Young Global Leaders: The alumni gathering 2022

This week, over 200 of the alumni from the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders (YGL) programme convene in Geneva, Switzerland, under the theme “Emerging and Growing as Leaders”. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been over three years since the community last got together. Gatherings such as this one are important reminders of this community's potential for impact.

The World Economic Forum founded the Forum of Young Global Leaders to foster new leadership models. Through a transformational three-year programme, YGLs are inspired to be bold and shape a more sustainable and inclusive world. We aim to create a community of changemakers with vision, courage, and influence.

After completing the programme, YGLs join the Alumni Community, where they can continue their leadership journey. These leaders serve as stewards of our community, helping select new members and mentoring them. They are crucial to our ongoing success, often providing support and guidance to new collaborations and promoting the impact-oriented mindset of our community.

As the world collectively confronts pressing, complex challenges, the YGL Alumni Gathering 2022 brings together some of the world's foremost leaders to engage in dialogue, envision a better future, develop partnerships to benefit communities and inspire global action. With more than 20 sessions co-designed and curated by community members, participants will have the opportunity to reconnect, forge new bonds and share knowledge.

In the past, these events have enabled participants to put new ideas into action and revitalise existing projects by restoring momentum.

In July 2018, Young Global Leaders led an expedition to the Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement to help meet the challenges faced by refugee and host populations. YGLs learned from the local community and committed to specific individual and collective actions. During the 2019 Alumni summit, YGLs presented their action plan and mobilized additional support from fellow community members.

In May 2018, YGLs travelled to Greenland to observe the effects of climate change firsthand. Participants explored barriers that prevent broad climate action and united around a common desire to raise awareness, spread policy and drive innovations in climate financing. At the 2019 summit, YGLs committed to accelerating the adoption of sustainable business practices across 20 multinational corporations to positively affect one million people by 2020.

Young Global Leaders launched #Ambrosia2030, an art installation inviting reflection on personal contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals. At the last YGL Alumni Summit, YGLs were invited to raise awareness about their actions to promote sustainability through a social media campaign featuring an interactive art piece.

At the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in 2007, YGLs presented research on the impact of school-based deworming. The community then came together to “deworm the world” - a low-cost effort that would improve the lives of hundreds of millions of children.

Table for Two is a global non-profit committed to tackling hunger, malnutrition and obesity that the YGLs initiated. At the World Economic Forum on East Asia in 2014, Young Global Leaders launched the calorie offset programme by taking “excess” calories from the developed world and transferring them to people in need, particularly children.

Championed by YGLs, The Circular Economy Awards were an annual awards event held at the time of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, with winners being organisations or individuals deemed to have delivered ground-breaking and tangible Circular Economy innovations that year.

The Forum of Young Global Leaders continues to challenge its members to exemplify responsible leadership by using their positions of leadership and spheres of influence to forge a better world. The YGL Alumni Gathering 2022 will help members enhance their commitment and inspire them to drive change.