[staff] Travel to Geneva for National Development Leadership Initiative
Last week I had the opportunity to travel to Geneva, Switzerland on behalf of Global Kids to support the planning process of the National Development Leadership Initiative (NDLI); a venture spearheaded by Lynn Gray, a good friend of Global Kids’ Founder, Carole Artigani. The Initiative seeks to work in a variety of countries to support the young people in the most marginalized pockets of society to become empowered through development training. By giving these young people access to the skills and expertise pertaining to development practices, the initiative aims to transform these very capable young people into development assets who through the process, will not only gain hope for their own future, but will also partake in the success and positive growth of their country’s future.
We met with representatives from UNDP, UNAIDS, UNITAR, WFP, UNICEF, and others to move towards a joint partnership in the initiative. In those meetings, I wore two hats. First, as a representative of Global Kids, a youth development organization that works with around 16,000 underserved young people from different parts of the world each year. Wearing this hat, I sought to explore how our youth development expertise could be leveraged in supporting youth in other countries through our professional development, curriculum expertise, and experience in engaging youth through innovative uses of technology.
I also found myself very aware of my second hat, that of a young person myself, curious and dedicated to the world that is changing around me.
I wore the hat of a person under the age of 30, like the majority of the developing world, with strong roots in the Middle East and an ingrained belief that ALL young people have the will and capacity to succeed and contribute to the world. I also felt acutely aware of the access that I’ve had to limitless opportunities as a result of being raised and educated in the U.S. I spoke as a young person who has never encountered a glass ceiling that may have inhibited my growth, or defined me as a person, as would have been the case if my family hadn’t emigrated from Egypt. In many ways my own personal sense of history and opportunities is why the meetings last week in Geneva felt so important to me.
I often think about how fortunate I am to have our organizational values at Global Kids and my own person values align so seamlessly. I have written elsewhere about how Global Kids’ youth development approach is similar to the experiential learning practice that saved my own educational experience. I believe in our work at GK. I know from my own personal trajectory as a learner, that it wasn’t until I had exposure to an assets- based approach, based on my own interests as a learner, that my needs were met. This youth development approach is very transferable to the world’s youth. By its very nature, it is situated within particular cultural context, and addresses all people as assets, not deficits, and as contributors and creators to the world around them. If we can mobilize the partners we met with last week in Geneva and secure funding, I think NDLI has the potential of reaching into the most at-risk corners of the world and creating hope and catalyzing a generation of changemakers. The initiative could also forge a new step forward in truly globalizing Global Kids. I look forward to being a part of this possibility.
