Clinton Global Initiative is Committed to Action: So Are We

By Dina Buchbinder

Last week, the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro hosted a world-class event: the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Latin America, and I was pleased to be part of it.  The Rio meeting was the first of hopefully many CGI conferences designed to debate and discuss solutions to the region’s challenges. Sessions explored topics ranging from the revitalization of Latin American cities to the power of women entrepreneurs, from workforce development strategies to improving education through technological innovation.

One of the most pressing topics on the agenda was high youth unemployment in the region and its impact on persistent cycles of violence and poverty. I am proud to serve on the board of directors of the International Youth Foundation (IYF), which is equipping youth with the skills needed to access employment opportunities and build their own businesses. IYF also recognizes that many of the solutions to today’s problems come from young people themselves, and is actively supporting hundreds of young social entrepreneurs around the globe through its YouthActionNet® program.

I, too, believe that we need to be preparing our youngest citizens to assume active roles in their communities. This year, Deportes para Compartir (Sports for Sharing), an organization I founded in 2006 in Mexico, was invited to share our model and solution with the rest of the CGI community. Deportes para Compartir is a civic educational model that forms better citizens from childhood. We empower teachers with the tools needed to use games and sporting activities to help children think, develop solutions, and act so they can become global change-makers in their own communities.

Over the last seven years, Deportes para Compartir has consolidated its model and is now ready to adapt it to meet needs in other countries. Building on synergies that emerged at the regional CGI conference, we are now looking to export our social enterprise model to Rio as well as the city of Medellin in Colombia. Since both cities face different realities than we do in Mexico, the challenge will be to share the tools we have created to build local capacities and leverage local assets in search of solutions.  The possibility of sharing this model in other contexts is exciting as growing partnerships around the region are bringing our visions for the region closer to reality.

Rio has recently been on the minds of people across the globe with its much anticipated hosting of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games. This world focus offers us the unique opportunity to take events that are influencing the city’s collective psyche and leverage them to serve as catalysts for development. I can’t imagine a better way to constructively channel the excitement leading up to these events into social good than by teaching children to be active citizens through sports and play. 

Dina Buchbinder is Founder and Director of Deportes para Compartir and a member of the International Youth Foundation Board of Directors. In 2009, she was selected as a YouthActionNet Global Fellow.

Coaching Demystified: Webinar Debrief

Photo credit: MentorTogether

Coach, mentor, advisor, champion--there are many similar terms that describe an individual you share your personal or professional journey with. How do you know where to begin?

In our latest webinar, discover the value of coaching and learn how it differs from other mentoring models. Karen Phillips, coaching guru and Program Manager at the International Youth Foundation, explains how engaging with a coach can help young social entrepreneurs achieve personal and organization-wide goals, and how coaching relationships can improve the experience of the staff they manage. Also included in the webinar are live examples of coaching strategies--how to establish expectations, ask the right questions, and ensure your sessions are useful to the coachee. 

During the webinar, a special Alumni Executive Coaching opportunity was announced for YouthActionNet Fellowship alumni. As part of YouthActionNet's continuing education series, selected participants will receive executive coaching to help them develop personal growth plans and map a vision for what's next at their organzation.

The slides from the webinar are available here.

Young Leaders Share Lessons Learned at Thunderbird Panel

Today marks the end of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2013. Here at YouthActionNet we have spent the week celebrating stories of young people who turned ideas into action. Their bottom lines may be mission-based, but their sustainability plans and strategic partnerships make it clear: they are entrepreneurs in the truest sense of the word. 
 
Last week, Thunderbird School of Global Management hosted a panel discussion, “The Future of Social Entrepreneurship.” The event was moderated by Robert Hisrich, director of Thunderbird’s Walker Center for Global Entrepreneurship, and featured four emerging social entrepreneurs and students of Laureate International Universities.

Project photo from Costas Verdes

Daniel Uribe, a Fellow from YouthActionNet's Premio Yo Creo program in Costa Rica, participated in the discussion. A Biology student at Universidad Latina de Costa Rica, Daniel is also the President of Costas Verdes, an NGO working to rebuild and protect coastal forests and beaches in Costa Rica. As a young leader, Daniel has learned a lot about how to be both visionary and practical in his changemaking endeavors. 

During the panel, Daniel gave tips for other social entrepreneurs:

1. Make financial stability your number one priority: You can't expand your reach or deepen your impact if you are constantly worried about funding. 

2. Learn to say no: The hardest thing is to say "no" to potential partners with attractive offers--remember to stay focused on tackling the issues central to your mission.

3. A leader doesn't do it all: Reflect on your strengths and weaknesses as a leader. Remember to delegate--build a team who you trust to manage the details.

4. Leave time for yourself: Your organization may be sustainable, but are you? If you are always burned out, you aren't open to experiencing the joys of working on issues you are passionate about. Take a step back and remember why you are doing this work.

Watch the video below to hear responses from the other social entrepreneurs. Additional videos from the event can be found here. 



To learn more about how Laureate supports young social entrepreneurs, click here.

Philippine Fellows Mobilize Typhoon Relief Efforts

Here at YouthActionNet, we tell the stories of our Fellows' extraordinary impact--their beneficiaries, expansive volunteer networks, and innovative revenue generation strategies. Our Fellows' impact, though, goes beyond the work they do as founders and CEOs. On a personal level, they can't resist acting on the compulsion to right the wrongs in our world.

Anna carries emergency supplies

Knowing the selflessness of our Fellows, it wasn't a surprise to see that just hours after the devastating typhoon in the Philippines last week, our local alumni were hard at work, spreading messages of resilience and forging partnerships to address urgent needs and long-term rebuild efforts.

2013 Laureate Global Fellow Anna Oposa founded Save Philippine Seas to teach children and communities how to love and protect precious aquatic resources. One of the schools that Anna works with on the island of Malapascua was badly damaged during the unprecedented storm. Anna made her way back to the island this week and captured these heartbreaking images. On her blog, Anna explains:

 "The last few days have proven that the bigger the heartbreak, the greater the comfort...We are very grateful for everyone’s support and are fully committed to rebuild Malapascua with a vengeance." 

All donations made to Save Philippine Seas at this time will  go toward rebuilding the elementary school. Due to heavy activity, the organization's PayPal account is temporarily on hold, but you can donate using banking instructions listed below.

Anna has also partnered with other young changemakers in an effort called Bundles of Joy and Letters of Hope. Currently working to reach survivors in areas that have not yet been reached by other aid, the grassroots initiative is delivering emergency supplies (bundles of joy) with a "letter of hope" from the local and international community to show encouragement and solidarity. Join the efforts by donating via PayPal and leaving a letter of hope on their Facebook wall. 

Rainbow over Tacloban, photo by Raffy Tima

Fellow Reese Fernandez-Ruiz, founder of Rags2Riches, a social enterprise that creates eco-ethical fashion through working with artisans in low-income communities, is another YouthActionNet alumna who sprang into action by mobilizing the shipment of supplies to those who need them most. Leveraging her vast social network to connect donors, carrier companies, and volunteers, she's making sure that those looking to help know where to direct their efforts. Reese recently shared this photo of a rainbow over Tacloban one week after the typhoon struck with the caption "a promise of hope and better days to come." 

Currently living in Japan, Filipina Fellow Audrey Codera organized a private movement among her family and friends from all over the world to bring relief items to Ormoc, Leyte.  Her first shipment of goods for distribution will leave this weekend, courtesy of LBC Shipping. LBC is accepting free shipments to the Philippines for typhoon victims until November 30th. Visit their website to see if there is a branch near you. 

Workers begin producing toilets

While many volunteers are focusing on food, water, and shelter, Fellow Jed Sayre is hard at work addressing a sometimes overlooked issue--hygiene and sanitation. Jed is the Executive Director of ALLEY-NM, an environmental education and empowerment initiative that partners with the Water, Agroforestry, Nutrition, and Development Foundation (WAND) to build low-cost, eco-friendly toilets in low-income communities. It's easy to help Jed and his team via two Global Giving campaigns: help build low-cost toilets in Tacloban city, or contribute to a food security project promoting backyard gardening.

 It is inspiring to see the resilient spirit of our Fellows and the communities in which they live. While circumstances in hard-hit areas remain dire and the loss is great, we have hope knowing the future of the Philippines is in the helping hands of leaders like Anna, Reese, Jed, and Audrey.  

To donate to Save Philippine Seas, please follow the below banking instructions: Banco de Oro | Savings Account | NAME: Philippine Seatizens, Inc. |ACCOUNT NUMBER: 143 0146 735 | SWIFT CODE: BNORPHMM

The last few days have proven that the bigger the heartbreak, the greater the comfort. The support from the local and international community have been very overwhelming. We are very grateful for everyone’s support and are fully committed to rebuild Malapascua with a vengeance. - See more at: http://savephilippineseas.tumblr.com/post/66852519835/help-malapascua-network#sthash.Rlmn9G4k.dpuf

The last few days have proven that the bigger the heartbreak, the greater the comfort. The support from the local and international community have been very overwhelming. We are very grateful for everyone’s support and are fully committed to rebuild Malapascua with a vengeance. - See more at: http://savephilippineseas.tumblr.com/post/66852519835/help-malapascua-network#sthash.Rlmn9G4k.dpuf

The last few days have proven that the bigger the heartbreak, the greater the comfort. The support from the local and international community have been very overwhelming. We are very grateful for everyone’s support and are fully committed to rebuild Malapascua with a vengeance. - See more at: http://savephilippineseas.tumblr.com/post/66852519835/help-malapascua-network#sthash.Rlmn9G4k.dpuf

The last few days have proven that the bigger the heartbreak, the greater the comfort. The support from the local and international community have been very overwhelming. We are very grateful for everyone’s support and are fully committed to rebuild Malapascua with a vengeance. - See more at: http://savephilippineseas.tumblr.com/post/66852519835/help-malapascua-network#sthash.Rlmn9G4k.dpuf

Opportunities & Events: November and Beyond

As 2013 comes to a close, think about all that you have learned this year. Put that newfound knowledge to work for you by applying to one of the below opportunities. It's also a great time to start planning for events taking place next year--early bird registration rates won't last long! Here's to dreaming big in 2014, and getting a head start now!  

Opportunities 

The Hult Prize
HULT International Business School & Clinton Global Initiative
Deadline: November 15, 2013
How could you change the world with US$1 million? This year, more than 10,000 applicants will apply to the Hult Prize, and only 300 start-ups from around the world will move on to pitch their ideas at one of six global locations, including: Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai, Shanghai and São Paulo. While there is only one winner, each regional champion will spend the summer inside of the Hult Prize Accelerator—an innovative incubator for social enterprise and will receive a one-year CGI membership. Register now for the 2014 prize. 

Emerging Institutions Fellowship Program
LDI Africa
Deadline: January 31, 2014
LDI Africa is seeking young business and development leaders for its Emerging Institutions Fellowship Program (EIFP) across Africa. The EIFP provides pro-bono consulting opportunities in Africa's leading investment companies and social enterprises. Fellows participate in 6 to 12-month fellowships working to position African emerging businesses towards the path of long-term sustainability and scale. To learn more and apply, click here.

The Washington Fellowship
President’s Young African Leaders Initiative
Application opens in December
The Washington Fellowship is the new flagship program of the President’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI).  This program will bring over 500 young leaders to the United States each year, beginning in 2014, for leadership training and mentoring, and will create unique opportunities in Africa for these leaders to apply their new skills in propelling economic growth and prosperity, and strengthening democratic institutions. Stay tuned. Applications will be available in December. 

Venture Labs Investment Competition
University of Texas McCombs Business School
Deadline: February 21, 2014
The Venture Labs Investment Competition (VLIC) and its affiliated competitions are designed to mimic the real-world process of raising venture capital. The competition allows graduate students to gain real experience while developing and growing new ventures based on their own ideas and technologies or those developed by others. Teams from around the world compete prizes including a cash prize of $78,000, an invitation to close the NASDAQ OMX Stock Market, the Austin Technology Incubator Launch Package valued at $25,000, and consulting time with leaders in the field. Learn more about the rules and register now!

International Holcim Next Generation Award
Holcim Foundation
Deadline: March 24, 2014
The 4th International Holcim Awards competition celebrates projects and visions that contribute to a more sustainably-built environment and features total prize money of US$2 million. The competition is open for projects in architecture, building and civil engineering, landscape and urban design, materials, products, and construction technologies that contribute to the five target issues for sustainable construction. The Next Generation award will be issued to a young person, aged 18-30, who has visionary projects and bold ideas.

Events

INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Programme
November 17 - 22 & December 1 - 6, 2013
Fontainebleau, France & Singapore
The flagship six-day INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Programme combines the deep academic knowledge of INSEAD’s faculty with practical application. Renowned speakers, live case studies, and analysis of the most current issues and trends in the field create a platform to examine the complex issues and challenges facing social entrepreneurs. Learn more. 

Lean for Social Good Summit
December 5, 2013 & January 23, 2014
New York, NY & San Francisco, CA, USA      
The Lean for Social Good Summits bring together people and organizations using “Lean” principles in their organizations, as well as the best minds from the social good ecosystem: entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, non-profits, social enterprises, foundations, philanthropists, and investors. Summits will be held in New York City on December 5, 2013 and San Francisco on January 23, 2014.

Unite for Sight Global Health & Innovation Conference
April 12–13, 2014
New Haven, CT, USA
The Global Health & Innovation Conference (GHIC) is the world's leading and largest global health conference as well as the largest social entrepreneurship conference, with 2,200 professionals and students from all 50 states and more than 55 countries. This must-attend, thought-leading conference convenes leaders, changemakers, and participants from all sectors of global health, international development, and social entrepreneurship. Register by November 13 for the lowest rates. Unite for Sight was founded by YouthActionNet alumna Jennifer Staple-Clark. 

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Build your Business: Webinar Recap

In the latest edition of the YouthActionNet webinar series, Burgundie Fulton of the International Youth Foundation (IYF) provided an overview of Build Your Business (BYB), an entrepreneurship training course developed by Microsoft and IYF. 

BYB is a dynamic blended learning curriculum designed to introduce young people to the basic ideas, actions, and skills needed to successfully launch, lead, and grow a micro or small business. 

The course is comprised of an interactive computer-based learning program as well as a facilitation guide for in-person training sessions. The curriculum is available at no cost, and is meant as an add-on to existing entrepreneurship programs. 

Watch the video below or browse the slides to learn how you can make use of the curriculum and deepen your existing entrepreneurship program. To request additional information or ask specific questions about BYB, please reach out to Burgundie Fulton using the contact information provided in the webinar.

This webinar is brought to you by the Sylvan Laureate Foundation. Stay tuned for future webinars by signing up here!

The Power of a Humble Leader

By Lisa Jones

Imagine twenty CEOs sitting together in one room. They are young, all under thirty, but have each steered ideas into initiatives, passion into promises. They have recruited others to join their cause, and together they answer to the populations whose lives they seek to change—sex workers in Delhi, commuters in Chile, millions without electricity across Africa. Each has made enough strategic decisions throughout their young careers to land them a seat in this room. From hundreds of applicants, these 20 social entrepreneurs from 18 countries were chosen as Laureate Global Fellows through a partnership between the Sylvan Laureate Foundation and the International Youth Foundation. 

From October 4-11^th, these young leaders convened in São Paulo, Brazil at the 12th annual Laureate Global Fellowship retreat. Here at YouthActionNet, this event is the highlight of our year—we spend the week facilitating a vigorous leadership training that emphasizes experiential learning and leverages the individual expertise of each Fellow. Over meals and during sessions, we connect with these twenty young people who share insights that help us tailor our initiatives to their needs. As a young person myself, it is always incredibly inspiring, and admittedly daunting, to build relationships with peers who have already sacrificed and accomplished so much. They seem like superheroes. 

What surprised me, though, was that they didn’t always see themselves the way I saw them. On multiple occasions throughout the week, Fellows revealed to me that after reading the other Fellows’ bios, they couldn’t believe that they had been selected. Basant Motawi, who combats sexual harassment in Egypt, was the first I heard this sentiment from: “I’m surprised you chose me…I am only running community-based advocacy campaigns with less than 100 volunteers. The other projects are so impressive!"

Basant and I

I explained that not only was her community-focused strategy smart, she was also doing this work through a volatile situation in a country that desperately needs women like her to take a stand. In a personal blog post following the retreat, Anna Oposa, founder of Save Philippine Seas, revealed “[Fellows] are all doing such game changing, trailblazing work in their countries. I honestly felt like a poser there.”

Too often we look at successful young leaders like Basant and Anna and think they must be so self-assured; they must have all the answers. We compare them to other youth in their age group, and see them as the exception. The truth is, these young CEOs are flying by the seat of their pants as much as the fledgling leaders who applied but were not selected as Fellows, as much as all of us are. They are poised for success, but still vulnerable to failure. 

As humans, our brains respond more intensely to negative events than positive ones. We dwell on failures—the grant we didn’t get, the interview we stumbled through, the beneficiary we couldn’t help. From the Fellows, I learned that sometimes it takes seeing our accomplishments through someone else’s eyes to truly begin to appreciate our impact on the world. 

Throughout the week, I observed Fellows tell their stories, in small groups and on stage in front of hundreds. The audience, whether 5 or 500, listened with rapt attention. With smiles, or tears in their eyes, listeners asked follow-up questions and were inspired about issues they didn’t know existed minutes earlier. 

During a town hall panel discussion with students from our host Universidade Anhembi Morumbi, Fellow Katy Digovich, founder of Positive Innovation for the Next Generation (PING), said “Surrounding yourself with people who think the impossible is possible is critical.” 

Fellows share a design thinking prototype

By sharing their stories out loud, Fellows began to realize that they have already done the impossible. During the Design Thinking session, Fellows spent over an hour interviewing Gitanjali Babbar, who works through her organization Kat-Katha to improve the lives of sex workers in brothels on GB Road, the largest red light district in India. Their mission was to understand how her organization operates so that they could design new ways to approach its challenges. As questions flowed, Gitanjali began realizing that what seems routine to her is intensely complex and astonishing to others who are unfamiliar with the sex trade in India. 

As she explained her strategies to gain access to each brothel, and earn the trust of the women inside, her accomplishments became all the more spectacular. Gitanjali smiled when listeners exclaimed “You really do that!? But isn’t that dangerous?” By the time they got to the prototyping stage and were planning an event to unite the sex workers, someone asked “Would it be possible to shut down GB road  for a few hours to have a fair?” Gitanjali hesitated, turning her head side to side. “Yes. Anything is possible.”

Carolina and Gitanjali

While sharing their stories with the group helped Fellows see their accomplishments in a new light, the fact remains that many questioned their place in the group from the beginning. The conclusion I draw from this is that no matter the success young social entrepreneurs have achieved, validation in their ventures, and their ability as leaders, remains critical. 

The YouthActionNet program is designed to intervene at a delicate juncture in the life of a young leader—with over two years demonstrated impact, each Fellow has come far enough to be able to see just how much still needs to be done to achieve his or her mission. They aren’t jaded, but they understand that it takes more than passion to maintain a sustainable operation. Without a network and community of support, without external validation, the road to scale and systems change is a lonely one, if it’s possible at all. YouthActionNet is here to encourage young leaders to take the next step, with certainty that the journey ahead will be a shared one. 

Learn more about the 2013 Laureate Global Fellows and watch this video about their 'can do' spirit.

Chasing the vision: new milestones in YouthActionNet Africa expansion

By Jessie Elisberg

Fellows from Uganda meet with the MUBS team

This summer has been a busy and exciting time for me, because in addition to the Laureate Global Fellowship, I get to work on YouthActionNet’s efforts to adapt our model for local and regional institutes in Sub-Saharan Africa. For years we have seen amazing Global Fellows coming from a number of countries in the region, and we know there are so many other young social innovators whose efforts to create real change we could support if there were fellowship programs based in Africa.

Not only is this vision becoming a reality, but it’s happening quickly! As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, in partnership with USAID and The MasterCard Foundation, two new regional institutes are joining the ranks of YouthActionNet membership. Synapse Center, based in Dakar, Senegal, launched Innove4Africa earlier this year, which will provide training, coaching, networking, and support to young social entrepreneurs across Francophone Africa. The program recently closed its application period and will be announcing its first class of fellows later this year.

As Innove4Africa prepares to announce its first cohort, Makerere University Business School (MUBS) in Kampala, Uganda is busily readying itself to open the application period for the other new YouthActionNet regional institute, this one for Anglophone Africa. This program brings together the Entrepreneurship Centre, Leadership Centre, and ICT Centre at MUBS to provide training, coaching and advocacy to young innovators from Anglophone countries in Africa.

At the same time, LEAP Africa is readying to launch the Social Innovators Program and Awards, a YouthActionNet institute that will offer training, advocacy, and network support to strengthen the initiatives of young social innovators in Nigeria. The first class of fellows will also be announced later this year!

---

Fellow Charles Batte and the village library he is constructing
in Katiiti Village, Mpigi District

At the end of August, I had the chance to spend some more time with a handful of fellows from the Laureate Global Fellowship program in Uganda. We got together over lunch with the team from MUBS to discuss the challenges and opportunities for young social entrepreneurs in Anglophone Africa, and brainstorm ideas for the new program based at MUBS. 

Some of the challenges identified by the fellows were what you might expect to hear – difficulty with convincing people to support their ventures and spreading awareness of what they do, lack of funding opportunities – but some of the challenges these innovators face aren’t so predictable. For example, there is a major youth bias and hesitance to take seriously the efforts of people under 30, even more so if they aren’t married. Several of the fellows also indicated that government policies frequently hinder young entrepreneurs from starting their own ventures, whether they are for-profit companies or focused on a social mission. 

Excel Education Centre in Bwaise slum, Kampala,  an
initiative of Fellow Muhammed Kisirisa's organization AFFCAD.

Another common challenge encountered by social entrepreneurs is balancing supply with demand while trying to manage community expectations. Because they are working hard to address real issues, these young people are often simultaneously praised for their leadership and efforts to serve community needs while being criticized for not doing enough.

How wonderful that you’ve built a school for disadvantaged youth, now why isn’t there enough space for my child to enroll there?



You’re offering support groups and services for women in this village who have been affected by conflict, but why aren’t those services in my village? 

Muhammed manages several different community programs,
using  educational slum tours for revenue generation.

 It seems to me that this is the double-edged sword of grassroots social entrepreneurship – the opportunities for creating real and lasting change are boundless, but there is always more that needs to be done.

The same thing can be said about YouthActionNet itself. Every day is bringing us closer to seeing the YouthActionNet community blossom in Africa, to seeing more and more young leaders benefit from what we offer. It’s so exciting to realize that by early 2014, we’ll have up to 70 new members of our global network of social entrepreneurs, all from Africa, but our work is far from done. What country will be next?

Be sure to join the YouthActionNet newsletter list to stay in the know!