Week 13: Global Leadership Forum

2014 Global Leadership Forum was held in Washington D.C. from November 2-6. All the Humphrey fellows from 16 campuses got together in DC. There were 171 fellows from 98 countries!

The event was organized by the IIE and there were many events we attended, such as the dream-like visit to the National Geographic Society or the grand reception at the Department of State where I met Mario Skunca, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Croatian Embassy and Maja Cakarun, 2013-14 Humphrey Fellow from Croatia.

The topic of the GLF was climate change and resilience and each campus gave a presentation. For the occasion we had  T-shirts made with a print of a photo of all of us in the woods of West Virginia and Brinda and Muhammad,  who delivered the presentation, rocked!

The GLF was also a great opportunity for us to meet with representatives from local organizations and talk about the possibilities of doing our professional affiliation in their organizations at the end of the Humphrey year. It was a huge pleasure and honor to talk about my PA with Dr. Cheryl Williams, Executive Director of the Learning First Alliance and Dr. Helen Soule, Executive Director of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.

Excellent speakers were invited to the GLF. The most powerful and inspiring talks were those given by Dr. Gary Weaver on culture shock and by the Humphrey Alumni Shanta Nagendram and Agnes Igoye. The highlight of the conference was Sharing Cultures during which the fellows performed traditional songs and  dances from their countries. It was a cultural trip around the world.