Our November started the best way possible: The Global Leadership Forum 2018!
We are 150 Humphrey voices from over 97 different countries spread in 13 Universities around the US. “Creating a Shared future” was the topic of 2018 GLF. The GLF lasted only four days, but it felt like a really long time, not just because of our very busy agenda but certainly, because it was a huge opportunity to meet new people and especially to listen and participate in so many different presentations and group discussions! Can you imagine the richness of 100 hours of conferences, meetings, and exchange to come up with a shared vision for our common global challenges?
Cohorts from different areas of expertise presented about some of the emerging challenges in their fields of work. Our group chose to talk about one of the major challenges for the Substance Use area – Drug Trafficking. Hanan, Marcelo and I developed a presentation focused on explaining the complexity of this theme nowadays! It was such a delightful moment! The interaction with the audience, full of experts in so many diverse areas, was the most amazing experience!
On the other hand, another pearl of the GBL was the regional group discussions. Over 3 consecutive days, all of us discussed our regions emerging challenges, proposing solutions for those. This gave us a unique opportunity to know and exchange with fellows from the same region in the world. My experience in the Latin America & Caribbean region was so exciting that the exchange of ideas resulted in the creation of a forum of discussion to be continued after the GBL!
The golden key was the U.S Departement of State Reception for all Humphrey Fellows at the Departement of State’s Benjamin Franklin Room! It was such a magical ambiance, only pictures can tell:
Definitely, those moments and memories are going to inspire us forever! The GLF will remain as an experience that is going to shape our future, for sure!
Nicola Worcman