From Community Building to Action on the Ground

The Young Global Leaders Summits have been inspirational forums for YGLs to create task forces and develop concrete action plans to encourage collective action on the biggest global challenges facing our generation. Task forces have been created on the following topic areas: Development and Poverty, Health, Education, Environment, Diversity/Education and Global Governance and Security. Below are some concrete activities stemming from the YGL task forces:

Development and Poverty Task Force: Global Dignity Initiative

The Global Dignity Initiative was initiated by YGLs H.R.H. Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, John Bryant and Pekka Himanen in the mountains of Zermatt, Switzerland, at the 2005 the YGL Annual Summit. Since its inception, the task force has worked with dozens of YGLs from around the world, holding and hosting what have become known as “Dignity Days” − going into local communities and schools and teaching the principles of dignity. In 2008, 60 YGLs from 30 countries planned and participated in a Dignity Day event. For more information, visit: http://www.globaldignity.org

Health Task Force: Table for Two Initiative

Table for Two, spearheaded by James Kondo and Kumi Fujisawa, was initiated in Vancouver, Canada, at the 2006 YGL Annual Summit. The mission is to promote health in both the developing and developed world by bringing balance and health to the world while simultaneously addressing hunger in the developing world and obesity and other lifestyle-related diseases in the developed world. The project works in collaboration with cafeterias and restaurants that agree to serve healthy meal options that meet healthy diet criteria. Table for Two supporters then donate 20 cents to the initiative every time a healthy is served. For more information, visit: http://www.tablefor2.org

Environment Task Force: Climate Change Initiative

The objectives of the environment task force, led by YGLs Matthew Anderson and Georges Kern, are to create awareness of climate change, engage the private sector in focusing on business opportunities and spread best practices to change consumer behaviour. To date, the initiative launched The Love Campaign at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2007 in Davos and the “Book of Love”, a manifesto for decision-makers in industry and politics all over the world, which outlines how to achieve environmental victories that will reduce the negative consequences of climate change. For more information, visit: http://earthlovemovement.org

Education Task Force: Deworm the World Initiative

Spearheaded by YGLs Kristin Forbes and Michael Kremer in 2007, Deworm the World (DtW) is an initiative to increase access to education by expanding deworming among the 400 million school-age children infected by worms worldwide. YGLs chose deworming because of the evidence that deworming is an extremely cost effective way to increase schooling and improve child health. It was a challenge that played to the YGL strengths. The issue is global − spanning virtually every developing country − and so is the YGL network. Since 2007, with the incredible power of the YGL network, the task force has become an established legal entity and has helped to develop partnerships between funders, implementers, governments, nongovernmental organizations and technical experts. For more information, visit: http://www.dewormtheworld.org