The 2030 Initiative
The 2030 Initiative is a comprehensive effort by The Forum of Young Global Leaders at addressing together the complex challenges of today to shape our world towards a better future.
The challenges currently facing the world are not only increasing in complexity, but they are interrelated and require a global vision. Current approaches to address them fall short of what would be required to ensure a better world by 2030. There is a clear need for an innovative and integrated perspective provided by a group of committed young leaders from different regions and stakeholder groups. The 2030 Initiative aims to mobilize young global leaders to that effect, not only engaging them in defining a vision for a better future, but also in putting forward a strategy to translate this vision into action.
Specifically, the 2030 Initiative will engage Young Global Leaders to:
- Use scenario and visioning exercises to understand current and future trends, risks and opportunities both at global and regional levels. This will require challenging existing assumptions, addressing knowledge gaps and mapping interrelationships.
- Formulate a shared vision of the world in 2030.
- Create task forces on priority issues and develop global and regional strategies, concrete actions and measurable benchmarks to advance towards their vision.
Based on their commitment to particular global concerns or regions, Young Global Leaders can create and join task forces of their choosing. Each task force, consisting of 10 to 20 core members, will establish a plan of action and a timetable of deliverables, making sure to monitor the results of their activities. Experts identified for each of the selected issues will provide input to the work of each task force. An electronic networking platform will be created to facilitate online project collaboration throughout the year.
The 2030 Initiative will have high public visibility to foster increased awareness among decision-makers on key issues and commitment to engage in concrete action. Each year, Young Global Leaders will report on the progress on selected issues and benchmarks. Their findings will be shared with the global public through a website and a series of publications. These will be synthesized in an Annual Report entitled “Shaping the Future”.
Milestones
World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2005, January
Young Global Leaders participating in the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2005 will engage in a brainstorming exercise on global issues and on the proposed process for the 2030 Initiative. They will also take part in regional visioning exercises included in the Annual Meeting programme. The results from both exercises will be shared with the wider group for feedback and serve as input to the initiative.
Inaugural Summit of the Forum of Young Global Leaders, June 2005
The Inaugural Summit of the Forum of Young Global Leaders in June 2005 will be the focal point of the 2030 Initiative. During the meeting, Young Global Leaders will engage in a visioning exercise on the world in 2030, which will culminate in the formulation of a shared vision for 2030 and the creation of task forces around identified driving issues with specific deliverables and timelines.
World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2006, January
In January 2006, the task forces will report on their progress through the publication of an annual report and its dissemination at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting. At the same time, a new cycle will start with incoming Young Global Leaders providing fresh input on the work done to date and continuing the ongoing discussion around the vision 2030 and selected driving issues.