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Leadership StepsMiguel Angel Toro Gutiérrez

Puerto Rico

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4th World Youth Congress

Quebec, Canada

Agosto 2008

The 4th World Youth Congress will bring 600 of the world's most dynamic young activists in the field of sustainable development to Québec from 120 different countries.

The congress offers a unique opportunity to meet and work alongside young people who are really doing things and going places. This event sets a new standard for international youth events, and will be the largest and most inspirational gathering of its kind for young people taking place anywhere in the world in 2008.

There is a strong role at the Congress for young journalists, cultural performers (e.g. dancers / actors / film makers / musicians), as well as for those with an interest in sustainable development, but less personal experience in this area.

Delegates will join forces with young Canadians to undertake hands-on community action projects across Québec, and will help shape international policy by documenting and showing governments what young people are doing to achieve the MDGs.

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World Youth Congress

Quebec, Canada

Goals & Objectives

The congress Main objective are:

• Supply participants with skills and support to enable them, more effectively, to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals;

• To honour the achievements of the most ambitious, most effective and most successful young practitioners of youth-led development and draw the attention of the world’s development professionals to the need to provide increased support to them to enable more youth to become agents of change.

• To join the continuum of the internationally-recognized World Youth Congress series and achieve a measurable step change in the level of support and acknowledgement for the positive role of youth in society worldwide.

Secondary objectives:

• Be the lead event of the 400th anniversary youth program;

• Enable intercultural exchanges between local and international young people;

Other objectives:

• Accentuate the global scale of Canada’s convening role, particularly on the American continent;

• To celebrate the spirit of Quebec City’s 400th anniversary by showing it indeed to be “the Meeting Place” of the world’s young people.

• Highlight the Quebec youth organization’s expertise, particularly that of the National-Capital region, developed in the last 10 years thanks to the governments Youth Action Plan;

• Contribute to Quebec City’s organizations and citizens intercultural openness;

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Leadership SeminarNew York, New York

August 2008

More than a lifetime of professional experience, wisdom and education in a very intensive program – offered to a select group at a university campus setting in Teaneck, New Jersey, just outside of Manhattan:

• Participants learn in special one-on-one sessions, workshops, and talks by uniquely qualified leadership training staff; in a retreat-like setting, Fairleigh Dickinson University's Metropolitan campus.

• We develop their own projects and work in team to present new ones. The event creates a perfect opportunity to work closely with experts from a wide range of civil society.

In a rural, private location, carefully selected youth leaders receive abundant opportunities for learning, sharing, networking and forming lasting friendships with likeminded individuals from around the world – those who share an interest in civil society, United Nations goals and initiatives, social entrepreneurship, justice, and creating a culture of peace.

• Goals: this dynamic, comprehensive, and intensive training aspires to effectively prepare participants to become agents of change in their home communities. Focusing on the individual strengths and interests of the delegates, workshops and presentations are designed to boost organizational and individual leadership skills, while demonstrating to participants how to expand practical know-how and successfully rise to future challenges.

• Objectives: during the course of the seminar, participants use their newly acquired skills and tools to create a working action plan for meeting an existing challenge in their home communities.

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4th World Urban Forum

Nanjing, China

November 2008

More than 500 youth activists from over 50 countries world-wide, gathered on Saturday in Nanjing, China, for the opening of the UN-HABITAT World Urban Youth Forum.

The two-day conference, hosted by the Nanjing Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Youth League, is third biennial session of its kind, and takes place traditionally on the eve of the World Urban Forum. This year, youth delegates discussed theme, "Harmonious Urbanization: The Challenge of Balanced Territorial Development."

The opening ceremony of the forum affirmed the commitment of global leaders on urbanization to fostering youth led development. The Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, noted that now is the "dawn of a new urban era," with half of the world's population already living in towns and cities, and a projected increase to two-thirds, by the year 2030. She emphasized that the only way to meet the challenge of urbanization was through genuine "dialogues among young people." She recognized, as is evident in the area of information communications technology, that creativity and innovation are the hallmarks of youth, and that this is key to overcoming the challenges of poverty and urbanization.

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The Global SummitSan Francisco , California

November 2009

The Global Summit™ (TGS) bi - annual event series is the catalyst for a new world wide partnership of citizens, businesses and organizations dedicated to building a sustainable future.

The Global Summit (TGS) is much more than an event. It is a strategic educational outreach initiative of parent organization, Empowerment Works (EW) which has been innovating systemic approaches to global sustainability since 2001.

Uniting global Partners in Empowerment (PIE) in year-round collaborations; TGS acts as a catalyst for EW’s systemic approach to community development: 7 Stages to Sustainability.

Officially co-created Nov. 16-18, 2008 by EW and a growing, multi-sector network of Partners in Empowerment (PIE), The Global Summit is the capstone of the Empowerment Works eco - system, and an income-generating enterprise with all proceeds supporting on-the-ground, sustainable development programs.

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Youth Assembly United Nations Headquarters, New York

August – 2009

The Youth Assembly is an annual gathering of hundreds of young people from around the world who seek practical ways to contribute to the achievement of  the Millennium Development Goals, global networking and social entrepreneurship skills as well as meeting with and contributing to civil society formally affiliated with the United Nations. The Youth Assembly is about showing how one person can make a difference by engaging with the challenges of the present and being an educated and active citizen.

The Assembly has grown to become a major gathering of young people as well as specialized, keynote speakers and workshop leaders at the United Nations. Each year, it provides avenues for students and young professionals (16-24 years old) to learn about and become involved with programs that address global and local issues, network among a large international group in attendance, and become engaged and empowered to take leadership roles in their communities.

Three days at the U.N. Headquarters in New York

• Plenary sessions, workshops, networking• Captivating speakers and workshop facilitators, youth leaders

from around the world• Three days of Leadership Training that has been called "Life

Changing"• A must for anyone interested in U.N. Relations, programs and goals

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One Young WorldLondon , England

February 2010

The One Young World Inaugural Summit was held in London on February 8 to 10, 2010 and drew 823 young leaders from 112 countries. The summit focused on 6 key Resolutions developed in response to the most pressing issues in the world today, as identified as by the One Young World Global Consultation Process, a poll of over 15,000 respondents aged 18-27 years old from 34 countries in every continent on the planet. The Resolutions were the focus of the Summit's plenary sessions where Counsellors such as Kofi Annan, Bob Geldof, Muhammad Yunus and Desmond Tutu facilitated debate and dialogue between the Delegate speakers and their audience.

One Young World is the premier global forum for young people of leadership calibre. It manifests the reality of common humanity and the shared existence of all the peoples in one world. Its purpose is to connect and bring together the youngest and brightest and to ensure that their concerns, opinions and solutions are heard and taken into account by those in power, whether in government, business or any other sector.

The summit focused on 6 key Resolutions developed in response to the most pressing issues in the world today, as identified as by the One Young World Global Consultation Process, a poll of over 15,000 respondents aged 18-27 years old from 34 countries in every continent on the planet.These Resolutions are now being activated and monitored by One Young World Ambassadors on Google Wave. 

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5th World Youth Congress

Istanbul , Turkey

August 2010

A strong cultural program, instructive, often youth-led workshops, debates, an Educators program, a Young Journalists program and inter-action between development professionals and youth activists characterize the content of each congress.

The content of the program, the selection of the delegates, the staffing of the Congress, plenaries and workshops are handled by young people – some from Peace Child International and its network of youth leaders around the world, some from the Host Country.

A key part of every congress is Local Action Projects – where all delegates travel away from the Congress site and work with local people to build up facilities, do an environmental clean-up or assist in some social program. The time away from the talking being engaged in doing has defined the World Youth Congress Series.

The emphasis on Action continues in the interval between each congress with a series of Action Projects proposed by delegates being funded to exemplify good practice learned at the Congress workshops and seminars.

But the real impact of the congress comes from the informal discussions of the young activists who share experiences and stories and inspire their peers to get started or keep going to address the urgent needs of their community and the world.