http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/8106531 ]]> Mon, 24 Sep 2012 22:04:00 -0400 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/8106531 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/3813885
Visitwww.treadlightly.metoday, January 14th, for the launch of Tread Lightlys teacher toolkit and online platforms into 9 languages. The newly revised and translated material will make climate change education accessible to more teachers and youth around the world. Measure your ecological footprint and compete with your friends to reduce it; access lesson plans to teach your students about climate change; and enter the eco-art contest; now in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Danish, as well as English and French!

]]> Fri, 14 Jan 2011 14:58:00 -0500 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/3813885 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/748885
Leaders refuse to accept the status quo and step up to the global challenges we face. The TakingITGlobal community exists to connect and support young leaders like you. We work to amplify and accelerate your work towards a positive social change by harnessing the power of Internet technologies.

The world needs to hear the voices of young leaders like you. At the 2009 aids2031 Young Leaders Summit in Oslo, Norway, Hopes Voice International filmed a short video in partnership with the Royal Palace Norway and aids2031 on why enabling young leadership is crucial for the current and future AIDS response.




We want to know: Why are you a leader? What have you learned from previous generations of leaders? What challenges do you face around the issues that you are passionate about?]]> Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:09:00 -0400 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/748885 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/673385

After returning from a week in Jordan at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and Young Global Leaders Dead Sea Summit, I am left with a feeling of optimism about a growing commitment from leaders around the world to youth. There is an acute sense of awareness that this presents both an opportunity and a threat for the region and the world. When youth lack education and employment opportunities, they are easily swayed into feelings of hopelessness about the future and are more likely be recruited by religious fundamentalist groups where they become weapons against their own communities. When provided with opportunities to develop their talents, skills and entrepreneurial abilities, youth can become a force for change in shaping a better world. During the Welcoming Remarks of His Majesty King Abdullah II, particular focus was made on the importance of youth. "The 21st Century has brought the Middle East its largest youth population in history. In only a few years, we will be looking to those 200 million young men and women for our region's strategies, partnerships, and solutions. They need and deserve all the tools we can give to them, to become the great leaders they are capable of being. To the region's young leaders, know this: you have the power to transform the future. Set powerful goals. All of us here today, will help". This statement helped to set an inviting context for the work of TakingITGlobal and I found that people were excited to learn about the nature of our organization and our programs.

A few highlights from my trip:



On my first day in Jordan I went on a trip to Petra with a group of Young Global Leaders and had lengthy in-depth conversations with several people about leadership and the challenges to starting and growing both not-for-profit organizations and businesses.

I was especially intrigued by Josh Spear, one of the youngest marketing strategists in the world who is regularly sought out for his fresh perspective and no-holds-barred style of consulting on everything from design and gadgets to authenticity and word-of-mouth. His recent focus has been the power of the blogosphere, technology, and the impact this new media is having on the world. http://joshspear.com/

It was also amazing to reconnect with David de Rothschild from Adventure Ecology who is preparing for the Plastiki Expedition! Essentially he is building a 60-foot boat (catamaran) made from post consumer plastic water and soda bottles and self-reinforced PET and will be sailing across the Pacific Ocean to Australia as a way to raise environmental awareness. http://www.adventureecology.com/theplastiki/

My conversation with Teresa Kay-Aba Kennedy was really inspiring as I learned all about her leadership and personal devleopment program called Power Living (http://www.power-living.com/principles.html). I really enjoyed having a chance to learn about the Five Principles of Power Living®:
1. Live on Purpose - align your spiritual energy.
2. Tune your Mind to the Positive – tune your mental energy.
3. Honor your Body – maximize your physical energy.
4. Be a Humble Warrior – engage your emotional energy.
5. Sanctify your Surroundings – detoxify your environmental energy.



Petra is a UNESCO World Heritage site and known as one of the world's most famous archaeological sites and offers a humbling and awe-inspiring glimpse at a city built on half-carved rocks and mountains. For any of you who have seen Indiana Jones and the last Crusade, I had a chance to see the Treasury Monument - and it was really spectacular!



Each of my days started early with 7am wake-ups and ending anywhere between 11pm and 3am. With a packed agenda and a group of people that were each incredibly energizing and unique to talk to, I only had one day where I could take an hour and head out to the dead sea for a 'mud' swim - and it was fantastic! The water was extremely salty and buoyant - I took the classic 'reading a book in the water' photo :)



We were warmly welcomed by Her Majesty Queen Rania who provided with her reflections on the topic of 'Leadership in Tough Times; Cooperation in Tough Climates' and provided context to help us prepare for our upcoming Impact Journeys. Each of the Young Global Leaders were organized into groups of about 25 people and day trips were organized for site visits to various community development projects ranging from schools to libraries in underserved areas along with refugee camps. I was asked to be a discussion leader for our group who visited a project of the Jordan River Foundation's Community Empowerment Program called Qudrate.



Our group had chance to learn about an income generating project owned by Al Intima cooperative that consists of a small factory producing traditional foods (Pickels, Jams, dairy products etc) and packaging the products to take them to market. We met one of the workers there who is a woman named Wasal with nine children and a husband who is unable to work due to an illness. She was met with glowing eyes and a deep sense of appreciation for the employment opportunity the program has allows her to access.

We also visited a second project owned by the Orthodox Society, a charitable organization. The Jordan River Foundation provided a grant to help them invest in developing a local supermarket that will sell food and services to the local community and generate revenues that will be re-invested in community and recreational activities.



I very much enjoyed all of the formal and informal sessions organized as part of the Young Global Leaders Dead Sea Summit ranging from our Community Building Lunch to sessions about the Future of Cities. It was a special treat for us to have our Meet-the-Leader session with His Majesty King Abdullah II followed by Valerie Jarrett, Assistant to the President for Inter Governmental Relations and Public Liaison, Office of the President of the United States. During these sessions, YGLs had a chance to ask provocative questions that were thoughtfully responded to. Aside from large group sessions, each person that I had a chance to interact with led to intriguing conversations about leadership, entrepreneurship, tackling social and environmental issues as well as dealing with organizational challenges. Learning about the passions and work of the individuals among our group was also fascinating. I was thrilled when I had an opportunity to co-host a KaffeeKlatsch morning session on the topic of 'YGLs for Empowering Young People'. We had about 20 participants in our session and each person was directly connected to an initiative to empower young people on a local, regional or global level. It seemed that once our discussion got started, it was time to wrap-up, so we decided that we would continue our conversations online and work towards strengthening one another in an effort towards collaboration.

During the presentation on 'Inspiring Leadership through Storytelling' offered by Jonathan Harris, we were all moved by the creative approaches taken in combining arts, digital media and new methods of displaying data to represent human emotion and the search for love and self. Check out:
- The Whale Hunt - http://thewhalehunt.org/
- We Feel Fine - http://wefeelfine.org/
- Want You To Want Me - http://iwantyoutowantme.org/

World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab provided an overview of a new initiative called the Global Redesign Initiative that will reach out across business, government and civil society and work to shape the future of our global institutions, including the global financial systems. I had a chance to work in the sub-group on Security and in our discussions, we talked about the need to have a new vision of security that is not simply based on the absence of conflict, but truly encompassing and inclusive of meeting development objectives.



The most rewarding session I attended from the World Economic Forum on the Middle east was the one on "Rethinking Education in the Middle East", led by Angel Cabrera, President of the Thunderbird School of Global Management. I was asked to co-facilitate one of the break-out groups in the category of continuing education. The aim of our highly interactive workshop session was to think about how educational systems in the Middle East can be transformed into catalysts of innovation, entrepreneurial behavior and critical thinking. In the first part of our session, our group identified the following skills that need to be learned: learn to question, to identify opportunities, risk tolerance, taking responsibility, practical 'doing' skills. In the second part of our session we prepared three recommendations for academia to incorporate:
1) engage in multi-stakeholder partnerships (bring different actors into the learning environment to share practical experiences)
2) redefine the learning experience (make it more experiential with interdisciplinary teams working on real-world projects)
3) implement an entrepreneurship module across all disciplines

One of the personal reflections on my week in Jordan relates to the subject of sleep. How much sleep do you need each night? I discovered that many of the Young Global Leaders are running on an average of 3-4 hours of sleep each night. Personally, I find that I need anywhere from 7 to 8 hours of sleep in order to feel well rested with enough energy for the day. That said, I feel similar to other YGLs in the sense that there is so much that can be done in a day and if we sleep less, we have time to do more! Last week, with such energizing days and full agendas, I found myself ok with taking 3-4 hours of sleep on most nights, but this week, I know that my body cannot sustain the pace for long. I am amazed at how people can live such fast-paced lives, with so little time to rest!


Finally, one of the follow-up actions that I will be taking as a result of the Forum is to add my contribution to a video recording of YGLs who will be making a pledge to the Global Principles for Business Leaders. This is a project designed by YGLs to increase a sense of responsibility among managers and business leaders. Here's what it states:

Global Principles for Business Leaders

As a manager I recognize that

- The enterprise I lead must serve the greater good by bringing together people and resources to create value that no single individual can create alone.
- My decisions can have far-reaching consequences that affect the wellbeing of individuals inside and outside my enterprise, today and tomorrow.
- As I reconcile the interests of different constituencies, I will face choices that are not easy for me and others.

So I promise that:

1. I will manage my enterprise diligently and in good faith and will not let personal considerations supersede the long-term interest of my enterprise and society at large,
2. I will understand and uphold, both in letter and spirit, the laws and contracts governing my own conduct and that of my enterprise,
3. I will respect and protect the human rights and dignity of all people who are affected by my enterprise and will oppose all forms of discrimination and exploitation,
4. I will respect and protect the right of future generations to enjoy a clean and resourceful planet,
5. I will not engage in, nor tolerate bribery or any other form of corruption,
6. I will represent the performance and risks of my enterprise accurately and honestly to each of the constituencies that are affected by it,
7. I will engage with other actors in dealing with critical social and environmental issues that either affect or are affected by the operations of my enterprise, and
8. I will take responsibility for my own professional development as well as the professional development of other managers under my supervision.

In exercising my professional duties according to these principles I recognize that my behavior must set an example of integrity and responsible conduct for other managers under my supervision or influence.

This is my pledge I make freely and upon my honor.

]]> Wed, 20 May 2009 09:39:00 -0400 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/673385 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/604315
I very much appreciated having the opportunity to celebrate the occasion with family and friends including my parents, Nonna (grandmother), cousins, aunt and uncle along with two TIG board members. A particularly moving moment for me occurred while I was delivering my acceptance speech and thanked my Nonna for keeping me connected to my Italian heritage. As soon as I thanked my Nonna, the room was filled with emotion and burst into applause. This response caused even deeper reflection for me, and the role that our grandparents play in our lives.



I know that each of my grandparents have faced immense struggles and overcome challenges in their efforts to create a better life for their children, grandchildren and future generations. I think that perhaps sharing my moment of recognition with my Nonna was particularly touching for people in the room because it was an expression of my deep respect and appreciation for her love. Often times, grandparents aren't able to live long enough to share in the accomplishments of their grandchildren...though we know that their love and support is always present in spirit.

If your grandparents are still alive, I would encourage you to express your sincere gratitude and appreciation...both in public settings and through afternoon chats over tea.


For further details on the event, please visit: http://www.ciim.ca/files/publications/12-543372740417000.pdf
]]> Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:55:00 -0500 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/604315 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/569509

With the start of any new year, I always seem to shift into a sentimental mode of reflection on the year that passed and find myself become a budding seed of potential, preparing for the year ahead. What I love about the experiences that I have been a part of through TakingITGlobal is the process of co-creation, collaboration and creativity that emerges with each project and initiative developed. It always starts with some vague idea about how to change the world and transforms into a clarified concept and components that become more defined as we go along. Each person who is part of any project team takes on an important role in shaping the future direction of the project, through the ideas generated, questions asked, knowledge acquired and talents shared.

Looking back at 2008, I decided to prepare a multimedia clip that pulls together photos from key milestones and moments experienced by our staff over the past year.



While browsing through photos, I felt sentimental and reflective along with a great sense of joy in our shared accomplishments over the year. My apologies go out to the many 2008 team members who were not part of this presentation. I actually put it together over a weekend and it is not comprehensive of the many team members based all over the world who have been actively coordinating local and regional projects - such as our Community Connectors, Virtual Volunteers, CLC Canada West Africa Teams, Youth for Change coordinators, Multilingual Coordinators, Advisors, Champions, Board Members...and the list goes on. We are still in the midst of compiling photos across our program areas to be included in our 2008 Annual Report. I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to all of the team members who are part of shaping this incredible journey.



As we look to the future, at our recent staff meeting co-located in Toronto and New York utilizing the CISCO TelePresence technology, we announced our plans to undertake a Strategic Planning Process over the upcoming months that will help to shape and define our prioriites in the upcoming years. We plan to involve the board, staff, members, partners, advisors and other stakeholders in this participatory process. Stay tuned for further details!


]]> Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:49:00 -0500 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/569509 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/555967
Some of these blog entries confronted the concept of democray, some put them in the context of the country where the members are from, and some Following ae selected quotes from each of the blogs. Visit the Democracy Issues page to read each full blog entry.

"General elections normally held as an exercise of democracy loses meaning if the voters will not actually decide the verdict of the vote" - Nancy Mogire in 'Democracy is when the power of the vote is real'

"We live in a world where geographical boundaries are fast dissolving with the rapid advances in technology... Anyone who has an access to internet has become a global citizen. In fact, I would even state that the world’s largest Democracy is no longer India, but the world itself." - Akash Mohimen in 'The World's Largest Democracy"

"Democracy is the best way of life and people should learn from early childhood about democracy. Parents should teach their children the values of democracy maintaining and developing this form of government. Future generations in turn should improve it into even a better way of life." - Maksat Kalymgazinov in 'Democracy Means'

"Be part of the team. Remember that hope can defeat Experience. Do not forget that Experience can work with Hope. Age is not a barrier; race or ethnic difference can not stand in the way of change. Why not you for change...why? Do not applaud the story of Obama any longer but thrive to write one for yourself." - Aare Kornar in 'Obama, Nigeria, and You'
]]> Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:31:00 -0500 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/555967 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/553387



Check out the event page for more details: http://events.takingitglobal.org/21923 ]]> Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:38:00 -0500 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/553387 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/543161
If you would like to track the progress made throughout various phases to date - and moving forward as we prepare for launch, you can have a look at our blog: http://www.tigblog.org/group/frontpage/
]]> Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:28:00 -0500 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/543161 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/182829
Two updates for today:

1) You'll notice in the top right hand corner of your profile, if you've put any countries visited, events attended, friends, or UNESCO World Heritage sites visited, you will have a new link called "Member Map". This will dynamically generate a map of all those places for each TIG member!

Here's mine as an example.

2) You can now, on your profile, click the name of a UNESCO World Heritage site, and see information about it along with all the other TIG Members who've visited! In the past we didn't have the rights to display this information, but now UNESCO has provided it openly with attribution so this new feature is born :)

Here's an example: The Red Square in Moscow]]> Sun, 15 Apr 2007 15:58:00 -0400 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/182829 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/180325 my post last month -- now, on My TIG, you'll now see a new link under your Friends box to "Friends' Latest". This feed, which you can subscribe to in dozens of different ways, lets you connect to the latest content on TIG posted by all your friends! On Firefox and IE7, you can click on this link and you'll get help subscribing to them!

Also, in case you didn't notice it before - you can now choose the type of blogs you want to see on the homepage - latest, popular, or featured!
]]> Wed, 11 Apr 2007 23:27:00 -0400 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/180325 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/172471 Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:03:00 -0400 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/172471 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/36106 1) Alerts

This is something that we have been working on for awhile. Alerts (through your Alerts tab in "Edit Profile") allows you to customize several types of alerts that you can get to your "My TIG" tab, or to your mobile device. For regular TIG members, we only support about 50 cell providers, it sends an e-mail instead.

Coming next: Content Alerts - notifications when your friends post content (blog, gallery, panorama)

http://www.takingitglobal.org/members/editprofile.html?section=alerts

2) Friends

I improved the Friends feature, which has its own Tab now in Edit Profile. You can see who's listed you as a friend that you haven't listed, and also you can turn off other people adding you as friends who aren't your friends. (a bit wordy) :)

http://www.takingitglobal.org/members/editprofile.html?section=friends

3) Project Wiki

Project pages now have the ability to have a custom page created (with any name), which team members can edit. Almost like a mini-CMS, currently limited to just one page. This is essentially a primitive version of a "wiki", a user-editable page. (but these aren't fully USER editable, only project team members)

4) Creative Commons

Gallery and Panorama now allow users to select Creative Commons licenses as part of the submission and edit process. These licenses (learn more) let people decide how their work can be used by others. Items on TIG that use these licenses will show a logo and link to license info (example:
http://gallery.takingitglobal.org/mfurdyk/15423 - bottom )

5) Books (Profile, Blogs)

This is a bit of an older feature, but something many people might not have noticed. The books that people have been adding to their profile (almost 2000 so far) are now linked together, so when you click on a book, you can see other TIG members who have read it, blog about it, and see prices for Amazon.ca/com, and some random global library availablility (I was bored one weekend...) :P A good example:
ttp://www.takingitglobal.org/members/book.html?ISBN=0385504209

6) Coming Soon: Tagclouds

You've probably seen them around the Internet. Visual representations of word popularity! We'll add our own in Blogs and maybe in other sections to help people see what topics on 'hot' lately based on words used. The problem is that because our site is so multilingual it's a bit difficult to sort through. You can see a preview here:

[preview coming soon]

Maybe we'll be one of the first sites with an arabic tagcloud! :)
]]> Thu, 02 Mar 2006 12:00:00 -0500 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/36106 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/28621
Please let us know if you find any problems or bugs with these parts of the site, and we hope you're enjoying V5!]]> Wed, 24 Aug 2005 11:39:00 -0400 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/28621 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/26778
We spent much of 2004 re-developing the site in ways the average user didn't notice, to support translation of all site structure into an infinite number of languages (so far 5 are launched). This year's redevelopment has been focused not just on the visual experience but also on integrating personalization technology.

We've started to make use of this through the new "My TIG" tab you'll notice along the header of the site. This new page will feature content you've recently viewed and posted, give you easy access to manage your TakingITGlobal content, and will also provide you with real-time notifications of content posted by your friends or other TIG members you choose.

Over the next few months, you'll see more enhancements across the site, but for now, I'm sure you'll agree that overall, the experience on TakingITGlobal.org has been vastly improved!
]]> Fri, 29 Jul 2005 16:37:00 -0400 http://www.tigblog.org/group/tignews/post/26778 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667