The Gorbachev Foundation/USA, the precursor to the State of the World Forum, in partnership with the Gorbachev Foundation/Moscow and the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation for Contemporary Studies developed a Global Security Program comprised of forty specialists from around the world. They met in Moscow in September 1993; in Washington in May 1994; and in New Delhi in October 1994, where the Global Security Program was adopted. A report was published by the Rajiv Gandhi Institute and released in October, 1994.

• The Global Security Programme Report’s findings were presented by Mikhail Gorbachev to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York in October, 1994.
  
  
• This report was distributed widely to policy-makers in Washington DC and 600 copies were presented to national leaders and experts in scores of countries.
  
  
• The Forum launched the Nuclear Weapons Elimination Initiative in 1995.

Guanajuato, Mexico, November 1996

The first regional State of the World Forum, convened by Vicente Fox, Governor of Guanajuato Province, Mexico, examined the fundamental trends shaping the future of Latin America and its relationship to the global marketplace and emerging global culture. Over 700 people from 20 Latin American countries attended the conference.

As a result of the conference:

• A Grameen-type bank was created and funded by local businessmen in Guanajuato. The bank, Santa Fe de Guanajuato, has since made thousands of micro-enterprise/small business loans to individuals otherwise unable to obtain credit, while maintaining a very high loan repayment rate.
  
  
• A Human Development Center was created in Guanajuato in partnership with the Pakistan Human Development Center and the Grameen Bank. The Guanajuato Center is making an ongoing assessment of the progress of human development on all levels in Mexico in order to eliminate poverty and to build a more equitable and sustainable society.
  

Bhurbon, Pakistan, April, 1997

In partnership with the Human Development Center in Pakistan, the Forum convened forty policy-makers, grassroots activists, government officials and NGO leaders for a conference on ‘Human Development in the 21st Century.’

During the conference:

• The ‘Bhurbon Declaration’ was drafted and adopted which articulated global priorities that needed to be put into effect to close the growing gap between the rich and the poor, and develop sustainable economies.
  
  
• A follow-up conference was convened on Human Development in South Asia in 1998 regarding the worsening economic and social crisis in that region and a series of follow-up reports released.
  

Brussels, Belgium, May, 1997

In partnership with the Chemical Impact Project and Global Legislators for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE), the Forum convened a conference in the European Parliament on the issue of ‘Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and their Impact on Human Health.’

As a result of this conference:

• A Draft Parliamentary Recommendation on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals was created in 1997 and presented to the European Parliament for adoption.
  
  
• In 1998, the European Commission adopted this Recommendation to focus increased governmental, scientific and industry attention on this serious issue.
  

Kigoma, Tanzania, June 1997

In collaboration with the Jane Goodall Institute and the TACARE Reforestation and Education Project, the State of the World Tanzania Children's Task Force has worked to relieve the suffering of local citizens in the Kigoma Region of northwest Tanzania, home to the Gombe Stream Research Center, an area impacted by the thousands of war refugees who have fled from nearby Rwanda and Burundi.

As a first step, the Task Force has:

• Secured funds for a water and sanitation project, in conjunction with the International Rescue Committee and UNICEF, that will serve over 170,000 people in thirty villages;
  
  
• Raised $500,000 over a ten-year period to implement a Fertility Awareness and Women's Education Project;
  
  
• Provided support for an orphanage, schools and a hospital in the region.

Monterrey, Mexico, January 28-30, 1999

In partnership with the Instituto Tecnologíco y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Student Government, the Forum, hosted the first State of the World Forum for Emerging Leaders, "Civic Participation: Building the New Millennium" held on the Institute's campus in Monterrey, Mexico. The conference, entirely organized and led by youth, was attended by over 600 emerging leaders from 40 countries.

During the conference:

• The Emerging Leaders launched the Forum’s Emerging Leaders Program led, staffed and funded entirely by youth.
  

Belfast, Northern Ireland, May 4-9, 1999

In partnership with the Belfast City Council and Project Planning International, the Forum convened an international gathering in Belfast and Dublin to discuss The Challenge of Reconciliation: Diversity and Community in a Global Age. Over 600 people from more than 50 countries participated in this second major regional conference.

During the conference:

• Oracle Corporation donated 100 internet-ready computers to four Catholic, Protestant and integrated schools in Belfast. This collaboration seeks to facilitate ‘coexistence through computing’ by allowing students to join together in chat rooms via the internet.
  
  
• The Forum’s Coexistence and Community-Building Initiative finalized and launched a platform providing the basis for an international coexistence movement.
  

Actions that Make a Difference: The Forum’s Strategic Initiatives

Current and former Strategic Initiatives and programs of the State of the World Forum include:

The Whole Child Initiative

Convened by Jane Goodall, this initiative is an international campaign designed to promote awareness about early childhood development and the psycho-social needs of infants and young children. The Initiative is based on current scientific findings in early brain development and on the work of prominent clinicians and researchers. The Initiative is now working in partnership with UNICEF, the Jane Goodall Institute, the International Child Resource Institute and the Children’s Defense Fund both to explore and determine indicators for the "irreducible needs" of children and highlight best practices and innovative community-based child rearing programs around the world.


=access! - The Forum is collaborating with WorldSpace Corporation and Solaria Corporation to establish an unprecedented suite of humanitarian and educational digital radio and multimedia services directed to impoverished rural and urban communities in more than 130 developing nations. The service, entitled =access!, will deliver its programming through WorldSpace’s $1 billion digital satellite broadcasting infrastructure. This global radio and digital network provides the Forum and its partners with a communications infrastructure that will broadcast long distance learning modules, AIDS prevention information, micro enterprise education and a spectrum of news, family planning and self help education programming to tens of millions of people who currently have no access to the information highway.


Nuclear Weapon Elimination Initiative

Launched in 1995, this initiative contributed significantly to the creation of a new and serious national and global debate on nuclear weapons and their worldwide abolition. Follow-up efforts produced a number of declarations and a series of public statements by civilian and military leaders, including two military statements issued jointly: the first by two renowned American Generals; and the second by 61 American, Russian and other Generals and Admirals from 17 nations. A third statement was signed by 130 international leaders from 48 countries, including 52 former Presidents and Prime Ministers. These statements were made public by General Lee Butler, former Commander of the Strategic Air Command, U.S. Air Force, at a National Press Club presentation in Washington D.C. in December, 1996 and February, 1998. The initiative is now an independent organization, the Global Security Institute, which maintains a close working relationship with the Forum.


Emerging Leaders Program

The Emerging Leaders Program was initiated in 1995 to expand youth participation throughout the Forum's activities and to facilitate youth-adult partnerships. Since 1995, over 1000 young people from 80 nations have participated in Forum events and initiatives. In January, 1999 the Monterrey Institute of Technology hosted the first State of the World Forum for Emerging Leaders. Strategic partnerships have been developed with leading youth organizations such as AIESEC, Pioneers of Change, Common Futures Forum, Peace Child, Youth for Environmental Sanity and others. Inspired by the success of the ELP, a network of Emerging Leaders created the independent organization, LEAD, in January of 2000.


Coexistence and Community Building Initiative

In partnership with The Abraham Fund, the Forum launched this initiative in 1996 to convene high-level groups of policy analysts, practitioners, educators and theorists to deliberate upon how to enhance international interest in coexistence and community building and to make specific recommendations to governments and educational institutions. During the Belfast Conference in May, 1999 the initiative launched A Plan of Action for the 21st Century, a platform providing the basis for an international coexistence movement. This Initiative became an independent organization in 2000.


Initiative on Chemical Toxins and their Impact on Public Health

Launched in 1996 to create an international network of environmentally committed legislators, scientists and activists to influence governmental regulation of toxins around the world, this Initiative, in partnership with the Chemical Impact Project and GLOBE International, led to the Draft Parliamentary Recommendation on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in 1997, adopted in 1998 by the European Commission, to focus increased European governmental, scientific and industry attention on this serious issue.


Permanent Sculpture Placement in Vienna

In partnership with the City of Vienna, Austria and the United States Embassy, the State of the World Forum dedicated in December, 1999 a bronze sculpture to the city of Vienna for permanent placement. The sculpture, Flora Exemplar, represents rebirth and new beginnings, and was created by the Australian artist Andrew Rogers, who sculpted the work around the theme of the prevention of genocide. The sculpture was unveiled by US Ambassador to Austria, Kathryn Walt Hall.


Summary

The growing integration of global markets and national and international institutions illustrates profoundly the need for rigorous multi-stakeholder dialogue and inquiry into the practical design and compassionate and sustainable management of human systems. Increasingly, with information and communication technologies empowering individuals everywhere, humanity's future rests with the people of the world and the self-organizing networks of affinity they are creating.

The intent of the State of the World Forum is to work with partners world-wide to help galvanize this spiritual, political and cultural renaissance to keep pace with humanity's scientific and technological advances. Nothing short of this is worth the potential future to which the 21st century and the third millennium point.