Zug,02.02.2018

Speakers from Zug to Zimbabwe attend first ever Youth Forum Switzerland

Speakers from all over the world joined others from Geneva and more locally at the first ever Youth Forum Switzerland held at the International School of Zug and Lucerne last month.
 
The idea of holding such a conference emanated from a school trip last year to the Open Forum Davos, which takes place at the same time as the World Economic Forum (WEF) but can be attended by anyone. Having spoken with “global shaper” Cynthia Castro, pupils thought it would be a good idea for young people of central Switzerland to set up a forum where they, too, could discuss global issues and become more active in their locality. In addition to the 320 pupils of the ISZL attending this first conference, so too did 65 others from seven other schools, including the Stiftschule Engelberg in the canton of Obwalden, the Alpenquai Cantonal School of Lucerne, the Willisau Cantonal School, also in the canton of Lucerne, and the Montana Institute Zugerberg.
Planning for this event took almost a year, the organising team of 15 pupils and 14 members of staff of the ISZL also going to Geneva to present their idea at WEF’s headquarters there.
 
Among those who attended this first YFS were Scott Weber, the director general of Interpeace, an international peace-building organisation which works in cooperation with the United Nations, Michèle Mischler, the head of Swiss public affairs and sustainability at WEF, and Dolfi Müller, the mayor of Zug. In addition to these were 18 speakers from countries as far away as Burundi, Syria and Zimbabwe, along with eight others from the region.

The general theme at the conference related to “embracing diversity and empowering lives” with subjects such as “the government’s attitude to diversity”, “the workplace in the future” and “working with young people to create a more peaceful and inclusive society” among those covered at the talks and panel discussions, which were presented by the pupils themselves.