Youth Leadership & Intergenerational Dialogues

The Club of Rome has established a global young leadership programme, based on three key areas – Education, Engagement and Action. This approach encapsulates both the value of nurturing future leaders through education – inspired by the Club of Rome’s core vision for a sustainable future for humanity and the planet – whilst recognising that this learning process needs to be leveraged and translated into concrete projects with genuine and lasting impact.

Giving a voice to youth

Through The 50 Percent (formally the Global Youth Engagement Program), the Club of Rome aims to ensure that the perspectives of young people are heard by policymakers, as well as business and academic leaders. The program is conducting listening sessions to collect the concerns, fears, and excitement of a diverse young generation and sharing this with policymakers and corporate partners at the local, regional, national, and international levels so they can better serve a new generation of consumers. The sessions are designed to better understand the areas of concern and excitement that young people aged 18-30 have about the future. To date, the Global Youth Engagement Program has hosted 48 Listening Sessions, with over 390 people and have collected 467 quotes.

The initiative is run by a collection of young people working in partnership with the Club of Rome and Penn State University’s Sustainability Institute. The program’s global reach enables it to work with additional partners in Africa, Argentina, Canada, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, and the US.

Psychological mastery training

In recognition of the challenges that youth leaders will face, while also understanding the benefits of developing psychological mastery and self-awareness, the intervention strategy of a psychological skills training program has been proposed. It is envisioned that the training will build emotional self-awareness and intelligence, support and encourage the demanding roles that youth leaders will undertake when acting as community leaders, while also preparing them to manage the distress of climate trauma and vicarious trauma exposure. A 10-week pilot program was launched for a small group of youth, and opportunities for expanding the program are being explored.

Sharing stories

The 50 Percent are establishing a digital magazine and a corresponding mentorship program, to create an international platform for youth to share their stories through art and writing, while also building upon their skills to confidently communicate about local and global issues. The goal is to empower young people and amplify voices that are often suppressed or overlooked through the development of an inclusive and diverse community of storytellers.