Society
Can empathy scale technology?
Jonathan Jackson argues that empathy is necessary to make technology effective.
I have been fortunate enough to have been in the emerging field of mobile health well before there was much mobile to hype about. At Dimagi, our first “mobile” project was on a personal digital assistant that had no wireless capability. Over the years I have seen mobile technology help save lives. But I’ve also seen mobile technology employed in nearly identical situations, do absolutely nothing, or worse, make healthcare delivery more cumbersome.
We have certainly had deployments that fit in both categories. As I...
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March 18, 2013
The future of China’s ant tribe
In China, a special group of educated youth lives on the margins of society. They are the young people who were born and raised in the countryside, who went on to university, but are unable to land their dream job in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai after graduation.
They call themselves the “ant tribe”, partly due to their industrious, hard-working nature, but also in reference to their cramped and meagre living conditions. The ant tribe illustrates a drastic mismatch between China’s educated youth and its economic boom.
This mismatch partly came from China’s existing economic model,...
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March 13, 2013
Punishment by politics
Adrian Monck, Managing Director of Communication and Media Relations at the World Economic Forum, discusses why punishing people is not good politics
The elections in Italy reveal a crisis in leadership. Wolfgang Münchau blames Mario Monti’s defeat on a lack of political realism – code for cynicism. Paul Krugman blames it not just on Monti but on a European élite – or ‘Very Serious People’.
in Europe even more than in the US the Very Serious People live in a bubble of self-regard at their own seriousness, and imagine that the general public will follow their...
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March 4, 2013
What will nonprofits look like in 2043?
Like businesses, non-profit organizations must discover how to be successful in the wake of new disruptive forces.
In the past five years, social media has put a spin on fundraising, Big Data has made donors keener on evidence-based return on investment (ROI), and collective impact is becoming an even more established pillar of humanitarian work.
If we look to the far horizon, how does the non-profit world look? What new forces have influenced the non-profits of 2043? Has the role of implementer and beneficiary shifted, or even flipped? I think by considering the following three trends, we...
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February 22, 2013
The role of social entrepreneurs
The expansion of social services in developing countries offers the greatest opportunity for social entrepreneurs to create systemic change. In the world of social entrepreneurship, emphasis is placed on selling products and services to the poor, overlooking the spending limitations that lower income families face. But slums are devoid of private schools and hospitals for a reason: the disposable income simply isn’t there. Governments need to fill this gap in the most effective way possible, and social entrepreneurs are the solution.
Many social entrepreneurs seek to lower costs until...
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February 15, 2013
Pandora’s inbox
Shashi Tharoor, India’s Minister of State for Human Resource Development, discusses how email can lead to information fatigue
A half-century before the invention of e-mail, T. S. Eliot asked, “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” If he were alive today, contemplating an electronic inbox on a flickering computer, he might well have added, “Where is the information that has been lost in trivia?”
It is one of the paradoxes of our times that inventions meant to make our lives easier inevitably end up slowing us down. When e-mail first...
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February 12, 2013
Is the information revolution transforming power?
Joseph S. Nye, professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School, discusses the information revolution is transforming the nature of power
The second anniversary of the “Arab Spring” in Egypt was marked by riots in Tahrir Square that made many observers fear that their optimistic projections in 2011 had been dashed. Part of the problem is that expectations had been distorted by a metaphor that described events in short-run terms. If, instead of “Arab Spring,” we had spoken of “Arab revolutions,” we might have had more realistic expectations. Revolutions unfold over decades, not seasons or years.
Consider...
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February 7, 2013
Is social media changing the private sector?
Social media is having a profound impact on the way we communicate with one another, as well as the amount of content creation, sharing and information exchange that takes place every day. Much has been described about the ways that these interactions are changing our personal lives and redefining civic engagement.
US President Barak Obama’s campaigns generated a grassroots movement with social media as the primary tool of engagement. With the Arab Spring, the sweep of protests across the region proved that young, leaderless activists using primarily online and mobile tools could topple...
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February 5, 2013
We know what’s good for us, we just don’t do it
The pressures of modern life too often make it difficult to take the right health choices, writes Pieter Nota.
Across the world, people want to maintain and improve their health and well-being, and that of their family and friends. In recent research carried out by Philips, looking after the health of family consistently ranks as one of the top five priorities in people’s lives, regardless of their age or the country they live in.
Health trends in many countries, highlighted in reports like this recently published landmark research, show the importance of making positive changes in our daily...
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January 25, 2013
Trust needs to be earned on personal data
Raymond J. Baxter, senior vice-president at Kaiser Permanente, on why a culture of trust will help us reap the broader benefits of personal data.
The vast amounts of personal data that have come into being in the past 10 years represent an opportunity to create significant social and economic benefits for all of us. However, to gain this value, we must rethink – in sensitive and nuanced ways – how to engage individuals in the use (and reuse) of their personal data.
Like much in life, achieving this balance will require a renewed emphasis on the role of context in our decision-making....
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January 25, 2013
Ideas @Davos: Digital rights and wrongs
You own your data, and you should only share it when you get something back in return, argues Professor Sandy Pentland.
Social networks should mirror the way we build up trust in the real world, says Sandy Pentland in the above video, which explores how to build a fair digital society. You should have the same rights and obligations in the digital world as you do in the physical world.
Sandy Pentland is the Toshiba Professor of Media, Arts and Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is participating in the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2013.
Look out for An...
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January 25, 2013
Why technology is the future for girls
In the developing world, nearly 25% fewer girls and women are online than boys and men – closing this gap will change their futures, argues Nigel Chapman, CEO of Plan International.
Should access to a computer or a mobile phone be a basic human right? A controversial question perhaps but, nowadays, as technology leaps ahead into previously unimagined realms, one can argue that to be ill-educated in information and communications technology is to be immediately disadvantaged for life and work in the modern world. You only have to look at the news from last week’s annual technology...
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January 24, 2013
Ideas @Davos: Unlocking education
The textbooks of the future will be digital, personalised and available to all, says Jose Ferreira.
Education is the ultimate gateway problem. Whether the goal is to address dinner city poverty or threats to the environment, improvements in both the adaptability and delivery of education will help to solve them, argues Jose Ferreira in the video above.
Unlocking Education describes the next revolution in education: adaptive learning. Online schooling can lower the cost of textbooks and solve the access problem in the developing world. As a supplement to conventional schooling, it allows for a...
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January 23, 2013
Growing spinach in a skyscraper
As humans, we’ve always innovated our way out of problems, from steam engines to city farms, argues Frans van Houten.
What if just 20 buildings dedicated to urban farming could provide the entire city of New York with fruit and vegetables year round? It sounds like a fantasy of the future dreamed up on a Hollywood film set. But with breakthrough technology in LED lighting, when it comes to growing spinach in a skyscraper, the future is already here.
City farming is not only possible, it is the very definition of the kind of meaningful, sustainable innovation we will need to meet the grand...
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January 23, 2013
10 ways consumers are changing
Mark Spelman, Managing Director at Accenture, on how a better grasp of what makes customers tick will help to spur economic growth.
As the global economy recovers slowly, there is a sense of hope from businesses that a corner has been turned. But optimistic shareholder expectations appear to be out of kilter with the weak projections for global economic growth. If stock markets are correct, then companies must grow rapidly to meet analyst expectations in the next few years. To reach that growth target, the non-financial companies in the S&P Global 1200, alone, must find an additional US$...
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January 22, 2013
Solving problems the civil society way
Aron Cramer, CEO of Business for Social Responsibility, writes that civil society fills the crucial gap between unwieldy governments and unconnected individuals. Read the World Economic Forum’s report on the Future Role of Civil Society.
As the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2013 unfolds in Davos over the next several days, it will be clear that civil society is essential to solutions on every single question being debated – from water scarcity and human rights, to economic opportunity for young people.
The fundamental architecture of society is changing fast. The financial crisis...
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January 22, 2013
Four pillars of good business
Takeshi Niinami, CEO of Lawson and GAC chair, on why “doing the right thing” will lead to sustainable growth.
In the 21st century, diverse societies are globally connected due to transportation and technology and all share concerns related to energy, climate change, poverty, healthcare and human rights. One country, region or sector of a society cannot on its own provide the solutions to address such a complex web of issues. Thus, the engagement in global agendas must be multiregional and multidisciplinary.
The establishment in 1999 of the UN Global Compact was a clear sign that corporations...
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January 22, 2013
Data-driven societies
Alex “Sandy” Pentland is Toshiba Professor of Media, Arts and Sciences, at MIT, discusses how Data is shaping all aspects of society.
Back in the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution spurred rapid urban growth, created huge social inequities and caused significant environmental problems. New thinking was needed for building a healthy, safe and efficient society. No different than today, these solutions needed to be both resilient and fit for a changing world.
A century ago, however, the response to these challenges was to build specialized and centrally controlled networks that solved each...
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January 21, 2013
The Future Role of Civil Society
Civil society actors – including NGOs, labour organizations, faith groups and a range of other emerging actors – are more important than ever. The past decade has seen the rise of the increasingly aware, connected and educated global citizen demanding new ways of engaging with business and governments in a time of economic and political turbulence.The Future Role of Civil Society report is the outcome of an eight-month project, in collaboration with KPMG International and involving over 200 leaders and experts, looking at how trends in technology, politics, society, economics and the...
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January 16, 2013
When East meets West on the global economic stage
Since I took the decision a little over a year ago to relocate to Hong Kong, I have had a ringside seat at the fundamental shift which is taking place in the world’s economy and social structure – the repositioning of the centre of gravity for the global economy from West to East.If you accept that this shift is taking place, then you also accept that Asia as a region should have an increasing role on the global economic and political stage. US President Barack Obama certainly seems to recognize this point; his “pivot to Asia” has been well documented and was reinforced when he made a visit...
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January 15, 2013
Can we end extreme poverty by 2030?
With only two weeks to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2013, Save the Children has released a new report on what must be a major topic of debate at Davos: ending extreme poverty for good.The report, Ending Poverty in Our Generation, sets out the 10 global goals which we believe the world needs to commit to in order to help us achieve that vision. These are what we believe should succeed the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are set to expire in 2015.The development goals that come after 2015 should build on the strengths of the MDGs. They must achieve a balance of human...
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January 10, 2013
The optimist’s timeline
SEATTLE – Usually, “optimism” and “realism” are used to describe two different outlooks on life. But I believe that a realistic appraisal of the human condition compels an optimistic worldview. I am particularly optimistic about the potential for technological innovation to improve the lives of the poorest people in the world. That is why I do the work that I do.
Even so, there is one area of technology and global development where reality has tempered my optimism: the idea that cellphones would revolutionize life in developing countries. A decade ago, many people believed that the...
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January 3, 2013
Why we should invest more in the education of girls
Shashi Tharoor is India’s Minister of State for Human Resource Development. His most recent book is Pax Indica: India and the World of the 21st Century.
NEW DELHI – One of the more difficult questions I found myself being asked when I was a United Nations under-secretary-general, especially when addressing a general audience, was: “What is the single most important thing that can be done to improve the world?”
It’s the kind of question that tends to bring out the bureaucrat in even the most direct of communicators, as one feels obliged to explain the complexity of the challenges confronting...
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December 19, 2012
The right to values
The world today is more connected than it has ever been, due to technology. New economic opportunities across continents have brought people from different cultures closer. In this scenario, openness and acceptability have emerged as vital qualities to have. Being able to adjust in a cross-cultural team is critical to business today. Similarly, being able to live in harmony in a cross-cultural neighbourhood is critical to a healthy society. Therefore, it is important to find connects between people, and what connects cultures across the globe are human values.
The term “human rights” gives...
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December 17, 2012
Keeping the faith in human rights
To my children’s great amusement, it seems that I am increasingly becoming known as “The Toilet Bishop”. It is a title I am prepared to wear with pride in the week that marks International Human Rights Day, because it illustrates so vividly how the concerns of faith communities – and for me specifically the Christian Church – and human rights agendas intersect.
Those of us who enjoy clean water and sanitation tend to take them for granted. Yet only a moment’s thought will tell us how radically our lives would be altered if we had to live without either. The United Nations has recognized...
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December 14, 2012
How better use of energy systems can reap benefits for society
In a series of blog posts leading up to the launch of the World Economic Forum’s Global Energy Architecture Performance Index Report 2013 on 11 December 2012, Mr. Manpreet Anand, a Senior Policy Adviser at Chevron, discusses how energy is a key driver to reach today’s socioeconomic objectives
Energy is foundational for promoting growth in our economies and progress in our societies. The energy footprint and security of a country are also key factors in facilitating development and sustainability. When considering how to advance development in societies around the world, we rightly think of...
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December 11, 2012
What I learned from Aung San Suu Kyi
From May 28-30th, I attended the World Economic Forum in Bangkok as a Global Shaper representing the Taipei Hub. The event was held to discuss the issues facing the member countries of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). In order to attend this conference, Aung San Suu Kyi left Myanmar for the first time in 24 years, constituting a historic moment for both herself and the world at large. The eyes of the world were focused on how she went from being a leader of the opposition, to becoming a member of parliament, and finally emerging as a possible national leader. In response to...
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June 25, 2012
What social entrepreneurs can learn from Aung San Suu Kyi
Listening up-close to Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi – in her first public speech outside her home country in 24 years – was an extremely profound experience, my own personal highlight from the just-concluded World Economic Forum on East Asia. I sensed that much of the Forum participants felt the same way, greeting her with a much-deserved standing ovation as she came into her session “One-on-One Conversation with a Leader”“The Lady”, as she is reverently and affectionately known, tackled her current thoughts, strategies, and actions for her country Myanmar. The speech as a whole was...
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June 7, 2012
Beyond boundaries: collaborative approaches to social protection
Where does social entrepreneurship fit into a discussion of social protection systems? This was my initial question when I was asked to join a panel on the subject at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East, North Africa and Eurasia. By way of response, I would suggest that as social entrepreneurs we are in a unique position to explore creative new approaches – going beyond what governments and businesses can do on their own.Working with almost 100 civil society organisations worldwide, our experience at streetfootballworld has shown that formal social protection systems often fail to...
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June 7, 2012
Finding a sustainable solution to youth suicide
How many times have we heard, “They are not aware of what they have committed?” Or, “I wish they had had enough guidance?”With youth suicide worldwide on the increase, it is time to find sustainable solutions to transform these heart-wrenching questions into feasible and implementable actions.One solution that I propose is to include “self-development” as a subject at all levels of education – pre-primary, primary, secondary and tertiary. The advent of self-development in the school curriculum will ensure that this generation of youth are educated on how to say no, how to communicate better...
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June 7, 2012
Finding Global Happiness
I am happy to be participating in the World Economic Forum on the Middle East, North Africa and Eurasia, which I’m sure will be dominated by the current economic situation in the Eurozone. I am happy to see European leaders focus on combining growth with austerity measures (see my January blog, Europe Must Open its Jaws), but unhappy about how slow it takes to make decisions.I am happy to see my 24-year-old son starting his business as an entrepreneur and see his enthusiasm, but unhappy about how difficult it is to launch a start-up and how risk averse we remain, stifling the development of...
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June 4, 2012
Ensuring child-safe tourism in Asia
Panel discussions go by fast and you don’t often have the chance of saying all you want to say. So, I’d like to further expand on a recent debate I participated in at the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Bangkok.As ASEAN benefits from a rapid influx of tourism, one key group often dismissed are backpackers. This is an interesting group to observe: they stay for longer periods of time in the country then say regular tourists and spend significant amounts of money, generally benefiting local businesses. They are also opening new tourist areas that can be further developed by more...
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June 1, 2012
The Blossoming of Doi Tung
Twenty years ago, remote region of Doi Tung was the most active place for the drug trade within the Burma/Thailand/Laos triangle. Along with drug trade, regular violence, widespread prostitution, drug addiction of the population and diseases were daily burdens people had to face, and this against their will… Last but not least, non education and poverty lead people to over-exploit their natural resources. Over logging in order to sustain their livelihood led to deforestation. They did not know it was not sustainable.How could a group of external people change what seemed to...
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June 1, 2012
Dispatch from Paris
It was a balmy, early summer Paris afternoon. I sat in the hotel garden, pondering the plight of journalism with editors from Pakistan, Ukraine, India, China, South Africa and more. The men and women, who are here for an international editors’ conference, spoke with anguish about the plague of “paid news” in their home countries, about government crackdowns and the curse of extreme commercialism.But there are other threats to journalism today. We are confronting the disruptive forces of technological change that are threatening the survival of journalism as we know it – in Western...
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June 1, 2012
Preserving architectural history in Taiwan
House prices in many Asian cities have doubled in the past five years. As a result, many old communities have been torn down to make way for the burgeoning property market.There is, however, a growing awareness about that importance of urban conservation and the basic rights of homeowners. This emerging zeal for preserving and renovating historic (and older) architecture is driven by energetic young people who increasingly see the cityscape not only in terms of development, but also as an anchor of cultural identity.I recently visited the Solo Singer Project, where a group of artists are...
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May 31, 2012
Creative Asia
South and East Asian nations have a huge potential to strengthen their ties through shared values.Key among these values are the strong links each country has with their traditional and culture-based industries. It is unfortunate, however, that the inherent innovation available within the creative industries sector in the region has not been fully tapped. In close cooperation, each country has an enormous amount to share with the other; each country can learn from the other.We as a region need to define our shared values. Peace, tolerance, cultural understanding and social progress are parts...
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May 30, 2012
“Heeling” the world one step at a time
The World Economic Forum is travelling to Ethiopia this week to bring together the voices of Africa and help transform the region. 32 Global Shapers from across the continent will be attending the event. This blog post is part of the One Year One Change campaign, which shares visions for a better Africa. What change do you want to see in Africa by 2013? #1y1cMy name is Fred Mawuli Deegbe and I am a shoemaker. My dad is a pastor and my mom is an educator – I have witnessed first-hand how they have had a positive impact on peoples’ lives. They have been my inspiration to...
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May 11, 2012
Racing towards rights for the disabled in Nigeria
Nigerians with Disabilities have been struggling for years to end social exclusion, to no avail. In 2007, several interested parties took the bull by the horns. The Association for Comprehensive Empowerment of Nigerians with Disabilities (ASCEND), in collaboration with Mobility Aid and Appliances Research and Development Centre (MAARDEC) and other organizations of people affected by disabilities, presented a bill to protect the rights of people with disabilities to the National Assembly.The Association supported the bill with unprecedented advocacy to end the social exclusion of persons with...
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May 8, 2012
The Twenty-Two
I encountered my first culture shock when I switched schools in the 5th grade. The new school wouldn’t allow me to spend recess in the library, forcing me to actually do some of the things that I preferred to read about. So, at the tender age of 10, I was thrown to the lions, having to fend for myself on the soccer field.It was on the pitch that I found myself as goalkeeper. And by the following year I had a new hero to look up to, one that wasn’t found in books or comics. He was Kuwait’s greatest soccer player and he was as real as my heavy breathing and the scorching sun. Like...
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April 25, 2012
Sports as a tool for social change
More than six hundred million people tuned in to watch FIFA’s World Cup Final in 2010. This amazing figure is one of the many statistics that demonstrate how sports captivate our lives. Across the world, athletic competition activates a collective spirit that enhances community participation among children, adolescents, and adults. Attracting youth participation and development through a powerful tool such as “sports” should be a paramount investment to be made in the next years by developing countries.As most of us recognize, education is the key for the world’s long term...
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April 19, 2012
Using artistic expression to make an impact
My name is Francisca Valenzuela. I am 25 years old. I am a composer, a singer songwriter, a performer, a writer and an entrepreneur. I have always been motivated by art and by creativity. It is a spontaneous inclination –the desire to express myself, to create, to communicate. I am very happy and lucky that I have committed to this interest and have developed it into my main activity and work. It has become my career.At the same time, I have always been compelled to participate and be active in certain social and civil causes that seem important to me, whether it’s minorities’ rights,...
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April 18, 2012
On apes and attention spans
As the Young Global Leader Annual Summit draws to a close in Mexico, I am inspired and even regenerated by the commitment and dedication those around me have had these past few days.Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but think of activism at large, and how quickly people seem to loose interest. Is it possible we are growing ever shorter attention spans?Possibly.According to National Geographic, recent research on animal intelligence shows primates are capable of imitating others’ actions. Primates also have a sense of object permanence – knowing that something out of sight still exists.But...
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April 17, 2012
Video: Closing Mexico’s gender gap
Mexico ranks 89th out of 135 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index. While the gender gap on education has been closed, women still lag behind men in terms of labour force participation, representation in leadership positions and in terms of wages. Under the leadership of Margarita Zavala, First Lady of Mexico; Angelica Fuentes, CEO, Omnilife and Carlos Danel, Co-Founder, Compartamos, the World Economic Forum launched today the Mexico Gender Parity Taskforce, an initiative that aims to close the economic gender gap in Mexico by 10% in the next 3 years.Please send us your ideas for the...
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April 17, 2012
Listening to transformation
Here at Playing For Change, we travel the world and meet different people offering us all greater insight into humanity and the power of music. I believe that the power of music is being felt in places we never imagined.This year we have partnered for the third consecutive year with A Rirmo de Cambio (ARC), an initiative of the Americas Business Council Foundation (abc*), to present a great project that united over 70 artists with diverse musical backgrounds from across Mexico to record Mexico Lindo y Querido. Our objective was to celebrate Mexico’s own cultural diversity and encourage social...
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April 16, 2012
How does creative transformation work?
Regional Transformation in a New Global Context is the theme of the World Economic Forum on Latin America that is about to start in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The meeting takes place in a global context in which many of us strive to understand and embrace the complexity of the world in which we live.Conventional borders between states, disciplines, organizations, people, man and nature are changing, as are the ways in which we make our voices heard and listen to others. With technological advancements, the acceleration of change has meant that our traditional infrastructures have not been...
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April 12, 2012
The Grey Tsunami: How to Reap a Healthy Longevity Dividend
In January the World Economic Forum at Davos released a major report, “Global Population Ageing: Peril or Promise?”, forecasting an economic and social firestorm – a world growing older at a rapid pace. By 2050 two billion people will be over 60 years of age – one in five compared to one in 10 today. I welcome the WHO decision to dedicate this year’s World Health Day to “Ageing and health,” with the theme “Good health adds life to years.” Whilst the ageing trend started in the developed world, it is now accelerating faster in developing countries where income levels are much lower...
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April 5, 2012
Squatters no more: legitimizing Brazil’s favelas
Brazil’s slums – the infamous “favelas” – are growing fast. The country’s census in 2000 estimated that there were 12.4 million people living in substandard housing. UN Habitat projects that this number will reach 55 million people by 2020.Urbanization – the process of migrating from rural areas to cities in search of refuge, a new life and hope for a better future – has created disorderly, informal and often chaotic growth. Cities in Brazil and other emerging economies are often not sufficiently prepared for such a large influx of people who come without financial resources to rent a house...
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April 2, 2012
Kony, government and crowdsourcing
People around the world have been empowered by social media to take action on the issues they care aboutThis was made clear by the Arab Spring last year, the ongoing Occupy movement and, most recently, the Kony 2012 campaign. At the heart of the campaign is a 30 minute film created by Invisible Children, Inc., aimed at making indicted Ugandan war criminal, Joseph Kony, famous in order to have to him arrested for the horrific enslavement, abuse and killing of children in Africa over the course of several decades.These bottom-up social movements have all challenged traditional top-down...
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March 28, 2012
Handling the humanity of leadership
In an increasingly complex, decentralized and fast-paced world, leadership boils down to one thing: responsibility. Leadership is a responsibility to understand one’s impact on others, and a responsibility to focus on bringing out the best in others.Despite how simple this sounds, I find it increasingly difficult to embody. It requires tremendous willpower to accept that other people’s failures are in some part due to our action or inaction. Likewise, success is a culmination of factors, many of which are beyond our control. While this can make things feel futile, it can also inspire us to...
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March 14, 2012
Securing the Longevity Dividend
The World Economic Forum offers a great platform for providing global leadership and thinking on global ageing, as well as promoting thinking on wellness and tackling the challenges of non-communicable diseases to enable older people to keep well and continue contributing to their communities. Some countries are fully onboard and are working to empower older people. In Brazil, for example, the government ensures that the elderly have basic pensions and has passed legislation that supports businesses and the public sector to provide better services for older people.HelpAge International,...
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March 8, 2012
A major step towards recognition of Cairo’s garbage collectors
After three years of discussions, debates, legal advice, and cumbersome bureaucratic procedures, the Spirit of Youth NGO – which represents poor people who collect and sort Cairo’s garbage – has finally been given the green light to organize the garbage collectors into a syndicate.At a street party, the Spirit of Youth NGO and three hundred garbage collectors – or “Zabballeen” as they are known in Arabic – celebrated their newly formed syndicate. The event was covered by two TV channels and attended by government officials and a member of Egypt’s parliament.Cairo’s Zabballeen continue to live...
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February 23, 2012
Perspective from Davos: Honing in on Happiness at the World Economic Forum
While the economic crisis and the need to create jobs took center stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week, a bold new vision garnered much attention: Happiness.Are we working as individuals and nations to cultivate greater happiness – most simply described as thriving people living in a thriving environment? After all, what is the point of faster growth if it deepens the environmental degradation, inequality and social unrest we are already experiencing? Sessions with intriguing titles such as “The Art and Science of Happiness,” “Beyond GDP: Metrics that Matter...
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February 15, 2012
Another Davos Experience: Occupy Davos
Each year during the week of the Annual Meeting in Davos, the city hosts a number of protestors who come to express their thoughts about the Forum and its mission. Eben Bayer, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ecovative Design, decided to highlight two different approaches striving for a better future.Another Davos Experience: Occupy Davos By Eben Bayer @ebenbayerSo far, 2012 is being marked by the World Economic Forum’s focus of shaping new models, a record breaking snow fall in Davos, and my second chance to experience the ideas, networking, insanity, exhaustion, jockeying...
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February 10, 2012
Reflections from Davos
When you’re introduced as a ‘surprise’ from Professor Schwab to Archbishop Tutu in front of 2,000 of world’s foremost leaders, you know the bar has been set high. And that’s exactly where seventy Global Shapers from around the world found ourselves as Davos 2012 began. Throughout the Opening Plenary, and the entire Annual Meeting, the discussion continued to return to youth and the important role of Global Shapers – the Forum’s newest community of under 30 leaders. Angela Merkel stressed the importance of youth employment and restoring youth confidence in the political and economic...
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February 7, 2012
The game plan
On my panel on street culture and the role of art and sport in rendering the invisible visible, it became clearer than ever to me that we suffer from a major disconnection. Street culture may make outsiders more aware of the issues faced by underserved communities, but that awareness alone is not enough to help them change their circumstances, even when ideas already exist.One can think of Davos in a similar way. The right people are there – not just heads of state and CEOS, but also social entrepreneurs, artists, activists and young leaders – and they are aware of the problems that require...
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February 1, 2012
Be vocal about diversity
My last day at the WEF.Besides the normal stuff, today I participated in a wonderful debate about equality. It was very specific: “what needs to be done to have women gain access to jobs, top jobs and leadership roles all around the world”.Talent certainly isn’t the problem, there are so many great female talents. Young people seem to understand much better how important it is to mobilize all the talent we can find. They don’t suffer so much from the culture barriers that have proven to be so difficult to overcome.I believe education and encouragement are the key words.I am a true fan of...
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January 27, 2012
Scale of Replication
Social entrepreneurs are constantly challenged on the question of scale up. One always hears, “You need to scale up,” or “When will you really scale?”. In turn, I ask these same people questions to go deeper into the issue, so that they can better understand the complexity of societal problems addressed by social enterprises. The question here should really be: “What processes on a stand alone basis can be replicated?” Too much emphasis has been placed on the scale up of enterprises rather than scale up of processes created by those enterprises. Scale up is easier where ecosystmes have...
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January 27, 2012
Desmond Tutu: A message to men and boys
Last year, in Ethiopia, I met young women who had been married around the age of 10 or 12. Many of them had their first children at 13 or 14. I must confess, I was devastated to learn about the scale and impact of this problem worldwide.Every day more than 25,000 girls are married without any say in the matter, to men who are often much older than they are. These girls usually drop out of school because their household chores are seen to be more important. When they become young mothers themselves, they are children having children – at serious danger of injury and even death in...
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January 27, 2012
Toward a common purpose
There’s a definite urgency here in the mass of Davos participants; faced with the uncertainty that stems from technological, political, economic and cultural revolutions all over the world, it is clear to us all that the time for bold, innovative action to get to the root of problems is now.There is no lack of energy for doing exactly that. Earnest discussions about values have already developed, but in the very way in which these conversations are framed, we remain trapped in our familiar, flawed, way of thinking.We are accustomed to measuring success in terms of individual growth, impact,...
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January 27, 2012
Global population ageing: peril or promise?
As the Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Ageing Society, I am extremely pleased to announce that today, during a lunch in the presence of Dr Margaret Chan, we launched a book - Global Population Ageing: Peril or Promise?. It brings together a collection of essays, to help inform and stimulate discourse, defuse the perceived threat and promote a proactive vision for adaptation to support positive population ageing – one that will require forward-thinking frameworks and innovations in technology, education and policy. It is intended for a broad audience:...
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January 26, 2012
The power of social innovation
Yesterday, 35 social entrepreneurs from around the world convened at Davos to discuss how the power of social innovation can improve the state of the world.Among those attending Davos for the first time include Asher Hasan of Naya Jeevan, which works with healthcare access in Pakistan, Francesco Piazzesi from Mexico who pioneered social mortgages and the micro-construction industry, Wendy Kopp, an American social entrepreneur who transformed the state of teaching in public education through Teach for All as well as Christoph Sutter and Renat Heuberger of South Pole Carbon who set...
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January 25, 2012
Time to close the gap
As you may know, I truly believe that every human being is made for goodness – yes, even bankers! So I am very glad to be returning to the World Economic Forum. Davos is known to be a gathering of Very Important People and, well, I have a Very Important Message to convey.Humanity has made such great strides in the last few decades, there is no doubt about that. There are millions more children in school, overall health and life expectancy worldwide are improving, and the gap between rich and poor countries closing. But this isn’t the whole story, of course. At the same time we are also seeing...
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January 25, 2012
Inequality Occupying the Minds of Davos
It is easy to miss the OccupyWEF movement; it is on the edge of town in a parking lot far set back from the road. Roughly fifty people, bundled in scarves with hats pulled down over their ears, stand around igloos. Amidst the snow banks piled 3 meters high, the Occupiers and their igloos are barely visible.Yet to dismiss the OccupyWEF Movement would be a mistake.On Sunday afternoon, two days before the official start of the Annual Meeting, I trekked over to the Occupy WEF site. Sascha Müller, who is a local elected official in Switzerland and an Occupier, explained why he committed to 16-hour...
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January 24, 2012
Thought leadership through art, culture and sport
The Forum is at a crossroads of a unique network of thinkers, innovators and entrepreneurs whose activities provide a catalyst to Forum members' thinking.The incorporation of Artists and Cultural Leaders serves two purposes. Firstly, it provides a platform for cultural leaders to advance their social agenda at the highest level. Secondly, given the high profile of the cultural personalities that we target, it helps to raise awareness and draw attention of other decision makers to the issue. It raises the profile of the issue and it provides an opportunity for action.The aim is to integrate...
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November 18, 2010
Faith, Values and Religion
The World Economic Forum recognizes the immense importance of faith communities around the world and the relevance of faith to the global economy, politics, society and individuals. The voices of faith leaders are integrated throughout our events and activities as experts on a broad set of topics of relevance to the global agenda.In 2001, the World Economic Forum began engaging various faith communities through the Community for West-Islam dialogue, a dynamic group of business, political, religious, media and opinion leaders engaged in inter-faith dialogue to promote understanding across...
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November 18, 2010
