Peace Education
UPF/YSP-Argentina: Closing of the 2021 Cycle “Leadership and Cooperation”
Written by Miguel Werner, President, UPF-Argentina
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
Argentina—The closing of the 2021 Cycle “Leadership and Cooperation” took place on December 15, 2021, at the annual closure of activities of UPF-Argentina “Share, Recognize and Celebrate.” The Cycle featured five meetings with prominent speakers who presented their knowledge and good practices each month from June to October. It was organized by the different leadership areas of UPF-Argentina (IAPP, IAPD, IMAP and IAAP) together with Youth and Students for Peace (YSP) from Argentina. It was held on the Zoom platform, with more than 60 participants (1).
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yHAeaNGY8s
The Cycle, which had more than 100 people registered and 20 participants who met the requirements to receive a certificate of attendance, had as its objective the “Formation, training and motivation of leadership for participation and commitment, seeking to provide theoretical resources and examples of good practices to face challenges for a more empathetic, cooperative leadership, focused on solutions and with a perspective of peace” (2).
At the event, diplomas were given out and comments and testimonies were heard, both from the exhibitors of the Cycle and from some participants who met the attendance requirements to receive the recognition. Among the speakers were Ambassadors for Peace Mary Acosta, Andrea Fernández Bevans and Hugo Bernardi.
The Cycle began on June 16, 2021 with a specialist in operational leadership in Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), the Ambassador for Peace Christian Oreb, general coordinator of the Cooperating Network of Civil Society Organizations of the City of Buenos Aires, under the motto: “Participation and commitment / Operational leadership in CSOs.” During his presentation, he began by mentioning the types of leadership and the idea-action relationship and posed questions to the audience, which he answered at the end of his talk. He differentiated volunteering from voluntarism and valued social volunteering as a leadership practice. “Operative leadership in CSOs is teamwork and represents a system of exchange and reciprocity in several aspects: formative, civic and spiritual,” he maintained (3).
Ambassador for Peace, journalist Patricia Pitaluga, president of the civil association Acercando Naciones, was the second speaker of the Cycle, on July 21, 2021, with the theme: “Teamwork + Fair Play + Clear Rules.” She shared her experience in management and strategic communication in the areas of cultural and social bonding of people and entities, with sports values applied in a very practical way to leadership. Also giving their insights were Paola Maggiolo, international women’s chess master, Pan-American U-20 champion; Carlos “Beto” Rodríguez, multi-champion in wheelchair competitions, author of “Dreams without Barriers”; and Alejandro Scoparin, sports enthusiast and protagonist of the peace initiative “Unir Malvinas Running” (4).
International speaker Juan Bautista Segonds, president and founder of Rugby sin Fronteras, was the speaker at the third meeting, on August 18, 2021. He gave an inspiring and motivational talk. “Whatever is holding you back is the catalyst for you to move forward (...) What you want does not come, what you need comes,” were two of the phrases of his motivational and good leadership practices. An entrepreneur and specialist in teamwork, he is the creator of the workshop “Complaint-free environment” and the conference “I just changed my attitude and everything changed” on TEDx, with more than five million views on YouTube. Known by some as the “Peace Madman,” or “Citizen of ethics,” he was in 2015 and 2016 a holistic coach of the Argentine Davis Cup champion team and of the Values in Development Program of the Argentine Tennis Association.
Ambassador for Peace Silvia Carranza, president of CILSA, was the fourth speaker of the Cycle, on September 15, 2021, under the title “Social responsibility and resilience.” Ms. Carranza is an example of the topic that she outlined in her PowerPoint presentation with very practical applications. At the age of seven months she was diagnosed with polio plus meningitis. She spent 90 days in a pulmotor. She underwent surgery twice and at the age of six she, for the first time, was able to stand up thanks to two prostheses, a corset and crutches. At the head of CILSA, she displays her vocation for service and puts into practice her faith, capacity, willpower and leadership to promote the inclusion of people in situations of social vulnerability and/or motor disabilities. Formed 55 years ago, CILSA is a benchmark NGO at the national level in this area.
The fifth and last meeting, on October 20, 2021, had two speakers under the theme: “Spirituality, bonds and social commitment.” The first speaker was new Ambassador for Peace Natalia Arioli, together with her husband Julio Zampronio, university professors and group trainers of the Movement of the Word of God of Paraná, province of Entre Ríos. She shared her experience and valuable resources for leading in these challenging times, which is all about inner strength and strong relationships that start from the family. The other speaker was Gastón Gasparotti, founder and president of the Akamasoa Argentina Foundation, who noted his indignation at the rise in poverty in the country and told how he is seeking to implement the model of Father Opeka, who assisted half a million people in Madagascar to get out of poverty, with work and effort, education and training. His project, which is taking its first steps, is being carried out in Lima, an impoverished city in the north of the province of Buenos Aires that in past decades was an industrial center.
The Cycle had as its foundation the following: “We are experiencing a crisis and leadership conflicts, mostly due to particular or sectorial interests; a crisis and conflicts of values, today predominantly material. Hence, UPF promotes a ‘new level of leadership,’ a paradigm shift, as expressed in its founding mission.”
Quotes:
1) “Share, recognize and celebrate” - Annual closure of activities UPF Argentina 12-15-2021:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yHAeaNGY8s
2) Review of the 2021 Cycle “Leadership and cooperation”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21iP_gyd674
3) “Participation and commitment / Operational leadership in CSOs”
1st Meeting Cycle 2021 “Leadership and cooperation” 6-16-2021:
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oaCgLE-9tw
4) “Teamwork + Fair Play + Clear Rules”
2nd Meeting Cycle 2021 “Leadership and cooperation” 7-21-2021:
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv3flLW2REc
5) Inspirational and motivational talk
3rd Cycle Meeting 2021 “Leadership and cooperation” 8-18-2021:
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8Eqjib5MFU
6) “Social responsibility and resilience”
4th Cycle Meeting 2021 “Leadership and cooperation” 9-15-2021:
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOYKe_DIvHo
7) “Spirituality, links and social commitment”
5th Meeting Cycle 2021 “Leadership and cooperation” 10-20-2021:
Recording: https://youtu.be/c0rlIxDEJV8
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