Making the world a better place today and into the future is a task that is not lost on the leaders of tomorrow.
Those future leaders, who are making their mark in the present, will gather on Saturday for a youth conference as part of the Atlantic Council for International Co-operation (ACIC) global change initiative.
Waterford Valley High student Katherine Dibbon was recently appointed as the Newfoundland ambassador for ACT for Global Change, and as part of her work with the organization was tasked with organizing the conference, which will run from 9 a.m. to 12 noon at Waterford Valley High in conjunction with International Development Week 2018.
The conference, titled Partners for a Better World, will focus on the United Nation’s sustainable development goals and social justice issues.
As part of the conference, Dibbon has secured two guest speakers —Ryan Murphy and Patrick Handrigan.
Murphy is a 20-something who works at the intersection of technology, psychology, design and the application of those disciplines to the advancement of education.
He uses design and systems thinking to search for strategic opportunities for change. Murphy’s work is collected at nervouslightning.com and systemic.design.
He works at Memorial University as a student leadership development co-ordinator and is currently pursuing a PhD in management (information systems).
Handrigan is a Grade 12 French immersion student at O’Donel High School in Mount Pearl. Last summer, he had the incredible, eye-opening opportunity to travel to Uganda with the Atlantic Council for International Co-operation to participate in a three-week youth-leadership tour.
While in Uganda, he visited Mennonite central committee partners who are working in the country to bring about a positive change through peaceful initiatives. He is looking forward to sharing his Ugandan experience.
Dibbon is one of four Atlantic-Canadian youth — one from each province — who are selected annually as ACT 4 Global Change ambassadors. Collectively they work to build leadership and facilitation skills, learn about global issues and build connections with each other. By doing so, they get better informed and get inspired to take action on global issues.
Throughout the year, each ambassador volunteers in their respective community, delivering global citizenship workshops for children and youth, working alongside local international co-operation practitioners, and taking ACTion on the global issues that matter to them the most.
