 Welcome to Geneva, welcome to the annual Curator's Meeting. It's a great pleasure to have all of you here and the energy that you guys bring. It just cannot be described in words. This is my fourth ACM and I'm already experiencing it. A lot of hugs, a lot of smiles, a lot of cheers. So keep it coming. So far, we had a lot of introductions like about the community, about the World Economic Forum and what he was talking about day one, day two, day three and when is it going to start? It's going to start now. It's going to start now. One of the objectives of the global shapers community is to give young people a seat at the table. And today we are going to invite four of our curators to join in a panel discussion with me and I'm going to invite Akil from the Munich Hub. Please give him a big hand. Nadia from the Cape Town Hub. Amani Berry from the Minneapolis Hub. And Dia Hekel from Abu Dhabi Hub. Please take your seat. So there are so many issues that are affecting the world today. Could be the global issues like, please have your seat. There are global issues like climate change. There is this large scale conflicts and wars that's happening all over the world. You have regional issues like the refugee crisis, I would not call it regional, but still it is like in Europe, it's a big issue. And even local issues, there are mass shootings, there are the presidential campaign and it's some kind of divisive rhetorics that's happening. So all kinds of issues that are happening and we have a very privileged opportunity to come here and exchange ideas and knowledge about these issues. But there are many people who don't have these voices and who is better equipped than these young people to represent their communities and share some of their ideas and intelligence from their respective contexts. And that's what we are going to engage in a discussion today. Thank you all of you for joining me on this panel. And I'm going to quickly go to Akhil from the Munich Hub. So Akhil is from Munich, his family has a lot of refugees who migrated during the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. And they are all over the world, in Germany, in Canada, in US and Akhil. Germany has opened its borders to refugees as a humanitarian imperative. Given the recent speed of attacks in Europe, is public sentiment still inclusive or is it shifting? Got it. Thanks for inviting me. And I'll try to answer the question in a good way. There's never one truth. If you look at the sentiment, it's really difficult to measure the overall sentiment. Of course, there will be always people who think that we have too many foreigners in our country, too many refugees even, but I'm happy to say that it's not the majority. That might shift at one point or another. But actually, if you look at how complex the whole question is, it gets really interesting. So the recent polls in Germany suggest that even far right-wing people say that Germany needs to take in refugees, but they say they need to take in real refugees. So the question is, and the way I see it, is that we need to tell these people that we can't differentiate between real refugees or people seeking shelter. They are the ones who seek shelter and we blame them now for having attacks in Western Europe while they are actually fleeing these kind of situations back home. So that's certainly not right and I think that's our responsibility to teach the people. And just one quick remark on how the situation, how complex the situation is, many of you have shared their condolences on the mass shooting in Munich that happened. Well, the interesting thing was in Munich, the sources said a few minutes after, they were sure that it was a right-wing German who hated foreigners. Other sources said he was a Muslim wanting to kill Germans. The real, the truth is in between, he was actually of foreign descent and he was a Nazi who was trying to kill foreigners. So it's a mess and it's never about who they target. They always target us and they're always crazy people and we should not be influenced by that. Thank you, that was very helpful. Nadia, South Africa has been rocked by protests and corruption scandals. What is the mood among the young people in South Africa today? Thank you so much. It's such an interesting time for my country in a very young and very active democracy as we recently went through elections, very peaceful elections at a municipal level, largely peaceful, but I would categorize it and I'm broadly brush-stroking here into three categories of young people's moods and it's largely locational-based. So I would say that young people in peri-urban areas are angry and you can see that through violent protests and that's because service delivery is non-existent or done really badly and that's largely due to just widespread corruption in the entire system and it's from the top down. The second mood I would say is disappointment and that's with the urban youth and we see a lot of young people and we had a huge campaign called Fees Must Fall where young people were saying access to higher education is so expensive that it's become exclusive to only a few elite and at the time we just found out that the president had spent $25 million on his personal homestead. So when you take that and you say if he can spend that much on security upgrades which included a pool and a crawl for his cattle, why can't we be funding education, tertiary education in South Africa? And along with that you have a lot of young people who don't have access to economic opportunity so those that have got tertiary education are struggling to find jobs because of a few things around economic development but also a lack of transformation in our country. So you see young people who have degrees standing on the side of the road with Billboard saying I've got an engineering degree, can you hire me? And then the third category I would say are the hopefuls and I broadly put all our global shapers in this category. It's a category of young people who really believe in the vision of South Africa and really wanna make it great again. We're the guys who are making sure that we disrupt in a positive way the system. We see it's not working and we wanna be part of the solution to fix it. And I say broadly that would be the South African mood at the moment. Thank you Nadia, that's very helpful. Moving to Amani, for all of us outside the US it's very hard to understand the divisive tone that's shaping the election season right now. What do you think are the root causes and the undercurrents behind this? Well I'm glad you asked about the root causes because I think the source of the divisiveness goes back many years all the way. I personally I think back to the US Declaration of Independence where it's written that all men are created equal. Yet as we've seen historically that has not always been the case and I think we're at a point right now in the US where there's more groups coming in and diversity is increasing and what we're seeing is some of the more privileged groups are resistant to some of the new voices that are entering the room. And I think moving forward, I think part of what is the divisiveness and what we need to do as a country is just accept that there are new voices and to not let fear be the reason for why we cannot connect or come together as people. So I think the fear is what's driving a lot of the divisiveness. And but I am hopeful and I'm optimistic that as people recognize the skills and the unique abilities that different groups bring, I think that the divisiveness can diminish. Thank you. And moving to Dia, Dia is originally from Syria and she moved to Abu Dhabi. Now she's a shaper with Abu Dhabi Hub. Dia, in your opinion, there is this conflict that's happening in Syria and there's a lot of after effects because of the conflict that's coming out. What are some of the challenges that youth typically face in your region, generally in the Middle East? I think the main problem is lack of education and lack of inclusion. We've witnessed a wave of extremism and extremist leaders basically recruiting the youth and this is because there's lack of education. These youth do not feel like they're involved in anything. Like their life is worth nothing. So I might as well join this organization that will make me feel like, just exactly like we feel part of a family here, to them, that's their family. But imagine the difference and it's not only affecting Syria or the Middle East or the Arab world, it's affecting the world. So I think, yes, and extremism has, we all know they have a hard power but they also have a soft power where they take advantage of the vulnerabilities of the youth and especially at times, at difficult times and then they recruit them, they make them feel like they matter, they're part of something. And of course, there's the economic reason which is very understandable at these times. Thank you. So in the second round, we're going to ask all of you one question and I would start with Akil and each one of you, if you can answer for the same question, keep it as crisp as possible. So Akil, you're identified as one of Huffington Post's 50 most influential activists in the refugees space. What inspires you? What are your deeply held values and what inspires you to come and make a change in this world? Yeah, it's a hard question but I think it's easy to answer. And I know I can't get off this stage without mentoring shapers love. I promised to say this but it's actually also what I really believe in. Not only the people in this room but whenever we try to do a positive change in our community, we get something back. And even if you don't get it back immediately, we'll get it back eventually at some kind of point. And I really want to raise one of the sentences that Yemi told me in Shape Europe last year. He was telling us that shaping is not about when you have the mic, like I have it right now or like when you're in the spotlight but it's about the hard work that you do when you're actually in the community when no one is watching. And I think that pays off and it will come back at one point. Thank you, Nadia? For me, I think there are three big things. Again, it's integrity, purpose and a strong sense of social justice. I've been a gender activist for such a very long time and unfortunately my work is still far from finished because we live in a world that's not equitable. And so every day I wake up making sure that this day is better than the day before and that I create a world that my children won't have the same problems that I have, hopefully. And that they'll be living in a more equitable and free society. Thank you. Good morning. I think what feels my life is the ideal of freedom or the feeling that you can do or be anything. I think about my ideal day would be simply waking up and just asking myself simply what do I wanna do today and being able to do that. But I'm not comfortable being able to live that life or having a life full of that ideal day until social justice, until freedom is universal and felt by all people. And I think I'm fortunate with the work that I do now to work with a lot of undergraduate students and to be able to see and witness. And I just, I love to watch when their minds become freer and they're discussing how or the possibilities that they didn't even think were possible. And I think that's powerful and it's inspirational for me to see. Thank you. Dia? Well, I'm passionate about breaking stereotypes and fighting ignorance. I feel with my background I hear a lot of stereotypes about my country, about my region, about my religion. There's a lot. And funny enough, I happen to be the first Syrian a lot of people meet. So imagine the responsibility. Rocío is one of them today in Mexico. I was the first Syrian she meets. Actually, I could have been today on a boat in the middle of the sea, trying to find safety, trying to run away for a better place. I could have been in a refugee camp and met Akil. But instead I'm here and I'm representing a city that opened its doors for me and that gave me a dignified life, which a lot of my fellow Syrians do not have and they're far from achieving. So yes, I'm gonna work a lot to break stereotypes to show the truth of what we are really and what we can achieve. And I really, really, really need your help and for us as a whole as a community to show this. Thank you. Yeah, integrity, breaking stereotypes. These are definitely values that global shapers stand for. Thanks all of you for sharing your personal values. We are moving to the next round, which is the last round and each one of you have like approximately 90 seconds to answer my questions. So I'll start with Dia again. What's your message to the current generation of leaders, beat in business or politics, not just in your country but globally? What responsibilities and duties do they have to the two billion youth in the world today? I go back to my first point, providing education and inclusion and opportunity. When I think extremism comes from lack of education and lack of opportunity. So governments need to really focus on these two in order to bring back the youth. For example, in the Middle East, in the MENA region, we have 60% of the population under the age of 40. So there's a huge opportunity that we can take advantage of. So yes, these two points, I really, really stress on them. And as Adrian said, I mean, all basically government or private sector, there's something missing, which is the youth voice. And if the past five years proved anything, despite all the chaos that happened, that youth has a voice and they want people to hear it. And we are just hearing youth voices already. So we have to thank World Economic Forum for that. Amani, same question for you. Like what is your message to the current generation of leaders? I think when I think about my current message to, my message to the current leaders is, I think a lot about my grandfather. And in my mind, he's someone that, whether it was 1930, 1950, 2016, or it could be 2050, he could adapt. And so, and he was able to change with the time. So that's a lot of what my message to the current leaders is be able to be adaptive and to recognize or acknowledge that the way things are being done, or you're doing them, don't have to be the way they're done forever. Secondly, I also think that my message to the leaders would be to challenge what is deemed impossible. And what I mean by that is, frequently we as people state, or we have ideas about what is possible. And, but what is possible sometimes perpetuates power and privilege. And so to be able to challenge what is possible. And I think the group that does that with the most ferocity is the youth group. They are the ones that are asking the questions of the, but why, but why, why is this happening? And I think to any leader, not only is the skill of listening critical, but particularly listening to a group of over 2 billion youth that aren't yet ready to accept what is deemed impossible. Thank you. Now, Nadia, let's kind of shift the question. What are our responsibilities as young people to work with existing leadership structures to create the positive change that we want to see in this world? You know, for the longest time, I didn't want to work with existing structures, partly because I'm anti-structure, but also because I just felt that there was so much bureaucracy and red tape involved and they were so inefficient. But now that I'm older and hopefully a little bit wiser, I realize that it takes both working in from within and externally. So it's great to stand with your ballboard and pick it outside, but it's equally important to take a seat at the boardroom table and make your voice heard and be part of that change because if the system is broken, there's no use of standing on the sidelines and complaining about it. We actually need to get in there, roll up our sleeves and actually help to be the solution and fix it. And when we're part of the solution, we're able to mold it in a fashion that makes sense for the next generation to come. Be part of the solution. That's a very, very powerful thought. Akhil, what are your thoughts on that? Well, I completely agree. It's really about not leaning back and really just complaining about what the current leaders do, but actually to step in and do the same thing. I recall one of the models of our chancellor in Germany, Angela Merkel, who says or has been saying the whole year, wir schaffen das, which is a very German way of saying yes, we can or basically we can achieve this. And the emphasis is on we, the community. It's not we the politicians, the bureaucracies or the leaders, but it's us, it's every one of us. And yeah, but if the change is not there, I guess we need to trust them in our society, in our strength and I want to end with one quote, which really struck me in the last couple of days. It's, why is a bird not afraid or doesn't have fear to fall from a branch? Well, it's because it trusts in its own wings. It might be cheesy, but it actually believes that it will lift off when other things break down. And I think we as the community, as the global shapers, need to have that strength to believe in ourselves that even if the time is not right, the change will come and we can achieve that. Awesome. The bird story is quite powerful. Okay, so we heard from these four curators on what are some of the issues that are going on in the respective context. Amani was talking about misinformation and also he was talking about instant discourse. Akil was talking about how viral news just gets spread so fast. Nadia was talking about the, if you don't have the right platform, how youth will get frustrated, leading to protests and scandals. They also spoke about some of their values. Dia spoke about breaking the stereotypes. Amani was talking about integrity. These are values we also embody. And as we were thinking of what is our responsibility as young people to work with leaders and what are our expectations for leaders, there were some several interesting thoughts. Like how do we change the system both internally and externally? Nadia was talking about giving youth a voice, giving a seat at the table and making them being part of the solution. These are very, very critical things. And the last one, Akil, what you shared around trust yourself, the wind will change and we can achieve. I think these are fantastic words and thanks for all your insights and bringing this local context alive. And that's how global shapers engage in discussions, share their perspectives and add value in any interaction that happens across the world. Thanks so much for joining us today.