Bowie Resident Volunteers with Peace Corps to Empower Youth

Bowie resident and Peace Corps volunteer Patrick Williams is working hard to empower youth to change their community in west Africa.

Thanks to Williams and funds from the Peace Corps Partnership Program, two youths from his community in Burkina Faso will be able to attend a development conference in Fada. Williams hopes this conference will give skills to help effect positive community change.

“Unfortunately, many of these youth do not feel empowered or adequately supported to begin working on their own. With the support and guidance through this conference, we can empower the community’s leaders to work towards sustainable development of their communities,” William said.

Williams, a graduate of UMD, has been volunteering in Burkina Faso since 2011. The two youth from his community will  join 24 others from Peace Corps communities at the four-day conference where they will discuss “gender norms, professionalism, HIV/AIDS, family planning, and community resources and mobilization,” according to a statement.

The youth will also be encouraged to develop more specific projects for their individual communities.

“By the end of this conference, we hope to have successfully trained 24 host country national youth volunteers and local individuals on the knowledge and skills necessary to affect positive development in their communities,” Williams said in a statement.

Williams said that past participants in the conference have gone on to help out at schools, in medical clinics and to train community members on health topics.

In order to be eligible for PCPP funds, participant communities have to contribute 25% of the cost of conference and decide on success indicators for the projects. This is to give the community more ownership over the projects and to help ensure the projects are more likely to be a success, according the Peace Corps' statement. Anyone interested in funding a project like the one in Williams’ community can go to www.peacecorps.gov/donate.