This year’s One Young World (OYW) Summit was held from 1-3 September 2011 in Zurich, Switzerland. Three Allan Gray Fellows and two staff members of the Foundation were selected to attend. Enjoy taking a read through some of their learnings from the summit:
The One Young World (OYW) Summit acts as a global forum for young people that display exceptional leadership potential, and provides a platform for them to discuss world issues and inspire change for the benefit of all. It also aims to ensure that the concerns and solutions of these future leaders are heard. Other than the Olympics, this event had the most countries represented with close to 1300 delegates attending from 170 countries.
The Summit was presented in the form of plenary sessions, special sessions and presentations. The topics covered ranged from the role of global business in society, to global dignity, the changing media landscape, global health concerns and challenges in Africa, amongst others.
Highlights from this year’s One Young World Summit:
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
During his address, Tutu reminded the audience that they were all part of one global family. He challenged the paradigm of ‘allocation of wealth being proportionate to contribution’ by drawing on the following example: He questioned the delegates whether one would expect a grandmother of a family to receive an allocation of the family budget proportionate to what she contributed.
Bob Geldof – A Call for Leadership
Bob Geldof challenged the delegates to save the world as he felt that the world leaders had failed at this task. He noted that there were people dying from starvation and poverty. He addressed issues of unsustainable practice by accusing countries of abusing remaining resources so that they could flourish for a few more years. Geldof finished by calling for a new generation of leaders that would be able to galvanise the generosity of people into a hopeful future.
Jamie Oliver – A Different Kind of Revolution; A Food Revolution
Oliver shocked the crowd with frightening statistics on death caused by poor diets. He reported that two of the top five causes of deaths in the planet were related to diet. Oliver believes that good nutritional education and information would equip people with the knowledge necessary to make responsible decisions about their health.
Women Up Special Session – It’s About the Quality of Leadership and Not Just About Gender
It was noted that an entire nation was enriched through the empowering of women, as women spent their income on their communities. Their success was also said to benefit a wider network and that their influence went beyond the present, in contrast to that of men.
Africa Rising Special Session – The World Has An Agenda For Africa. Does Africa Have An Agenda For Africa?
The number of African delegates totalled 160, compared to the 39 present at the inaugural Summit. Professor Ihron van Rensburg, Vice Chancellor of UJ, challenged the African delegates to develop an agenda for their continent. He questioned politics without morals, wealth without work, religion without sacrifice and pleasure without conscience. He highlighted the plight of women, issues of tribalism and Africans fighting one another as opposed to helping each other. Prof. van Rensburg added that Africans needed to inspire hope, resilience and optimism and that it would then rise.
