The Time is Now
Global Shapers Annual Curators Meeting — 2017
Last month I was in Geneva, Switzerland attending the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Annual Curators Meeting, representing the Halifax Hub.
There were over 350 individuals from cities around the world, repping their communities and their Hubs. At the opening plenary, folks packed into a room to hear Founder of WEF Professor Schwab speak. Looking around the room I was in awe, Curators had been invited to wear the traditional outfits of their countries, and it was absolutely dazzling.
It felt like a truly global audience and it was beautiful.
About Global Shapers & the ACM
The Global Shapers Community was founded by Professor Schwab in 2011 and is made up of hundreds of Hubs from around the world. Hubs are comprised of young people between the ages of 20–33 who undertake events and activities that generate a positive impact within their local community.
Each Hub is led by a Curator and Vice Curator — and the Curators are invited to attend the Annual Curators Meeting (ACM) at the World Economic Headquarters in Geneva. The ACM is a three-day event that includes discussions about Hub best practices, a showcase of Hub projects from around the world, regional breakouts and brainstorming sessions that tackle the world’s most pressing issues #theusual 😜.
My Key Takeaways:
“The Time is Now”
The theme of this years ACM was “The Time is Now” and that was really hammered home when Professor Schwab stood on stage and declared:
“You are the first generation that will feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it”
This statement really struck me, after a quick Google search it appears Professor Schwab isn’t the first person to be saying this. BUT it is the first time I’ve ever felt simultaneously terrified by the magnitude of climate change yet also incredibly motivated to find a solution.
Being in a room filled with 350+ kick ass young world leaders definitely helped my optimism, but another thing that helped was reviewing the Shaper Survey results. Over 25,000 young people replied to this survey, and overwhelmingly climate change was the #1 issue folks were concerned with. And 90% of respondents agreed that humans are responsible for climate change. I think it’s so powerful to have such a large group of individuals come together and agree that this is a major problem that we need to tackle. Seeing that worldwide unity was incredibly inspiring.
Now we need to do something about it…
Canada — we need to be role models
The Canadian Curator’s had the opportunity to meet and chat with Professor Schwab as a group. He told us quite frankly that Canadians need to be role models. I believe this is something Canada has always strived to be, but now more than ever it is essential that we are role models on the world stage.
I saw this ring true when I was attending Shape North America this summer in Ottawa and Toronto. I had numerous conversations with folks who had never been to Canada before, who praised our government, our culture and our country. It made me incredibly proud to call Canada home. More than once at the ACM I told Shaper’s I was from Canada and they immediately started gushing about Justin Trudeau.
It’s easy to be proud to be Canadian. However it also becomes easy to be complacent, we can’t pat ourselves on the back just yet. There are still harsh injustices and discrimination happening within our own backyards. Take the time to listen to Colour Code’s Podcast about “Canada’s Angel Complex”, it’s a real eye opener. Read about the fear my friend Sagar has to live with in his own country. Or the systematic racism that is plaguing Nova Scotia. Do I need to even mention the Cornwallis Statue issue?
If we are to continue being role models we need to act like it, turn the mirror upon ourselves and see both the good and the bad within our country. Viva, from the Montreal Hub, has written an Op-Ed about discrimination in Canada which is soon to be published, and I’ll be sure to circulate it when it’s available. It’s an important dialogue we need to continue to have and address, there is no quick and easy solution to this, so let’s keep talking.
Best practices
Hearing from Curator’s about the success and struggles facing their Hubs was incredibly helpful for me. This is one of the reasons the global network of Hubs is integral to the success of Shapers. Curator’s face the same struggles wether they are in Newark, New Jersey or Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
We discussed in depth about tips for recruiting, marketing and growing the Global Shaper brand in our countries as well as Hub governance strategies and meeting structure. Not to mention the exchange of project ideas that took place over the 3 days. Almost every Hub presented projects that their teams had executed and shared the success metrics along with scalable ways to duplicate the projects elsewhere.
The knowledge transfer and best practices documents that have been shared are going to help the Halifax Hub lay a stronger framework for the Hub, ensure we are recruiting to a broader network and strengthen the operations.
A very big thank you to all the Curator’s who shared their experiences and struggles, openly and honestly so we can all learn and grow together.
