History
On 17 January 2007, 60 young people aged between 20 and 25 gathered at Devonport House in Greenwich, London. They came from 49 countries around the world, and each had been selected to take part in a unique meeting organized by the British Council.
Over the following three days, the group focused on education and how it can and should be used to help societies to make the most of the potential of increasingly diverse communities, while combating intercultural mistrust and hatred.
The challenge was laid down by Professor Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman and Founder of the World Economic Forum. Professor Schwab asked the British Council to select a group that analyses the obstacles to delivering effective education worldwide and to explore the role of education within and across cultures. He therefore invited six representatives to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos to deliver concrete and actionable proposals that could simulate the thinking of the world’s leaders.
Working in ten teams of six people, the Greenwich group made visits to a number of projects in London – including Charlton Athletic Football Club and St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace. They also took in a series of hands-on seminars on skills ranging from public speaking to blogging. The highlight of the conference, however, was a reception at 10 Downing Street.
On Saturday 20 January, the Greenwich Forum drew to a close with a great balloon debate. Each of the 10 teams outlined the plan it proposed to present at the WEF in Davos and bit by bit, the group reduced the contenders down to just two ideas.
In a final head to head round, the team that was going to take the floor at the World Economic Forum meeting on Friday 26 January won out against strong competition. Yossra (Egypt), Chanda (Mauritius), Jad (Israel), Simon (Australia), Armin (Switzerland) and Yoo-Sun (South Korea), the Young Ambassadors for Education, then went to Switzerland – not only to challenge the world’s leaders with their own ideas – but to represent their 54 colleagues from the Greenwich Forum 2007.
At Davos, the Young Ambassadors for Education shared the platform with Her Majety Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan and the then still British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. In their presentation, the group:
- Called on leaders to bring together governments, business, foundations, and the public in a powerful coalition for delivering more effective education.
- Praised the renewed attention that has been paid to global health in recent years and pointed out that, even with coordinated work of the Education for All Fast Track Initiative (FTI) the world is still billions of dollars short of reaching the second Millennium Development Goal (MDG): Primary education for all.
- Proposed transforming the FTI into a Global Fund for Education, able to bring together financial resources, muster political will, and reach beyond MDG2 to an even higher benchmark: providing quality education for a new generation of active global citizens.
“I just want to say how proud I am to be part of this panel and how inspired I am by you,” said the Queen, responding to the group’s presentation. “Yours can be a very persuasive and eloquent voice for tolerance, for global justice, and for the moral conscience that we all need.” She described access to education as just a start or a lowest common denominator and she underlined the need to focus on teachers, whose commitment and passion makes a lasting difference to children’s life.
Gordon Brown also welcomed the presentation. “There is no secret about how to build a school or train teachers. It can be done. What we’re missing is political will. And not just political will from politicians, but from citizens too.” He called for greater coordination and longer-term funding, as well as for new efforts to persuade people that investment in education is leading to concrete improvements. “We need something” he concluded, “where it is a fund, or a virtual fund, where money is clearly seen to be being put into education.”
The Young Ambassadors for Education received an enthusiastic response not only from Queen Rania and Gordon Brown, but also from many of the participants at the WEF and the media. Their presentation and subsequent panel discussion created genuine interest among a large number of politicians, business leaders, and representatives of civil society who attended the event.
As a result, Gordon Brown invited the Young Ambassadors for Education to the “Keeiping Our Promises on Education,” a high-level meeting on education being organized by the European Commission, the World Bank, bilateral donors, and the Global Campaign for Education. At Berlaymont Building, headquarters of the European Commission, one of the Young Ambassadors for Education, Yossra Taha from Egypt, presented the following statement.
This event sought to mobilize high-level political will and commitment to delivering on donor’s promises for education, leading to concrete proposals and commitments for action in terms of increased financing, more effective financing, long-term predictable financing, improved capacity, better education policies, and better donor harmonization.
The Rt Hon Lord Neil Kinnock of Bedwellty, Chairman of the British Council and President of Cardiff University, was taking a personal interest in the Young Ambassadors for Education and their role in the Brussels event. The British Council has facilitated initial discussions between the group and representatives from the Commission and the World Bank. Amongst other, additional meetings were held with George Soros, Founder and Chairman of the Open Society Institute, Philippe Dembour, ING Head Corporate Social Responsibility, and Georgia Arnold, MTV Vice President of Public Affairs.
After the conferences in London, Davos, and Brussels, the Young Ambassadors have been introduced to the Head of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) by Professor Klaus Schwab. The CGI took place from 26-28 September in New York City where education was a focus of this year’s annual meeting. Simon Moss, one of the Young Ambassadors for Education, was able to attend all the education sessions as table facilitator.