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Corporate Social Responsibility
News
1.26.2004 ET
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The Poverty Challenge in a New Millennium: Defining Roles for Youth and the Next Generation of Leaders
The World Bank Institute Global e-Conference February 9–27, 2004
(CSRwire) The World Bank Institute and its partners are pleased to announce a
global e-conference on the broad theme of strategies for successful
poverty reduction involving the ideas and energy of young people.
Background The online discussion is open to all young people around
the world and is part of a broad program designed to share young
people’s viewpoints at a major World Bank conference on poverty
reduction to be held in Shanghai, May 23–25, 2004. The global
learning process will allow key development actors to share their
experiences and policy lessons from poverty reduction initiatives around
the world. This e-conference will continue the dialogue launched during
the global e-conference on CSR for Future Leaders in April 2002.
Objective The e-conference will capture the views of young people
on the importance of building sustainable development with a new kind of
leadership and in turn alleviating poverty. These ideas will be shared
with key decision makers at the Shanghai conference.
• Week One: Reinventing Leadership for the 21st Century
The initial discussion will focus on the importance of ethical leadership
in all sectors of society. Participants will seek to identify what they
see as important qualities of leadership to tackle key development
challenges, such as the importance of promoting good governance,
transparency, responsibility and accountability to build sustainable
development.
• Week Two: Youth Must Not Be Forgotten
What are the key challenges that poverty presents to young people? What
are the key barriers to the social inclusion and empowerment of youth?
This week will emphasize the importance of providing young people with
access to services, markets, and being part of the solution. Further
points for discussion will include:- the relevance of the current
educational system to social realities; the potential value of
curriculum
development in shaping the understanding of future leaders
- the need to increase the credibility of youth to be seen as equal
partners, in part by providing
youth with access to relevant knowledge
- the value of reviewing self-organization, improving the governance
structure, transparency and accountability of young entrepreneurs and
student organizations.
• Week Three: Searching for Solutions
and Harnessing Our Potential
Participants will share details of projects that have been successful in
addressing poverty. All will be invited to comment on the case studies to
be presented at the Shanghai conference and consider how they might better
involve young people and meet the needs of youth. Participants will also be
asked for ideas of projects that involve youth directly as catalysts of
change in both in developed and developing countries. Key questions will
include: What are the models we can learn from? Can ideas be
successfully
replicated in other countries? Can projects be scaled up and still remain
effective?
The discussion will emphasize the importance of learning to a) build
understanding of the issues and hence enhance youth credibility, and b)
develop sustainable organizational structures.
Participants will develop action plans for implementation of ideas at the
country and institutional level and make recommendations to influence the
outcomes of the Shanghai conference.
• Post E-Conference
Participants will be encouraged to finalize action plans and to build
networks to implement their ideas. A final report containing participant
recommendations will be prepared and shared with young people at planned
activities in advance of the Shanghai conference, including a one day
event for young people at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C.,
on March 26, 2003. The final version will then be presented to decision
makers at Shanghai.
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