Teachers' association, KAS train youngsters on leadership ethics

Prof Fr Aidan Msafiri, the Vice Chancellor of Mwenge Catholic University (MWECAU)

 In a bid to groom ethical leadership nationwide, the Civic Education Teachers’ Association (CETA), in collaboration with the Konrad Adenaeur Stiftung (KAS), has launched a series of awareness creation sessions for the youngsters.

 

Under such training youngsters are enlightened on the symbiotic relationship between poverty and corruption and abuse of power, a malady that affects business, politics, sports, economy and the society at large. 

 

Towards the end of last week more than 350 targeted beneficiaries, including teachers and students from Moshi Municipality in Kilimanjaro, met in the region to take lessons. 

 

Prof Fr Aidan Msafiri (pictured), the Vice Chancellor of Mwenge Catholic University (MWECAU), made a presentation on Ethics and Globalisation. He listed the associated side effects of globalisation to the youngsters and how to address the situation.

 

He said globalisation was not to be ignored or overlooked as it has a great impact on individuals, family, the society, the government and the community at large.   

 

“We live, breathe and ‘wear’ globalization.  We cannot run away from it.  It creates both great winners and great losers.  It is here to stay. The reality of instability is inherent... Protective tolerance is the cardinal virtue of the new ethic,” Msafiri explained.

 

The executive director of Mwanza-based ADLG, Jimmy Luhende, led discussions on challenges and opportunities for the youth, while KAS Tanzania Project manager Stefanie Brinkel spoke about ethics and social responsibility for the youngsters. 

 

Emphasis on the lessons, come at a time when Tanzania strives to revive ethical leadership for good governance and excellent service delivery. 

 

She observed that the rules of the game in the economic, political and social system were dominated by an orientation towards money, self-interest and unlimited growth, hence leading to self-destructive tendencies. 

 

“We must see the necessity: to re-direct activities towards meeting the basic and specific needs of the growing population. The central component of ethical thinking is timely response to existing problems and to take action or raise the voice,” she explained.

 

She added that a person´s own moral point of view includes values and respect to others as well as being responsive, trustworthy, cooperative, honest, reliable and accountable. 

 

CETA and KAS have remained long-term partners in such efforts in ensuring that Tanzania has a well-informed, democratic and ethical community. To make this a success, KAS has been offering both technical and financial support for publication and conduction of workshops or symposia on cross-cutting issues. 

 

This cooperation has resulted to a number of registered successes like publication of Civics and General Studies books for secondary and college students.