I had heard a lot about “UNESCO” from when I was young.  So, when I got a chance to attend the workshop at UNESCO Head Quarters at Paris, from 11th -15th March 2019, I felt really proud of myself, to be a part of FSL–India, which gave me this unique opportunity to attend the workshop.

This workshop was mainly to strengthen the team leaders who are a part of the World Heritage Volunteers Work Camp.

As a team leader, I am always thinking about new ideas and problem-solving skills to overcome the challenges and to bring innovative ideas to run the work camps in a successful manner, to create a huge impact among the community.

The day came and we assembled in a conference room at the UNESCO building. The excitement was as its peak, especially amongst the 18 Participants from different countries. There were staff from UNESCO, CCIVS and IWO. We started the session with introductions and get-together activities.

 We all shared our experiences, challenges, strengths and weaknesses through individual presentations, which gave a lot of resources to work out for the next 2 days on planning, preparation, implementation and monitoring, before, during and after the workcamp.

Mr Daryll started the session by having an introduction of the students and other members who were participating in the workshop. The ice-breaker was then followed by his lecture on Fundraising. By putting questions like what is fund raising?  Why do you need to raise the funds? How you will raise the funds? What do you need to raise the funds? What is the importance of narrative and other questions he threw at us were the definition of conflict and the development of plot and character.

With the examples of his own experience and critiquing their quality of work, he gave good exposure to the participants.

Technically speaking, the workshop was of very good standard and the best part was he was audible to the entire group. He made very clear the concepts of fundraising and the importance of peace and harmony.

Finally, this workshop brought me some procedures which I can implement in fundraising, planning, preparation and monitoring.