Partner universities

More than 1650 students, from total of 114 countries, have gone through our program. The IYLC was influential and helpful in various aspects of their academic and professional careers. These are their stories!

April 2007

Fresh back from his experience at the 12th IYLC conference in Prague, Australian student Tim Quadrio has been asked by his university to lead a student disaster response team to Thailand in July.

The team will spend three weeks in the Khao Lak area of Southern Thailand, working with a local NGO to reconstruct houses, teach in schools and assist the community get back on their feat following the tsunami that struck them two years ago.

Tim was a member of the first team sent by Macquarie University to the area in the months following the tsunami in 2005. Since that time the university has established a strong relationship with the region; sending a professor there to teach the locals about disaster recovery, assisting several projects financially, and now sending a second team of students back. Tim is excited to be leading this team of twenty of his fellow students, in what will be a life changing experience for all involved.

Armed with the leadership skills he developed at the IYLC conference in Prague, Tim is confident he will lead his team well, saying "this is going to be a character test for each one of us going to Thailand, it's going to be hard work, but working together with the Thai people will make our service very rewarding".

The program is one of a number of volunteer programs run by Macquarie University every year. Macquarie's volunteer programs co-coordinator Ana Paula Ruiz says "if by sending more students to IYLC we get more leaders like Tim, we're going to make sure we send plenty more students to Prague in the coming years".

Tim and his team leave for Thailand on the 28th of July.

August 2007

Here are some photos from Tim's mission.

Posted in October 2007

"The IYLC has been my first international conference ever.

In 2004 I founded Youth Action for Change, a global, youth-led organisation harnessing the power of ICTs to empower young people worldwide to become active changemakers in their own communities.

YAC has been the first organisation of its kind, and because of its groundbreaking programs empowering young people in some 120 countries around the world, we have received several awards and praises from organisations the likes of the UN, the World Bank, Ashoka, Nokia, Oxfam, Associated Press, the Council of Europe and many more (www.youthactionforchange.org)

As of this year, follwoing elections, I also coordinate the Youth Caucus at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development."

Posted in October 2007

“In my view, IYLC is a big network of like minded friends whom I will always cherish as we walk our different paths. I’ve learnt lots in adapting to different cultures.”

An exchange to Yonsei University in South Korea was next after Joshua’s trip to the IYLC. During the 5 months in Korea, he made numerous contacts in the university and business community. In addition, he managed to witness senior management activities and was part of a team in a business deal with a large conglomerate.

“IYLC was a stepping stone in helping me to be more flexible and observant. It enabled me to be more exposed to diverse situations and to me, it acted as a “precursor” to harder circumstances. I’m glad that IYLC prepared me well. Looking back, I’m really amazed by what I did because I am still an undergraduate!”

Joshua is currently interning at Credit Suisse in Singapore. Thereafter he will head to Thailand during December to visit friends whom he met during the community expeditions which he had led for the past 2 years. He has 2 more years to go at Singapore Management University thus he would like to remind everyone that he is still young.

By Kristina Razahova
Posted in October 2007

"I would like to share with you some of my impressions that were gained as a result of my participation in International Youth Leadership Conference this summer. First of all this event made me travel all the way from Central Asia to the wonderful place, heart of Europe-Prague. It is really hard to think of any better places where students from all over the world could gather up, enjoy the nature, travel around, and learn so much about politics, law, and different cultures at once. I have to say that 14th IYLC was in actual fact successful event. Thanks to all organizers and facilitators, those five days of the conference left so many memories in my heart and gave me so much knowledge that later on will be applied into practice in my academic and professional development.

The variety of topics and the great number of participants made the conference to be very productive, informative and intensive. While I was preparing for the conference back in Turkmenistan, I tried to build a “towel of personal expectations”, because it was the first time when I was a part of such a big international event. And now, I surely can state that my “towel of expectations” did not collapsed, but it even became stronger and taller because all my expectations matched the reality and plus the impressions now were added to the top of it. The main accomplishment for me was to gain as much information and experience as possible about the United Nations, International Criminal Court, and European Union Parliament. IYLC game a chance to study it in warm atmosphere, in a really diverse community, by communicating with young representatives of the state fact to face.

Therefore, being ambassadors from Turkmenistan, and representative of American University in Central Asia, I have done my best to use every minute of the conference to learn as many new leadership techniques as possible that were actually already used for the sake of our local community. Upon my return, I together with my colleague Ahmed Hojayev, led several presentations on IYLC, teaching other about UN, ICC, and EU Parliament. The events were conducted at the OSCE Center and U.S. Embassy/Public Affair Section in Ashgabat according to their requests. Also, experience and knowledge that I have obtained at IYLC helped me to direct one of the big events in Turkmenistan this summer, Professional Development Training for young leaders, the main idea of which was to describe leadership on international level and encourage others to strive for the best in future. Moreover, right now I am leading International youth community in American University in Central Asia-“World Club” where I would like also set up a similar event (but in a smaller scale, of course) for our university students in order to unite the diverse community of AUCA.

In conclusion, as a future diplomat, at this stage of my achievements, I would like to keep my work on contributing to the development of Central Asia societies, by organizing social events for youth. I believe that as many leaders we train as many opportunities we have to expand the inter-state bridge of cooperation in future."

Posted in November 2007

I finished college wanting to pursue a career in international relations and diplomacy. I shortly found myself taking a course on Czech language and economics under Charles University then I came across IYLC, applied and got accepted. The five days of the 6th IYLC in 2004 was another turning point for me.

IYLC brought together students from all over the world into one venue not only to share their cultures, experience and viewpoints but also to learn about different global developmental issues and come home more educated and aware of the dynamics of people, culture and what could be done about it. IYLC allows one to understand the issues at the global level and hopefully aid in understanding one’s local context.

I particularly learned from the simulations of international organizations like the UN Security Council and the ICC as it showed that these big entities are still made of people as we then discussed issues on the Balkan-Caucasus wars and the Indian-Pakistani conflict. The talks given by delegates from the Prague Institute for Global Urban Development impressed on me that poor communities not only reside in the countryside and there are a lot of efforts to be focused on urban poor as societies become more progressive. Our visit to the German embassy and the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs also gave us a European insight on the issues. Through IYLC, I realized that understanding global key issues is key, knowledge of how political processes work is important and that organizations provide a means to conciliate and/or nurture peace and development. After IYLC, I knew I wanted to do development work.

Back in the Philippines, I dabbled with all sorts of things including working for Czech Airlines and some trade activities of several foreign missions as I started my MA in Political Economy with a specialization on International Relations and Development. It was when I was working at the Canadian Embassy that an opportunity to do development work through volunteerism came up. I quit my job and from March – September 2007, I volunteered with the Global Xchange (GX) Programme of Voluntary Service Overseas and the British Council.

Global Xchange is a 6-month international cultural exchange between the Philippines (3 months) and the UK (3 months). The journey of accelerated learning under the Global Citizenship framework included diversity, globalization, poverty, community development, social action and volunteerism. Through GX, I did not only learn what is going on at the grassroots level but also gave six months of my life to the needy both in the UK and in Mindanao and complement what I knew of the issues with the actual situation on the ground.

The six months was very challenging yet very rewarding and worthwhile. In the UK phase I worked with Bradford Nightstop doing advocacy, fundraising and events organizing related to homeless youth accommodation and with the Anchor Project, I conducted a mapping of elderly services in Bradford and did advocacy on available social services and integration of Eastern European migrants with my work counterpart.

In the Philippines, I worked with Pakigdait, Inc. an interfaith grassroots peace building civil society organization based in Iligan City where I had was able to meet former MILF commanders in integration activities, observed in Muslim and non-Muslim integration activities at the societal and municipal level. I also worked at Hagdan sa Pag-Uswag (HSPFI), a microfinance NGO catering to homogenous groups of women and conducted a study on the economic, social and spiritual effect of lending facilities on their clients.

As the GX motto goes, “young people active in the community”, it provided an immense opportunity for young people to create positive change, to help in their personal capacities and take back what the community offers to inspire others to do their bit in their daily lives. What IYLC provided in terms of global issues, GX provided in a local level yet both under an international exchange umbrella.

As soon as GX ended, I continued my Master’s Thesis on Aid Coordination and Transaction Costs. By looking into the dynamics of donor institutions and the recipient governments, I’m able to learn more about international organizations do development work at the operational level. Hopefully, as I finish school this year, I’d be more equipped to contribute to the development efforts of young people all over the world. After all, the challenge is in reaching out to others in making the desire to act towards increased understanding of developmental issues and finding a means to act upon it a burning passion among others.

Link: http://www.vso.org.uk/globalxchange/

Posted in February 2008

The IYLC has been one of my best experiences ever in all my life. To begin with, I must say that it was my first time to travel all alone and get out of the continent where I live and arrive in such different place. The people I met were awesome and they are still my best friends ever. It's incredible to know that languages and religion are not impediments for making things in a right way for the benefit of the entire world. I also learned that it's our responsibility to be good leaders in our own lands and try to forget differences between ideologies, cultures and different ways of thoughts. At the end, we all are humans and our integrity is responsible of every one of us.

Today, I'm very happy because the IYLC change me in a deep way and I have become a more conscious person and what is more important, I try everyday to spread these positive thoughts in the society where I live. You know that Mexico is not a reach country in an economical sense, but it has the need to show the world the value of its people. That is why I decided to help unfortunate communities since I came back from Prague; since then, I knew that it was my time for helping other persons and show them what I learned during my stay. I realized this project as my social service and I focused in talks for kids and activities with them. Its nice to think that I changed something inside their minds as my facilitator did to me in the IYLC.

In one-year I'm going to finish my studies in university and I'm planning to start my master degree and why not, even a PHD because I want to be prepare for what is coming, I don't know what it is but I'm pretty sure that my path is to be conscious that my nationality is very important but what really matters is to become a citizen of the world. I want to know people from different places, learn about them, listen to what they have to say and try to build a better world.

Nowadays, I am working in AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical company in where I help to develop organizational communication and internal campaigns. So work, school and family are not easy things to combine and sometimes a feel crazy about schedules and that kind of things but I'm very proud of what I'm doing.

I don't know you, but whoever is reading my own experience, I want to be clear about one thing: if you feel that you are not like all the guys that surrounds you and you have a special need to become into a leader that can guide your community to a better future. This is your chance, take it and show what you are capable to do.

Posted in March 2008

I am currently Research Associate, The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi. I am with the institute's Resources and Global Security Division, and am pursuing research on international energy flows, energy security and sustainable development. I am also involved with multi-stakeholder engagement on these issues. Prior to this, I was Project Associate, Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace (Foundation for Universal Responsibility), New Delhi where I was working on a conflict transformation program for scholars and practitioners from India and Pakistan, and studying India-Pakistan relations, gender and peacebuilding, and regional security.