We have even had students change their professional careers, which has been really amazing, one past student has recently been quoted in a public forum stating that “This program changes lives”. This is such a powerful statement; to see that from a previous year’s student is really powerful. In addition to the political, civic and community dimensions of the course, the completion of a diploma in management has been viewed by both coordinators and participants as a key strength. To one participant: It’s unique, because it does give you a diploma, and essentially that’s the component through Victoria University... you do it over the weekend and you end up with a Diploma in Business Management and Leadership. So that, by itself, is a good thing, because with then the degree, you come up with a better understanding of what it requires to run your own business, or everything that’s related. Another aspect of this course that sets it apart from other types of leadership courses is the long‐term nature of the outcomes it sets out to achieve. Participants are made aware that they are walking towards goals within a ten‐year horizon. Craig Dent said: One of the reasons behind this is the purpose of the program itself, which is to develop future leaders. You cannot develop future leaders in the vacuum of today, or yesterday for that matter. It has to be about the future. We tackle the issues of today and those emerging particularly those that need to be confronted within the 10‐year horizon. I think leadership styles themselves along with the meaning of leadership, will continue to evolve and may well be very different in ten years to what it is today. The broad Islamic and academic structure of the course was very popular with participants. They also found the focus on civic participation and citizenship enhanced their ability to take on political questions: I think that was the main goal that I had when I started the course – it was just looking at up‐ skilling in terms of being better able to manage projects, to have a better general awareness in terms of leadership skills and in terms of project management, time management and team management. The course really delivered on that – especially team management. It also covered a lot of different areas that I hadn't even contemplated before looking at the course which were really interesting and awe‐inspiring in the sense of looking at citizenship from the time of Plato till now, looking at sustainability, looking at corporate responsibility and accountability – corporate accountability – things like that. They're far beyond what most project managers would look at. This participant felt that what made the difference for him was being able to understand the background of the Australian political system and the concept of citizenship in ways that enabled him to think differently about the role of Muslims in Australia. I’ve never had the opportunity to do something like that. History is always amazing when you know and are able to question because it is a big topic of discussion in Australia politics. The ... Muslim community has been targeted ... If you comprehend the history of it then you're better able to understand the issues involved in it and that's something that’s never been offered before. I haven't been exposed to it ever before. I’m pretty sure that in our community a lot of people have also not been exposed to it. For another participant, one of the most important aspects of the course was learning that leadership was about motivating others. In addition, it enabled him to think differently about how Muslims can become politically engaged within the Australian context and to run courses for Monash University’s Islamic Student Society on how Muslim students can become more involved in Australian politics: Obviously, they [Muslims] are a minority here in Australia so if they want to get more involved and have a bigger say in how the society should be working as well, that’s where I come in. I have an understanding now of what it takes to interact with politicians, and on the other hand, from the other side, I also know how to voice the common Muslim opinion to the politicians, because that doesn’t always get heard by the general Australian audience, because if you look at TV or newspapers, it’s one monologue, constantly: Muslims are bad and not good for Australia. Course participants had maintained their networks beyond the course’s conclusion and, at the time of interview, many continued to meet regularly. One reported: We’ve set up an ongoing meeting every month. I’ve likened it to a director’s meeting where you have coaching from other company directors and you all get together and support each other ... Even though we’re involved in different organisations and different programs, we get together on the first Monday of every month in the city and have dinner and go and do something fun. Maybe bowling, maybe go and watch a movie or something like that and then have an opportunity to cross‐integrate across different community programs or community areas or projects. You know, give each other advice, or talk about whatever is bothering us. It’s been really rewarding and fulfilling. CHALLENGESOne of the participants noted that the course content was challenging for some of the participants because it demanded that they think differently. However, other than the question of securing funding to run future programs, there were not many challenges to speak of and the course was very well regarded by past participants that we interviewed. Sustainability of the program in its current form is indeed a challenge, which will continue despite the efforts to mitigate it unless the Australian Government gets on board and supports the program. I recently had the opportunity to meet with Congressman Keith Ellison in the United States, he was the first Muslim elected to the US congress. An amazing individual and someone who’s taken an interest in this program. ORGANISATIONAL AND SUSTAINABILITY ISSUESThe question of funding is the key issue facing the parties involved in designing and implementing this program. As the initiative has not received any government funding to date, it relies entirely upon being able to generate income through fund‐raising activities and sponsorship from various organisations. Further, the university component of the course is not currently funded through any student educational scheme so this is an added cost incurred by the host organisations. Craig Dent said he would: Love to say the Australian government [had given us funding], but I can’t!, it is disappointing. It is a large and ambitious program; it is an expensive program to offer to students ... We have fund‐raisers during the course of the year and, again, coming back to the projects, one of the project teams last year took on what seems quite simple but is extremely challenging that is, fundraising. They have now run two fundraisers for the program ... One of those fundraisers they have run has just been in the last month, so well after they completed the program their work continues, which is important. We are fortunate to have other community organisations who have for the second consecutive year provided financial support. We have a great group of sponsors that have provided funding during 2009 and again, thankfully, have signed up for 2010. We also enter, where appropriate, award programs that provide some [financial] relief ... It is a difficult way of doing it. Students themselves contribute less than 7% of the course costs. MAIN CONCLUSIONSThis was a unique initiative amongst leadership programs of its kind in providing an academic accreditation to participants. Further, the extent of integration between the academic and the Islamic teachings seems to have been developed far more than with many other leadership courses. This course has been highly praised by past participants for providing an academic accreditation within an Islamic framework as well as providing participants the opportunity for future oriented professional development. Directory: sites -> default -> files -> documents -> 01 2014 documents -> Ace abi catair customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements documents -> Mobile audio/video recording systems documents -> The south australian government gazette documents -> All public acts appearing in this gazette are to be considered official, and obeyed as such documents -> Union interparlementaire inter-parliamentary union 01 2014 -> Voices Shaping the 01 2014 -> Muslim Voices – Hopes and aspirations of Muslim Australians Centre for Muslim Minorities & Islam Policy Studies 01 2014 -> Editors: Kerry Download 16.24 Mb. 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