British Council Youth call for 'Moral Capitalism' ahead of London Summit

He welcomed the concerns the group raised and challenged them to become the leaders of the future.

The 20 global Changemakers, one from each G20 country, handed a list of calls to the Foreign Secretary and asked him to circulate these to other delegations at the London Summit. Amongst the calls, they reminded the G20 leaders to keep a focus on long-term goals whilst solving the current crisis.

Asanda Dodi, one of the Global Changemakers, said "This is not about being idealistic but being realistic – the objectives we have set for our leaders are achievable - they are not something far-fetched."

Martin Davidson, Chief Executive of the British Council, said "I am very proud to see the British Council’s Global Changemakers here in London talking to leaders from across the political and business worlds ahead of the London Summit. At a time when we are facing one of the greatest global crises of our time, it is right to see these extraordinary young people explaining their views to our world leaders. It is they who will inherit the consequences of the decisions made today."

The British Council’s Global Changemakers are participating in five days of activities which tackle the big issues on the London Summit agenda. Their programme has included meetings with the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling and other key decision-makers in the current global economic crisis.

The group has been working with wider networks back home and online to discuss the issues young people are facing in the current global recession. They are blogging on their own sites and others, submitting content to the official London Summit site and meeting school students from across the G20 countries, including the UK, who are having their say through the BBC/British Council Cruncharama debate.

The Global Changemakers and school students are the only group of young people meeting various members of the UK government and others to present the voice of the next generation in the run-up to the London Summit.

Twenty UK school students, selected from the BBC/British Council Cruncharama debate, met Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, on Monday to discuss their G20 concerns, and those of the schools overseas that they partner through the British Council.

Amongst the issues that the group of school students presented were solutions to the current global economic crisis, its effects on people across the world and the importance of not diverting efforts away from combating climate change.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said "In today's world we all need to have a global perspective, and young people understand this better than most. It's vital that they have opportunities like this to share their views on the world's biggest challenges - whether it's the financial situation, the fight against climate change or the challenges facing developing countries. I welcome the chance to hear their thoughts and discuss their concerns before I meet with the world's leaders at the London Summit"

The British Council, the UK's international cultural relations organisation, is uniquely placed to bring these young people together, support their network and enable them to be heard more widely. We have worked for seventy-five years with young people across the world in activities ranging from school-links, higher education, English teaching, sport, climate change, arts and science projects.

For more information or an interview with a British Council spokesperson or one of the Global Changemakers, please contact Victoria Harrison Neves on Vicki.harrison@britishcouncil.org or 07961 346378 or Tony Watson on antony.watson@britishcouncil.org or 07899 978192

Video footage of the meeting with Foreign Secretary David Miliband is available from British Satellite News www.bsn.org.uk

Notes to editors

Founded by the British Council, the Global Changemakers are a global network of youth (between the ages of 16 and 25) who have demonstrated a significant track record of achievement in their local communities through social entrepreneurship, community activism, and voluntary work. Global Changemakers apply and are selected to become part of a global network through which they gain knowledge, share ideas and best practices. They work individually and together on projects that directly impact the lives of those in their local communities. In addition, each year, a select group of Global Changemakers is chosen to participate in high-level political and economic events, to act as advocates and to raise decision-makers’ awareness of key issues on the global agenda.

The British Council manages various school-linking programmes, on behalf of organisations including DCSF, DFID and the EU, which help internationalise the education of young people here and abroad, preparing them for a future in a globalised world and to compete for jobs in the global economy.

Celebrating 75 years in 2009, the British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations.

We work in over 100 countries worldwide to build engagement and trust for the UK though the exchange of knowledge and ideas.

We work in the arts, education, science, sport and governance and last year over 128 million people benefited from our projects.

We are a non-political charitable organisation which operates at arm’s length from government.

Our total income in 2007/8 was £565 million, of which our grant-in-aid from the British government was £197 million.