Yearly global business leaders gather in Davos, for the World Economic Forum to discuss the economic situation of the globe, and political leaders gather annually in September in New York, at the UN headquarters to discuss how to improve the geopolitical landscape. Yet, annually 2 trillion dollars are spent on war, which oils the global economic engine, and produces attention-grabbing headlines of nations in turmoil, not to mention the ongoing mayhem in Palestine.
Hope for Peace
Amidst the paradox in the actions of both global business and political leaders and the outcome of their meetings, there is a tinder of hope that is slowly spreading the wildfire for peace. This tinder of hope is being fanned by the entire team of ImpactLeaders international, a program of the Faces of Change foundation, with the ‘Educating Peacebuilders and Impactleaders’ Train the Trainer (TTT) programs, where these programs are delivered virtually between six and eight weeks.
These masterclasses are designed to foster personal development and ignite the entrepreneur in every participant, using Otto Sharma and Katrin Kaufer’s U theory approach.
The first class helps the participants to go on an inner journey, and by the last class, participants deliver a Pitch for Peace, to a panel of renowned business experts and scholars alike, where each pitch stands a chance to win the support of the Impact Leaders International training team, to bring the idea in the pitch to fruition.
The recent graduates of this masterclass are members of AIESEC in the Netherlands, who are between 17 and 28 years old, and will be global leaders in the nearest future, real peacebuilders.
What is AIESEC?
AIESEC was founded by seven youths from seven countries, as a non-political and not-for-profit organization established in 1948, after WW II, to build cross-cultural understanding across nations, by providing internships for students outside their country of origin.
And, to date, AIESEC has provided international experiences and internships to over one million youths. It has illustrious alumni who represent businesses, NGOs, and world leaders and one Nobel Prize Laureate, Martti Ahtisaari from Finland.
Educating Peacebuilders and Impactleaders
Between February 19th, 2021, and April 12th, 2021, twenty-four members of AIESEC went through the Impact Leaders international Program. The twenty-four students were divided into four groups, where each group was assigned to a coach and mentor from the ImpactLeaders international Train the Trainer trainers.
Each group was then guided to combine the discoveries they found in their journey into their group discovery, to enable each group to have a Pitch for Peace in the last class. By the fourth class, each group had tied their discoveries to an entrepreneurial endeavor that promotes peace and understanding.
To my amazement, each group’s project was addressed towards promoting peace in the next generation and their generation, where one group was focused on starting a Podcast that promotes intercultural understanding, and the other three groups were focused on promoting intercultural understanding right from the primary schools.
The Pitch day came quicker than I expected. The panel of judges consisted of Joseph a scholar from Nigeria, and Amir an International Podcaster from the Netherlands. During the pitch, the panel of judges questioned and interrogated each group with keenness and scrutiny of the investors in Shark Tank.
After each group presented their pitch, the panel of judges exited the stage for further deliberation, while this article will not name the winning group, to us at ImpactLeaders international, we were proud to award twenty-four certificates to twenty-four new Impact Leaders and Peacebuilders.
If you witnessed the training sessions as I did, you too will agree with me that the wildfire of peace will blanket the earth within a decade. You too can be part of this wildfire of peace by recommending or taking the Impact Leader and Peacebuild Train the Trainer course.
And, together we can make Peacebuilding all our business, to make our world a better place for the next generation.
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