Dennis Bayazitov | Assistant News Editor

Featured image: “People are more inclined to listen to you if you’ve listened to them.” | Courtesy of Clinton Global Initiative

Last month, Northeastern University hosted the 10th annual Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U 2017) conference in Boston, Massachusetts.

Through an online application process, 1,000 students from 80 different countries were selected to attend the conference. The collective attendees submitted over 5,000 proposals for change; 1,000 proposals were accepted, one of which belonged to Nazaneen Qauomi, a fourth-year Biology undergraduate, who was selected as a York student representative.

More than 1000 changemakers, global leaders, and social entrepreneurs were present. During the event, speakers—encompassing students, university representatives, topic experts and celebrities—shared and built on their respective Commitments to Action in CGI U’s five focus areas: Education, Environment and Climate Change, Peace and Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation, and Public Health.

“My contribution was a commitment to action proposal in the area of poverty alleviation,” Qauomi describes. “The commitment I proposed was to empower economies in developing countries, such as Afghanistan, through agriculture.

“CGI U provided us with tremendous opportunities to connect with students that have similar commitments. By listening to each other’s perspectives, ideas, and hope for the change, we all desired the confidence to turn ideas into action.”

Established in 2005 by former American president Bill Clinton, the CGI is an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, which aims to convene both global and student leaders to create and implement solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.

“CGI Annual Meetings have brought together 190 sitting and former heads of state, more than 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and members of the media,” adds Student Success Strategies Project Coordinator Saba Rafiq with the Student Success Centre. “To date, members of the CGI U community have made more than 3,400 Commitments to Action, which have improved the lives of over 430 million people in more than 180 countries.”

Participants were also offered a space to network with panelists who had already implemented their Commitments to Action—such as the likes of Jean Paul Laurent, CEO and founder of the Unspoken Smiles Foundation Global Dental Outreach efforts in Haiti, El Salvador, Romania, and Kurdistan.

“Behind every single smile, there’s an unspoken story,” Laurent reflected on his work.

Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun was another such speaker, who emphasized the importance of organizations to collaborate together for the end of reducing carbon emissions and the cultivation of climate change management strategies.

“The commitment you’re making and the problems you’re tackling cannot be solved in siloes,” Aoun said. “They cannot be addressed by individuals acting alone. We live in a global community that is connected by the free flow of ideas and by people working together. That interconnection unites us.”

Chelsea Clinton, the vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, encouraged students to be the change they wished to see in the world. “Changing the world for the better isn’t someone else’s business—it’s up to us,” she said.

“It was a great honor to be selected from York to attend the CGI U 2017,” Qauomi said. “Through this event, I have learned that there are lots of opportunities for other students from York. I would like more students to join.”

Rafiq elaborates: “I believe many York students—specifically, LeaderShape graduates—fit the criteria of what CGI U is looking for: ‘individuals who have innovative commitment ideas with concrete, detailed plans of action, passion, and energy for a global issue.’”

Clinton addressed the audience to imagine a world where no one wins unless everyone is empowered to win. “People are more inclined to listen to you if you’ve listened to them,” he said.

With files from Nazaneen Qauomi