Strategic Initiatives
THE 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 more than 80 nations have participated in Forum events and initiatives, and through the internet, many more youth were involved. During the various conferences, the Emerging Leaders Program expanded youth participation throughout the Forum's activities, including speaking on panels, participating in workshops and even organizing their own plenary sessions. The program also facilitated youth-adult partnerships empowering young people to play an integral role in their communities and in the creation of a new global culture.
The results have been far ranging and diverse:
- Youth were invited to sit on the Forum's Board of Directors;
- Created an advisory group;
- Organized a global youth summit in Mexico; and
- Participated in other organizations, in community-issue task forces, in the Coexistence and Community-Building Initiative, and in panels on women’s issues during Forum events.
In January 1999 the Monterrey Institute of Technology 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 was attended by over 600 emerging leaders from 40 countries and was led, organized and funded entirely by youth, most of whom had participated in past Forum events.
During the conference, strategic partnerships were developed with leading youth organizations such as AIESEC, Pioneers of Change, Common Futures Forum, Peace Child, Youth for Environmental Sanity, Emerging Leaders Network, and others, and in the year 2000, was constituted as its own network of the same name. |
