The London Study Tour from the 13th to 23rd March 2012 was led by Democracy House Maldives and funded by the British High Commission in Colombo. In the 10 days, we explored many different areas, from Politics to Technology to Graffiti. Unlike most other trainings, this was not only about identifying the problems but also about finding solutions for them. Everyone knows what is wrong, but only a handful knows what needs to be done and more importantly, what can be done.

James Edlston, Susanna Darch, Alex Farrow, Lisa Davis, Derek Oakley, Liam Barrington, from BYC were very helpful at every step of tour, they did not only chaperone us but also gave us every bit of knowledge that could be delivered in such a short period of time.

We reached London around 18 30 hours on the 13th of March, it was the first experience of real cold for almost all the participants (the average daily temperature is about 30 degree Celsius throughout the year!) so it was very new yet fun experience for us all.

On the 14th, we went to a Commonwealth Youth Exchange Event at Royal Commonwealth Society. The day included round table discussions of topics from Commonwealth Values, Human Rights, Youth Voice, Education, Sports and Environment amongst some. The speaker of the day was FCO Minister Lord Howell and the day came to an end with a Question panel.

James Edleston, Head of International, British Youth Council started the day on 15th with a introduction into BYC and some projects and campaigns BYC is involved with such as Vote at 16, Young Mayors and Youth Parliament amongst some. We had lunch at China Town and then went to Trafalgar Square where we questioned some members of the public on what they think Democracy is. After a beautiful walk through Hyde Park we stopped at the Speakers Corner before heading to meet one of the most vibrant and colorful group of people we met during the stay, Refugee Youth. We discussed on the different hurdles faced when starting an organization and how to avoid or get past them and on what makes a organization sustainable.

Day 3 started with meeting the Jean Lambert, London’s Green Party Member of the European Parliament. The session included very politically correct answers to many questions we had and Jean talked to us about what a MEP does and what democracy means to her and where the boundaries of Democracy lies in her view. After the session we met with Unlock Democracy, they are one of UKs leading campaigns for Democracy, Rights, and Freedom. One of the most interesting projects by Unlock Democracy is their online tool, which is used to identify which candidate in an election holds the views that you support by answering some multiple answer questions. In the evening Derek Oakley took a session on what Democracy is and where we go from now. The conclusion of the session was that Democracy has no single look, no single taste, no single sound, no single smell nor a specific feel, democracy is what we make of it, democracy is what we want, democracy means different things to different people, but the core idea remains the same. We also reached a decision amongst us to go back to Maldives and start build a platform to give the Youth a voice.

Saturday and Sunday were our free days, Lisa Davis took us sightseeing on Saturday, and two Maldivian students studying in UK went with us on Sunday. We went to see the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, St Paul’s Cathedral, and almost every other points of interest. We also watched John Carter in IMAX 3D, did some shopping at the Camden Market and Old Spitalfields Market. We also joined a Fundraiser dinner at the East London Mosque by the Nida Foundation.

On 19th March Liam Barrington-Bush joined us for the visit to the Parliament, we had some interactive sessions before seeing the sittings of both House of Lords and House of Commons. The style the parliament works is very different from Maldives and this made the visit even more interesting.

On 20th March 3 of the participants, including me shadowed three MPS, Nigel Evans, Helen Grant and Rosy Cooper. The Queen was meeting both Houses of the Parliament after almost 10 years and so everyone was on their toes and the atmosphere was very vibrant. I saw the Queen for the first time and that was one of the highlights of the tour, we also snapped some photos with the Queens Diamond Jubilee stained glass window. I was very interested to know that the MPs reply to each and every mail, post or letter they receive, because in Maldivians most constituents have no means of reaching the MPs and the MPs tend to not reply to most issues raised by the public. While the three of us spent the day at Parliament, the others were meeting many new people and having a lot of fun at Bristol.

The last two days of the tour was packed with events by Young Muslim Advisory Group, Saad Butt made sure everything was going smoothly and he barely rested the entire day. The first day started with a fictional counter terrorism exercise called ACT NOW. It was followed by a session with MADE in Europe where we looked into how equal we actually are and the reasons why we haven’t reached the equality promised to us, also Millennium Development Goals were discussed. We visited a local high school where we participated in a class discussing Racism, after the class Saad chaired a debate by Debate Mate on whether military intervention should be used to current crisis going on in Syria. Seeing 13 year old debate on such a topic with such maturity and knowledge was very interesting and to a point unexpected. In the evening we had a social gathering with food, music and a lot of people. Many different organizations were present in the evening and it was a good opportunity to socialize and make valuable contacts. The night involved songs, drums, poetry and rapping by very talented people.

The next day started with a graffiti workshop where we got to make our own personal T-shirt. Love Life Generation ran a workshop on capacity building, personal development and raising aspirations at noon. Be the change you want to see was the lesson of the session. After that we met a girls group at the Youth Centre about their current intergenerational project with an elderly peoples home. It was followed by us participating in a local radio program and discussed topics of knife and gun violence and also about music. After that we met a Global Exchange volunteer from Nigeria who has been in UK for the past 3 months. After the very last session we went to a Chinese restaurant before wrapping up for the day.

My favorite part of the tour was that the program was designed not only to deliver us the knowledge but get the best in us out and deliver what we know. The people who worked with us made the trip even more worthwhile, they not only took great care of us but also made sure that every moment was a learning experience one or the other, while keeping it fun at the same time.

It’s not every day that we meet people who makes us want to change the world, change the world for the better, make it a happier place, a place where everyone, black or white, short or tall, rich or poor can live side by side, during this trip we met many such people and organizations from different areas of work who have made the idea of change something possible. You don’t need a lot of money to bring a change. You don’t need a political power to change the society. All you need is determination and courage to be part of the change. To be the change. And to lead by example.

The main purpose of the trip which took place from the 13^th to 23^rd March 2012, was to provide more exposure to the participants and introduce them to different aspects of democracy, youth led initiatives, the UK youth parliament and other community based initiatives in the UK. During the visit the participants took part in several short workshops, visited and observed sessions in the House of Commons and the House of Lords in the UK Parliament, shadowed the work of 3 Members of Parliament, and visited several youth led organizations and democratic spaces in London.

Press Statement-8th February 2012

Democracy House condemns the Maldives security services for the use of excessive force at today’s demonstration held by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). We call upon the Maldives security services and all other relevant institutions to respect and protect the fundamental rights of all people. We urge the government and state institutions and other involved parties to uphold the rule of law and to work towards restoring peace and confidence in this critical time of transition. We also urge citizens not to harm courts, police posts and other public institutions in the form of revenge.

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The new executive committee of Democracy House is as follows:

Chairman: Mohamed Anil

Vice Chairman: Mariyam Mohamed

General Secretary: Aishath Raniya

Treasurer: Hussein Wisaam

Committee Members: Dr.Simad Saeed, Hussein Nasheed,  Azhath Rushdy

To download, please click the following link:

DH brief on the current political events-final

Duration: 03 weeks

Exchange Schedule: May 2012

Youth Leadership Programs are designed to promote high-quality leadership, civic responsibility, and civic activism among our countries’ future leaders.  The exchanges offer a practical examination of the principles of democracy and civil society as practiced in the United States and provide participants with training that allows them to develop their leadership skills.  The program plan allows the participants to thoroughly explore civic education in the United States in a creative, memorable, and practical way, with activities that are designed to be replicable and provide practical knowledge and skills that the participants can apply to school and civic activities at home.  The participants will live with American families for the majority of the exchange period.  Multiple opportunities for participants to interact with American youth and educators will be included. For a detailed call for applications please click the following link.

Call for application

For application forms, please follow the links below.

Student application-final form

Teacher or Community Leader Application_Final Form

For further information regarding this, please email democracyhouse.mv@gmail.com or call us on (960)7414400.

The participants were taught a range of subjects including personal development, leadership skills, cultural awareness and civic education. Participants were also taught democratic principles and how democracy functions in the parliament through a series of parliamentary education sessions. The YLP also focuses on pressing issues in the society including child protection, gender inequality, conflict resolution, human rights and intolerance. The final component of the training included a model parliament session that was aired on the local television channel MNBC one.

The programme was conducted with assistance from Bandos Island Resort, The US Embassy in Colombo, UNDP, UNFPA, Peoples Majlis and Ministry of Human Resources Youth and Sports.

Call for Applications- YLP2011

Interested Applicants between 16-21 years of age should submit a completed application form, CV and copies of academic certificates and copy of ID card to one of the following;

Email-             democracyhouse.mv@gmail.com

Post Address: H.Magma, 3^rd Floor

Sikka Goalhi

Male’, Maldives

Fax: + (960) 3318338

The deadline for all applicants is 20^th October 2011, 4pm.

Application Forms:

Application Form-english

Application Form-dhivehi

For more information please call our hotline 741-4400!

The training was targeted at training and empowering women candidates who ran for the first ever local council election that was held on 5th February 2011. A total of 96 women from 20 atolls were trained under the programme.  Candidates endorsed by political parties as well as independent candidates took part in the training. The programme was divided into 3 batches. An average of 30 participants were chosen for each batch. The first batch of training was conducted from 19th December 2010 to 21st December 2010. Second training was held from 28th December 2010-30th December 2010. The third and final batch of training was held from 8th January 2011 to 10th January 2011.

The training programme was conducted with assistance from Bandos Island Resort, Canadian International Development Agency(CIDA), United Nations Development Programme(UNDP and Human Rights Commission of the Maldives(HRCM).

A total of 57 women council members were elected throughout the country and 46% of the elected women council members were participants of the women empowerment training programme!