OYW: Developing Leadership

The development of leadership is an issue close to my heart considering my path on diplomacy and international affairs. In an international youth summit such as this, there has never been a more appropriate time than to discuss how youths should engage in politics at a policy-making level. Dawn Butler (UK Minster for Youth) stated that youths often do not get a fair chance on the media and are ignored in the participation of greater politics in the UK or otherwise. While it is my personal conquest to influence young minds to the importance of youth and leadership, I strongly believe that the leaders of our generation can be found amongst many of the OYW delegates.

OYW counsellors for the youth development session consisted of Managing Director of YouGovStone Carole Stone, Professor Nick Haysom of UN Politics, activist Oscar Morales, Director of White House Internship Rachel Haltom-Irwin, and British Council CEO Martin Davidson.

As pinpointed by Nicolò Wojewoda (Italy), politics is the final obstacle to resolving many global issues. Rather than urge politicians to listen to our viewpoints, young people should aspire to become decision-makers and take responsibility to steer solutions. Daniel Buriticá Cordoba (Columbia) inspired us to “take poverty to the museums and violence to the history books” by committing to fight poverty and leading politics into a new era. Tej Samani (UK) stated the 21st century is the era where the definition of human rights is strengthened in all areas. Ruth Zlochevsky (Brazil) advocated an idea to create a reconstruction agency so professionals from all sectors in the world are readily available in time of crisis, such as the disaster in Haiti – taking an innovative step forward from UN peacekeepers and volunteers. Tan Ken Ling (Malaysia) very importantly touched upon the requirement for citizens to lobby governments in steering change as exemplified very readily by NGOs and historical movements throughout the 21^st century. Trishna Jaishi (Bhutan) illustrated the point to refine, refresh and recreate a 21 spoke from a gender perspective with an examination of women being underrepresented in all sectors of society, an issue that must be addressed in order to assure a just world.

With many of the issues raised in the OYW Summit, the question of politics is just another institution that needs rebuilding. Don Tapscott - author of “Wikinomics” - exemplified how political leadership can get a face lift by harnessing innovative marketing tactics to reach segmented audience on a mass scale. This of course has great weight on today’s digital era. Politics and the development of leadership is not only about knowledge sharing but also how to utilise those knowledge to reach the right audience. By connecting ideas with people in each country, a common vision of what we would like the world to be like will become normalised. Acting with integrity and forming connections will give rise to networked intelligence.

Draft resolution (to be amended): In the belief that upholding human rights is essential, we call upon our political leaders to make clear their stance on humanitarian issues before we consider our support for them.