IYLN South Asia City Meeting, Lahore, Pakistan
The IYLN South Asian Regional Meeting will be held from 18-20 August, 2011 in Lahore, Pakistan. This is serves a City Meeting for alumni of the International Youth Leadership Conference. It provides an excellent opportunity to visit Pakistan and experience the culture and heritage but also have meaningful interaction and discussion about different issues and events from within and across the world to enhance and develop their leadership skills.
For the facebook event, go to http://on.fb.me/iCzQ3K
Please contact Shahneela Tariq to nida_shahneela1@hotmail.com for more information.
China International Youth Festival 2011
The International Youth Leadership Network(IYLN) sincerely invites excellent youth (16-30, currently enrolled college or university students are preferable) from all over the world to attend the 2011 China International Youth Festival (IYF) in Beijing China from July 12th to 15th, 2011.
This is a great chance and time is running out. Find out more information by going to http://iyln.org/china-international-youth-festival
Alumni Spotlight: Demetrius Jones(USA) and Vicky Wong (UK)
I spotlight some of our amazing Alumni that attended IYLC which is partner of the IYLN. Here are two outstanding participants and where they are at right now.
Demetrius Jones
United States
Winston-Salem State University
Demetrius Jones was originally born in Nuremburg, Germany to parents serving in the United States Army. Due to his military and traveling experience, he is deeply passionate for building cross-cultural understandings and working towards improving international relations. Currently he is a student at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina, USA where he is studying Political Science with Spanish language. Demetrius is heavily involved with an organization, Black Men for Change. Serving as a member of the executive board of this organization, he has also served as co-chair of the “Black Male Symposium”, an annual program that addresses challenges facing young African American men in the United States. Through his service and advocacy work, Demetrius has demonstrated outstanding leadership and a willingness to serve his community through various outreach initiatives, boards, student organizations and community programs. His ability to network and serve as a bridge builder between diverse communities has served him well and allowed him to navigate the business, political, and non-profit sectors. He is the first college student ever accepted into Leadership Winston-Salem; a prestigious community leadership program that educates, connects and energizes leaders to serve and improve the community. He currently serves under the North Carolina Democratic Party as the President of the Young Democrats of Forsyth County. Demetrius works tirelessly for his community and looks forward to making a positive difference in the world.
Demetrius says about the IYLC:
My world perspective has been broadened through new and diverse cultural and professional experiences. I gained a new cross-cultural understanding through the intense workshops, forums, and simulations with student leaders from around the world. This incredible experience has encouraged me to challenge myself to combat issues facing diversity and inclusion within local, national and international communities. From this opportunity, I hope to build partnerships between Winston-Salem State University and the international community. I hope these efforts will provide cultural and professional opportunities for other undergraduate students as well.
Demetrius Jones was recently accepted to intern with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) this summer in Washington D.C. He will be working with United States Representative, Melvin Watt in his Capitol Hill office.
Vicky Wong
United Kingdom
University of Reading
Vicky Wong tells us her story.
I discovered the IYLC almost on a whim in a google search one day, but little did I know that I would find a conference that would turn into 5 of the most memorable days of my life. I have always been quite an avid traveler and nothing has satisfied me more than taking off from an airport abroad and heading homeward bound into Heathrow. However, after the 19th IYLC, the minute my British Airways flight took off, I felt overwhelmed with sadness.
On the final day of the conference, Cathy Tran (our co-ordinator) asked us if we felt any different, the consensus was “not really, but we’ll probably notice it more when we get back home”, and that was the case.
I started to become more focused with my work and was enjoying my studies a lot more. Before the conference I was already writing articles for the student newspaper, Spark* and even sent in a story about my experience at the conference to the paper, and it was published in the first issue of Spring term. I was also co-leader of a choir called University Singers, and was tasked with the difficult challenge of rescuing it from disappearing (the previous year saw around 7 members).
During the conference, we did a lot of ice breakers as a way to break the mould, and it was an interesting way to make new friends. Seeing the effect that such ice-breakers had inspired me to think differently about how to approach things and in the first rehearsal of term for University Singers, I made the group play an ice-breaker. It has also changed the way I now conduct presentations, and I have used various ice-breakers to visually explain how democracy works.
Halfway through my second year, I chanced at the opportunity to apply for News editor at the student newspaper, despite fears that I would not get the job. However, I became successful, the position is a voluntary role, which although time-consuming is a rewarding job and a service to the student community at my university.
It has been at least a year and my success story is somewhat short compared to the far mor impressive ones of my predecessors. As I near graduation, I am beginning to look at my options. I am hoping to become a journalist and only thought about applying for Universities in London (for convenience and cost), my first choice was City University in London, (British journalism’s equivalent of Oxbridge) but was put off by the cost.It wasn’t however until the encouragement of my parents and my grandfather from Canada that I began to consider looking abroad to study journalism, and I soon began to look into the University of Hong Kong, which offered the most attractive programme, and I was drawn to its internationally orientated course. Although I was slightly put off by the cost and daunted at the prospect of studying in a new environment, I remembered that time in Prague, where I took a chance to do something on my own. Fortunately during the conference, I met someone studying journalism at HKU, and she gave me quite a lot of advice on the programme and the application process.
My experience at the IYLC encouraged me to think bigger and not feel set back by geography as a constraint, and has made me realise that there is so much more of the world to see.
Congratulations on your work Demetrius and Vicky and best of luck!
IYLN South East Asia City Meeting, Singapore 2011
Another IYLN City Meeting, the first of its kind in South East Asia has been announced, planned, and ready to be fired up. Izzati Rahman (20th IYLC) will be facilitating the event, so all of you who are in Singapore are more than welcome to join her and other IYLC Alumni as they engage a meaningful discussions about leadership, the world, and themselves!
The meeting will be from April 22nd to April 24th and will be held in Singapore itself. Please contact Izzati to izzati.rahman@gmail.com if you are interested in attending.
The facebook event page: http://on.fb.me/jMjkDA
This is an incredible chance to connect and we congratulate all those participating in it.
Thanks to singaporeshots.com for the picture.
Enviroment and Leadership: Paul’s success with GreenBook
Paul Frigout participated at the 11th IYLC in Prague, while finishing his Masters in Design. That was his first contact with Eastern European countries. Then his work lead him to return to Eastern Europe in Romania. This experience in the IYLC lead him to be more and more interested in community work. This interest in volunteering has partly created a project called greenbook.
Paul Frigout, was recently chosen as the winner of a Sony and WWF sponsored international competition called ‘Open Planet Ideas’. The theme for the challenge was ‘How can today’s technology help us make the most of our planet’s resources?’
Paul’s winning idea for the challenge was ‘GreenBook’ which was chosen as the final concept for realization. GreenBook is an online magazine for green-minded community: a magazine in which the reader is the hero. News is broadcast to members to inspire their participation in a local project; distributed depending on their location, time and capabilities. Different levels of difficulties in project are designed to keep the user progressing and to maintain their interest. Sony and WWF are now working with key collaborators from the site and other experts to translate Paul’s idea into reality.
More information Paul’s exciting development of the Green Book please visit Open Planet Ideas.
Congratulations Paul on your success!
Faces of the IYLN City Meeting: Washington DC
Carlos Reyes
Arizona, United States of America
Carlos Reyes is a senior in the Edmund A. Walsh, S.J. School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He is majoring in international politics and studies U.S. foreign and national security policies, the Arab-Israeli conflict, democratization in Central Europe, and emerging powers.
Carlos spent two years as a commissioner for youth and educational programming in Phoenix, AZ, and has represented the city on several delegations across the country and around the world including the 12th IYLC in January 2007. He also served as an intern in the Office of Protocol and the Office of the Mayor.
Carlos currently works for Georgetown University’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions and Impacto Group LLC, a strategic communications and consulting firm focusing on the emerging market and political power of the Hispanic community.
Since 2008, he is a member of the board of directors of Sister Cities International, a global non-profit organization for citizen diplomacy. Carlos is also an associate with the IYLN since 2009. This May, he will travel to Paris, France, to attend the Model G8/G20 Summit in his capacity as the secretary of state in the American delegation.
Carlos writes regularly for The Wall Street Journal’s “Hire Education” blog and serves on the student board of advisers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Previously, he was a member of the board of directors of The Hoya, Georgetown University’s newspaper of record.
A first-generation American, Carlos is fluent in English, Spanish and French and hopes to one day represent his country abroad or immerse himself in public policy at home.
Tim McDonald
Minnesota, United States of America
Tim McDonald is a fellow at the Center for Policy Studies, United States and an associate with Education|Evolving, a policy design network. He is the author of UNSUSTAINABLE: A Strategy for Making Public Schooling More Productive, Effective, and Affordable (Rowman & Littlefield, Maryland, 2011), and London’s Calling: Reasserting the Primacy of Liberal Values (LAP, Germany, 2010).
Patrick Johnson
South Dakota, United States of America
D. Patrick Johnson is an Associate with Booz Allen Hamilton in Washington, DC where he helps lead the firm’s Diplomacy & International Development practice across multilateral development banks. Patrick is the soon-to-be published author of Cornucopia: Leveraging Agriculture to Improve Health and Nutrition, a book that explores the economic and health implications of US Farm Policy (forthcoming by University Press of America, 2011). Patrick has also been a featured speaker on the topics of agriculture and health at think tanks, universities and international conferences. In Washington, Patrick was recently selected as 2011 Leadership Fellow by The Fund for American Studies and serves on the Board of Directors for the South Dakota State Society. He maintains a personal website at http://www.dpatrickjohnson.wordpress.com.
Luis Miranda
Utah, United States of America
Luis Miranda is an undergraduate student of Peace and Justice Studies at Utah Valley University and a rising advocate for diplomacy and leadership. Although born in the United States of America, Luis grew up in Guatemala as part of a Spanish diaspora exiled after the Spanish Civil War.
Luis was selected to become part of the Presidential Leadership Program of Utah Valley University. From 2007 to 2010, he has was involved in project coordination of several youth humanitarian trips to Mexican orphanages with the Kaiizen Foundation. Luis also participated in a semester abroad to Nice, France in 2008. His political philosophy work on the sustainability of political, social, and economic movements was featured in the academic journal JustPeace in Fall 2010.
Luis is alumnus of the 12th and 20th International Youth Leadership Conferences in Prague, Czech Republic and will be a facilitator during the 21st instance. He also serves as a member of the International Youth Leadership Network’s Alumni Advisory Board and currently serves as the Network Chair of the organization. He has also joined the Leadership Team of the International Leadership Association’s Student Affinity Group for 2011.
Luis is passionate about participatory leadership and human responsibility and he seeks a future in conflict resolution, humanitarian affairs, and diplomacy. Already fluent in Spanish, English and French, Luis is driven to become fluent in Russian and Mandarin.
Find out more about Luis Miranda at luismiranda.org
William Webster
United Kingdom
William is the founder and Executive Director of Civic Concepts International, where he oversees international youth projects. After working with youth from the Congressional Youth Leadership Council, Webster brought with him from Washington DC the idea of starting a youth leadership campaign in Central Europe based on multicultural understanding with the promotion of democratic ideals. William founded the International Youth Leadership Conference and Civic Concepts International as a way to make this initiative a reality. Since the inception of CCI William has expanded the scope of the organization and has launched projects furthering the CCI mission with a Women’s conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and is now very active in launching International Youth Leadership Africa. Webster believes strongly in giving young people cross cultural experiences, experiences that will stay with them for a life time, believing that these are very important tools that will help young people develop into world class leaders.
Aigerim Khafizova
Kazakhstan
I am alumni of 12th International Youth Leadership Conference that took place in January 2007. This wonderful experience opened me up to a whole new domain of knowledge. One week of debates and discussions on various international relations issues with clever and knowledgeable students became a determining moment for my future professional life. After coming back to Kazakhstan I decided to study for one semester as an exchange student in Istanbul, Turkey. Together with learning key aspects of Turkish politics, my stay in this fascinating country taught me to be more flexible and tolerant in my personal views on society and politics. During my last year at the university I interned in the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and in summer in the Parliament of Kazakhstan. Owing to this experience I was able to observe and to some extent bring my little contribution to the real process of decision making in Kazakhstan. At the moment I am interning in the Open World Leadership Center at the Library of Congress which is a part of my Post-Graduate Professional Development Program in the USA. I enjoy a lot being in Washington D.C. and look forward to attend first IYLN Regional City Meeting on February 17-19 2011.
It’s official! 1st IYLN Regional City Meeting: Washington DC
Do you remember the magic you felt when you attended your IYLC? How about the great people that you meet or the fascinating discussions you held? Or how about the feeling that despite how challenging and diverse our world might be, that change and cooperation can happen?
During the IYLN Alumni Advisory Board summit in 2010, we asked ourselves that question. An initiative rose–the exploration of City Meetings where we can building on that experience. So we reached out to you. We asked whether there was a place for an affordable, personable, engaging, and meaningful event with the aim to galvanize the network of regional Alumni in our backyard. We asked whether there was place for an event that could rekindle the magic from the IYLC and more importantly build on our experiences since.
Your response has been fantastic.
A group of us in the United States, being Tim McDonald, Carlos Reyes, and myself, have explored the idea to host a local meeting for people in the North American region. Due to the great response, we decided to move forward with this project and officially announce the International Youth Leadership Network’s 1st North American City Meeting. The venue of the City Meeting will be Georgetown University, which stands in the hub of foreign affairs in Washington DC. The accessibility to the meeting is incredibly favorable since the location is central for most interested Alumni and the event also has been conveniently scheduled during President’s Day weekend.
We have drafted the event to be as meaningful as a possible. The schedule of the event has the IYLN City Meeting scheduled to start on Thursday night with a welcome reception. Then, the group will have a full day of meaningful discussions on Friday including visit to a local political think thank. Saturday morning the group will talk about where we want to see our City Meetings and Alumni go forward. From Saturday afternoon and forward the group will have time to spend the rest of the weekend visiting historic Washington DC.
This is meant to be the first of many meetings that will be held around the world to cater to local Alumni. The mission of those looking to host an IYLN City Meeting is simple, that is to provide an affordable, personable, engaging, and meaningful event that will aim to galvanize the social /academic network of local IYLN Alumni. Please contact me, Luis, to luis@civicconcepts.org if you are thinking of hosting a City Meeting and I will provide all support that I can to see it happen.
The call is out IYLN Alumni! The great opportunity to share once more with like-minded future world leaders in your backyard is primed to be taken. Will you rise to it?
22nd IYLC-Prague: Amazing Facilitators Wanted
Being a facilitator is an incredibly rewarding experience and one of the greatest things I have ever done in my life. The great news is that CCI hires all of its facilitators who are IYLN Alumni. Please note that the facilitator position is an incredibly competitive position since CCI strives to build a team of highly skillful and motivated facilitators who are accomplished, who are mature, and who evenly represent different geographic areas. I invite all IYLN Alumni to consider applying for a facilitator position by following this link:
22nd International Youth Leadership Conference Prague Facilitator Application Form
Heterogeneity and Cooperation: two keywords that spelled success at the 21st IYLC Prague
I have attended the 12th and the 20th IYLC Prague as a participant, but this 21st IYLC I had the chance to be a facilitator. I don’t know one single participant who has been able to say that the IYLC hasn’t the best week of their lives, and I am not one to deny it wasn’t for me either. The amount of opportunities to practice leadership, to challenge your comfort zone, to learn how to cooperate within a microcosm of humanity, and the new network of friends from around the globe can’t even begin to describe the magic that one feels when one participates in an IYLC.
Being a participant is already a sublime and rewarding experience beyond comprehension. So when people ask me to describe how it is to be a facilitator at the IYLC, the beauty of the experience is both unquantifiable and indescribable. To be succinct, the most rewarding and enriching experience of my life!
21st IYLC Facilitators:
Esteban (Argentina), Marciano (Suriname), Amina (South Africa), Sangeetha (Singapore), Andreas (Norway), Luis (USA/Guatemala)
Do you want to have a glimpse at how a group at the IYLC looks like?
The countries of the people in my group, including our great observer from EUCA, were Indonesia, Israel, Poland, Malaysia, Puerto Rico, Italy, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Singapore, United States of America, Australia, Guatemala, Canada, and India. Those are 13 countries within 14 people. Can you imagine the different cultures, religions, languages, foods, perspectives, and academic backgrounds. The heterogeneity was incredible. And it wasn’t just my group that had this incredible diversity, it was every single group in the conference that replicated this diversity. It was microcosm of humanity, in Prague!
Like in every conference, the diversity is present and it is a strange new feeling to be among so many different peoples. But diversity is never a challenge, only a new frontier to be explored. Through the simulations, through the group exercises, through the discussions, through the embassy visits, through the debates, participants learned intuitively to work with each other, to recognize each others strength, to recognize the key to cooperation in relationships. Challenging participants to step out of the comfort zone is one of the conference sub-themes and Facilitator Amina wrote explains on her blog :
For each one of us our comfort zone is different. Some of us remain silent in a debate because we are too afraid to reveal what we do and do not know. Others may find that their comfort zone is to always talk – they mask their true thoughts and perhaps feelings. No matter what your comfort zone is you run the risk of allowing it to contract if you do not step out into your adventure zone.
Despite how different we were all by when we arrived to the conference, at the end we have a mighty group of young leaders to have challenged themselves into their adventure zone and have learned experientially the value of cooperation and of mutual understanding. There is no better than witnessing dozens of incredible ‘I’s become powerful ‘We’s. Ruchi Kumar (India) epitomizes her week in her blog:
I am ecstatic and more. I learned so much from this experience. There is a new found clarity in my ideas and the world seems so much closer now.
Congratulations to CCI/YLE for putting up another great conference!
Welcome to all 21st International Youth Leadership Conference Prague Alumni to the IYLN, we hope to see you get engaged with our new initiatives that are coming through. I am here to be your representative and to look out for your interests as Alumni, literally speaking, to the organization. Feel welcome to send me an e-mail with any questions you have to luis@civicconcepts.org.
In the meantime, get a glimpse of our fresh out of the oven Alumni!
Kristina Lukacova
Slovakia
University of Cambridge
My particular interest is International Law, and I volunteered on a human rights project in Ghana with an NGO called Volunteer Partnership for West Africa. I find learning languages very enriching, especially when I have the opportunity to spend some time in the country where they are spoken, and will be studying in Poitiers (France) on an Erasmus exchange next year. It certainly feels that a lot of what I learned over the last couple of years, I learned through interaction with people from incredibly diverse cultural backgrounds. IYLC was indeed one of the key formative experiences.
Oliver Rieche
Germany
University of Manchester
Having lived all his life in Germany, Oliver decided to move to New Zealand for a year at the age of 15 while studying at a traditional all-boys college in Wellington. Upon his return, he completed his high school while traveling extensively to foreign countries including Namibia, Egypt and the United States. As it was compulsory back then in Germany to either do the military or civil service, his love for new cultures made him leave the country again – this time it took him all the way to Bolivia. There he taught English to underprivileged children, taught them how to play chess and helped out at a local orphanage in the suburbs of La Paz throughout one year. Oliver is currently in his second year studying Law with Politics at The University of Manchester. When completing his Bachelor, he hopes to do a Masters in international law to then work for the German Foreign Service or the United Nations.
Ruchi Kumar
India
University of Mumbai
Photographer. Cinematographer. Spot boy. Potential Journalist. Humanist. Social Catalyst. Partly Communist. Wannabe Buddhist. Agnostic. Almost a Woman. Definitely Human
