Marrakech, Morocco
On 13-17 February, I was invited by AIESEC, the world's largest student-run
organization with about 43,000 members in 120 countries, to participate in
their Global Leaders Summit 2016 in
Marrakech, Morocco, at a resort a little ways out of the city. There was no
time for tourism, although we did cross the centre of the city through
ancient gates going to and from the airport, and I was able to admire the
snow-capped Atlas Mountains in the distance. ebbf - Ethical Business
Building the Future, of which I am a board member, has collaborated with
AIESEC for 20 years, and I have often spoken with great pleasure at AIESEC
conferences.
There were two meetings as part of the summit, the International Presidents
Meeting (IPM) and the Global YouthSpeak Forum which was dedicated to the
Sustainable Development Goals. This was the third IPM at which I have
keynoted.
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Hotel Club Eldorado Palmerai where the meeting was held
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AIESEC International Presidents Meeting
The International Presidents Meeting brings together the presidents of each
of the 120 national committees to elect the new International President of
AIESEC. The organization is unique in that every position of responsibility
rotates every year, so no one holds on to power, yet it has maintained its
culture of working for peace and international understanding since 1948.
Success comes from carrying out a leadership responsibility for one year,
and then passing on to a successor. It is possible to rise through the
organization, say from a vice-president to president, and from a local
committee to a national committee to the international team based in
Rotterdam, The Netherlands, but no one stays more than 5-6 years. AIESECers
also go on exchanges around the world, so that the president, say, of the
Mexican national committee becomes president in the Seychelles the next year
to help build the organization there. Six of the candidates were
vice-presidents in the international team. The organization builds
leadership skills and an international perspective, and those that come to
the International Presidents Meeting are a remarkable and diverse group of
talented leaders. I was asked to moderate a 90 minute panel of the seven
candidates for International President to explore their knowledge of
international issues and global priorities before the election.
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The master of ceremonies, whom I had met at an ebbf/AIESEC conference
in Italy some years ago; posters of the 7 candidates for International
President
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AIESECers have a strong collective culture, including shouts and
dances with loud music, that builds a sense of identity and belonging
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AIESEC dances; the tension rises as the election winner is about to
be announced
AIESEC has a unique way of announcing the winner of an election for
international president. The candidates line up, the outgoing president
stands behind them with a large container of water, and the winner is
announced by pouring the water over his or her head, leading to a burst of
excitement, noise and confetti.
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Announcement of the election results, with the candidates lined up,
the outgoing president poised, and poured the water over the winner (far
right)
New AIESEC International President Niels Caszo (India)
Global YouthSpeak Forum
AIESEC has undertaken a global YouthSpeak Survey of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) that Millennials care about the most, and is
reassessing its entire programme of activities and exchanges to ensure that
they are coherent with and support the SDGs. It therefore organized a Global
YouthSpeak Forum as part of its Global Leaders Summit on the topic: "Mobilizing
Young People to Achieve the SDGs: Aligning AIESEC's Projects to the SDGs"
for a day and a half in the middle of the summit. After a video message from
UN Youth Envoy Ahmad Alhendawi, I gave the opening keynote on "Mobilizing to
Achieve the SDGs: A Challenge for AIESEC", in which I described the steps
leading up to the SDGs, including the participation of IEF and ebbf in the
UN processes, and underlined the opportunities that the SDGs represent for
young people. I emphasized the importance of values in making career
choices.. There were workshops on "Entrepreneurship & Innovation" by IE
Business School, "Sustainable Cities & Environment" by UN Habitat,
"Impact of Global & Local Media" by Al Jazeera Media Network, and
"Education" by ebbf (Wilfried Claus). After some other keynotes, further
workshops considered case studies in project management, and participation
in action spaces to design projects. The forum closed with the launching of
"Youth 4 Global Goals" with the participation of the Asian Development Bank
(ADB), UN Habitat and PVBLIC Foundation.
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Opening of the Global YouthSpeak Forum with a large audience
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ebbf was listed as a global partner and its logo was featured
alongside Al Jazeera and ADB; speakers for UN Habitat and Al Jazeera
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Part of the audience; as usual there were AIESEC dances in the
intermissions
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In the closing session, balls of string were thrown across the
audience to symbolize networking, and then were drawn together to make a
massive rope
There were many opportunities to discuss individually with participants, and
a number came to me for advice on their projects and their future careers.
For AIESECers, it is always a challenge to find a continuing ethical
motivation "after AIESEC" and a number have joined ebbf.