Experience of ‘One Young World Summit 2016’ in Canada
Experience of ‘One Young World Summit 2016’ in Canada
t’s a privilege for me to share the experience of ‘One Young World Summit 2016’ with others. It’s undoubtedly the greatest experience of my life. Before starting, I want to express my gratitude to our beloved Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus for giving me the chance to attend the summit as his delegate.
At first I should say what the summit is, and what OYW is. OYW (One Young World) is a charity who gathers together the brightest young leaders from around the world. OYW arranges summit every year where the young leaders meet the leaders of world who are acting as One Young World Counsellors. This year the summit has been held in Ottawa, Canada. Last year it was held in Thailand, and next year it will be held in Bogota, Columbia.
The summit has been held from 28th September to 1st October. In the opening ceremony, Kofi Annan, Emma Watson, Justin Trudeu (President of Canada), Mary Robinson, OYW founders David Jones and Kate Robertson, Professor Muhammad Yunus and many other renowned persons were present and delivered speech. It’s hard to sum up what I have seen, heard and learnt in the summit. Because a lot of things to catch in a short time period. But surely some words left scratch on my mind. I will try to show them.
From the second day of the summit, discussion about the global issues has begun. Throughout the summit, many issues have been discussed thoroughly. I am mentioning some of these here - extremism, three zeros, sustainable development, gender equality, renewable energy, human rights, inequality and the global economy, government policy, mental health, the refugee crisis, education, disabilities and so on.
Hearing from Professor Muhammad Yunus, Kofi Annan, Sir Bob Geldof, Jon Landau (Producer of Avatar), Gary White (CEO of Water.org), Emma Watson and delegates from around the world about these pressing problems truly has the power to change our thoughts, build our mindset to solve these.
‘Three Zeros’ is a theory of Professor Muhammad Yunus which means world must adopt a policy of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment and Zero Carbon Emission. At the beginning of this session, we, the ten delegates of him has been introduced to 1300 young leaders from 196 countries by Lamiya Morshed, Executive Director of Yunus Centre. She told how they selected us. We have said about our future plans. It’s a tremendous honour for me to say something in front of the bests of the world.
Actually, there are many things to talk about the conference. We heard from many delegates about their lives and work. It’s hard to imagine and understand the condition of refugees and the people living in war zone. How they witnessed their close one’s death, escaped luckily from death. But they didn’t stop. They are fighting to save others. How someone was persecuted in his/her early life but he/she struggled to success. Many delegates from developed countries are working to solve the global problems. Students are taking great initiatives. And the counsellors are working restlessly to make the world a better place, using youth power to get the best outcome.
I cannot but saying that, the beauty of the summit is the networking of delegates. We met many delegates from other countries at breakfast, lunch, dinner, in the middle of the sessions, in the sessions also. The friendships we made and the bonds we created are strong, they are special. It’s amazing that we came from different countries, cultures, faiths, but we all are moved by the same things.
Source Link: https://goo.gl/dh83Tl
Source: Daily Sun
Updated Date: 17th January, 2017