South African youth activist talks about his experience at the World Economic Forum annual meeting

In February 2008, the town of Davos in Switzerland welcomed the youngest-ever participants to the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting.  

The six young people, called the “Davos Six”, were chosen by 60 teenage activists to represent them at the meeting. They were Gillion Bosman (South Africa), Rhadeena De Alwis (Sri Lanka), Whitney Burton (USA), Juan Nascimbene (Argentina), Nick Henderson (Scotland) and Yunan Jin (China). Their ages range from 16 to 19.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting brings world leaders, business people and politicians together to discuss global challenges. The Forum, a not-for-profit foundation, also runs projects “which address issues like HIV/AIDS treatment, water supply and fostering dialogue … The Forum is ‘committed to improving the state of the world’.”

The Road to Davos project, in conjunction with the British Council, sought to incorporate the voices of young people around the world in the 2008 WEF meeting.

The project aimed to bring together youth activists “who wanted to set a challenge for world leaders. We looked for people who were willing to take responsibility for their future and, indeed, for their present.”

The Road to Davos team solicited applications from 50 countries using British Council offices. Candidates were asked to submit short YouTube videos on the theme: “Our future, our activism – your challenge”. Sixty teenagers from 43 countries were chosen to attend a workshop in Guildford, England in January 2008.

At the Guildford sessions, the participants were divided into regional groups and asked to discuss the biggest problems facing the world at present.

Bosman, from Cape Town, said he was honoured to be chosen as one of the Davos Six. A first-year student studying a Bachelor of Social Science degree at the University of Cape Town, Bosman is an accomplished 19-year-old activist. He has worked with the British Council office in Cape Town on the Identity and Diversity Project, a network of sub-Saharan youth who are “using arts to create social change in our communities”. Read more about Bosman and his extensive community work here.

Bosman says that at Guildford, the 60 youths went through communication exercises and workshops to learn how to “get an idea of what the 60 were thinking as a group and how to communicate those ideas to others”.

At the end of the week, each participant had to do a short presentation on a topic of his or her choice. Bosman chose to talk on the mobilisation of youth: “It was a message of encouragement to the Guildford 60 that youth activism is alive with possibility.”

A few days later, Bosman found himself walking into the WEF. “It was an overwhelming experience being at that kind of gathering. As you walk in you’re at the same level as presidents and prime ministers, high-profile business people. For us six, all under the age of 20, we thought: ‘Who’s going to listen to us?’”

Bosman says that the main message the 60 wanted to get across was that young people are not just “a rebellious cohort, consumers who are not concerned about the world. There are young people actively working in the community [who should be consulted].”

The Davos Six participated in an hour-long panel session entitled “Future Shifts: The Voice of the Next Generation”. The panel was chaired by Becky Anderson of CNN International, with former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata and actress Emma Thompson taking part.

According to Bosman, the panel was “a conversation with world leaders on what young people are thinking and what they’re doing – how they’re different from former generations.

“A lot of young people have lost faith in their leaders and the slow pace of change. We tried to bring that across. There are young people working on the ground, implementing what we’re talking about. We tried to change [WEF participants’] way of thinking, to encourage dialogue with young people.”

British Council Switzerland helped to co-ordinate the project. Global Youth Networks Manager Matt Kimmich says that working with the young activists was both humbling and fulfilling.

“The energy and passion of the group has been quite amazing. I didn’t expect young people would be this articulate and inspiring. The young activists weren’t naïve optimists; yet they didn’t let their awareness of all the obstacles that get in the way stop them from doing what they believe in. My hope is that at least some of the high and mighty in Davos – and beyond – will listen to what these young people have to offer.”

Bosman says he feels the Davos Six made an impact at the meeting. Since then, the Guildford 60 have committed to building a global youth activist network and forum where young activists across the world can assist each other. “We’ve made a commitment to help each other with problems, solutions and success in each other’s community projects.”

We are involved in a number of projects that help to empower young activists, artists and professionals. In the coming weeks, we will be looking at some of these projects in our news stories. To find out about upcoming events, visit our events calendar.