2017 — A year for determination, resolve and leadership

Some years you greet with a spirit of optimism. And some years you greet with determination and resolve.

At this time last year, I shared that we looked forward to 2016 as a year that was “going to bring positive change, impact, and transformation.” The context for my optimism was much broader than DOT, and it was indeed a springboard year for our organization — but we are not blind to the complexities and anxieties that the world is facing as it enters 2017.

We will not create the world of peace, hope, optimism, opportunity and charity that we all desire without courage and leadership — leadership driven by vision and values that are rooted in a responsible balance of social and economic interests. We will do so by being innovative, using modern tools, being entrepreneurial, and by taking risks. We must encourage and amplify the optimism and resiliency that are core to the human spirit, we must persevere with our connections ­– human-to-human and digital — that help us accept others as equals, and we must respect and engage all members of our societies in a spirit of joint contribution and responsibility. DOT has much to contribute; let us do so with determination and resolve.

The young women and men in the DOT network embody resilience and they demonstrate daily how they are taking real change into their own hands for the benefit of their communities — responsibly, with new ideas, energy and innovation. As I was told by a young woman at the DOT launch in Jordan — “If I can’t find it, I will create it.” These are the daring young social innovators who are leading change at the centre — women, girls, young men — with the skills and the support to back them up.

The evidence is in.

Meet Hope, a Rwandan young woman who, from the organization she has created, is training her peers to advocate for reproductive health and girls’ education. She demonstrates the values shared by women and girls and the concern for community health and well-being. As social innovators, women and girls are using technology to introduce new approaches to social and economic advancement in their communities.

Witness Olivier, who has taken his DOT experience into the Congolese refugee camps of Uganda where he has established a technology-based social enterprise that is providing training, hope and opportunity to multiples of his peers. He is an example of the powerful ripple effect of youth-led programs.

DOT’s Marianne Bitar Karam is working with UNICEF as they engage people with disabilities in Lebanon in technology and entrepreneurship — unlocking the potential of those so often ignored in their societies.

The multiplier effect of youth using technology to motivate their peer groups, the untapped potential of women and girls, disabled persons with new horizons and prospects — people creating their own opportunity.

The issues and anxieties facing 2017 must only strengthen the determination and resolve of those in the DOT network, a movement of changemakers and daring young social innovators supported by a community of responsible partners from government, industry and the social sector.

We have the evidence: communities around the world can be shaped by young social innovators, and young people can create their own youth-led movement of social innovation with the tools, knowledge, and networks to create opportunities and to transform their communities. But not without determination, resolve and leadership.

For DOT in 2017, this is our opportunity.