Its not too often that one gets an opportunity to travel halfway around the world to discuss global problems with a thousand other concerned youth leaders. Its even less often that these discussions are facilitated by the likes of Bob Geldof, Desmond Tutu, Jamie Oliver and the Prince of Norway.
But that's exactly the sort of opportunity that was given to me earlier this month when I attended the One Young World Summit in Zurich, Switzerland. The goal of the summit was to give voice to the best and brightest youth leaders and provide them with a forum to discuss their solutions for world problems.
“If the world’s leaders actually listened to the brilliant young people around the world we’d be able to create positive change,” said David Jones, co-founder of OYW and Global CEO, who believes that many of the worlds leaders are falling behind.
Bob Geldof couldn't agree more. With his characteristic somber expression and despondent delivery, he told us in no uncertain terms that our world leaders have messed up and that it was up to us to pick up the pieces. No pressure.
Gazing upon the thousand or so youth pioneers around me, it was easy to believe that we really did possess the power to change the world. There was the 18-year old who had been researching and developing an innovative irrigation system since the age of 10 that would cut water usage by half. He now had a patent and was introducing his idea to the government of Jordan. There was the Queenslander who joined up with a famed teen American environmentalist to send thousands of schoolbags containing essential learning materials to kids in devastated Haiti. And lets not forget the medical students who introduced video conferencing technology into rural Bangladeshi clinics to allow people in remote areas to access virtual doctors when required.
These extraordinary stories soon became common-place the more I spoke with the delegates around me. Teenagers who were setting up HIV clinics, 16-year olds who traversed110km of ice and snow to conduct scientific experiments in the North Pole and young activists setting up mobile apps advocating the recycling of food that would otherwise go to waste. These were just some of the hundreds of stories that I came across over the three days of the Summit. And let me tell you, my ego got a bloody good bashing.
Over the course of three days, we heard about the concept of social business- the idea that ethical and targeted business could play a key role in making a huge dent in world poverty. We heard about the energy crusaders, the insightful activists who were working hard to ensure that developing communities had access to clean and reliable energy sources without which, no real progress to end poverty can be made. We heard from Wael Ghonim and Oscar Morales, the respective leaders of the Egyptian and Colombian revolutions. Waris Dirie, author of Desert Flower, and Fatima Bhutto, niece of former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto, spoke to us about the need for female participation in politics. The Norweigan Princess informed us that Norway had a much greater percentage of women in the workforce than does the United States, naturally causing many of us to wonder whether the US really was the bastion of women's rights that it claims to be.
Of course, none of that came remotely close to hitting the spot than Jamie Olivers captivating 1-hr talk on the growing problem of obesity in Western societies ( pun intended). Yes, in and amongst all the talk about poverty, starvation and environmental doom and gloom, our rapidly expanding waistlines managed to get a mention. As an avid foodie, I'm not ashamed to admit that he was the highlight of the summit for me ( sorry OYW'ers, he did create the Flavour Shaker after all). My personal attempt to stalk him throughout the 3 days came to a decisive end upon discovering that he jetted out immediately after the speech leaving me wallowing in a puddle of tears. And no, Im not kidding.
Anywho ( moving on), perhaps the most valuable thing to have come out of the Summit were the amazing networks created. My FB feed is constantly littered with posts from fellow OYW'ers about upcoming social change conferences, mind-boggling projects and up-to-date news about issues from all corners of the globe. The OYW 2011 Attendees group is buzzing with life, with nearly hourly posts about various projects fellow delegates are working on and giving us a place to bond and share valuable information. We as the youth of the world have an unprecedented opportunity to make a real impact on global issues by simply working together. And thanks to Mr. Mark, doing that is now a million times easier.
So my question to you is, what will you do with this power granted to you?
Because lets face it. Technology is power. The Arab Spring is the most recent example of that. If a bunch of disenfranchised youth, from one of the most disadvantaged countries in the world, can overthrow a decades-old despotic regime by simply using Facebook to get the word out, imagine the changes we can make. Imagine the social movements we can create. The world we can pass on to the next generation.
For the first time in history, we have the power to end global poverty. The technology to switch to renewable energy. The resources to educate, vaccinate and motivate every child, everywhere.
So my question to you is, what will you do?
**** This project is proudly supported by the USU (University of Sydney Union) KickStart Grants Program and Crescent Investments Australia. My attendance at OYW would not have been possible without their generous support. Thank you! ***
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