A Global Approach: Pitt delegates to One Young World Summit aim to translate big goals into realities

It was a Bangladeshi banker and economist—known as the “Banker to the Poor”—who ignited the passions of many in the audience during opening night of the One Young World Summit held Downtown from Oct. 18-22, according to a few summit delegates from the University of Pittsburgh. The summit brought an estimated 1,300 young people from 196 countries to Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pitt’s Nationality Rooms, and other sites across the city.

 Speaker Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh spoke about how he developed the concept of microcredit, or the giving of loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans, while he was an economics professor at Middle Tennessee State University and, later, at Bangladesh’s Chittagong University. He founded Grameen Bank in Bangladesh to implement microcredit lending. Yunus and the bank shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for their efforts.

 “Professor Muhammad Yunus may be the most inspirational speaker I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. He stated his original goals and humorously explained how he followed them to success mainly because of his ignorance of banking,” said Wasi Mohamed, a Pitt Honors College undergraduate who is triple-majoring in neuroscience, philosophy, and the history and philosophy of science in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. He was one of 10 University of Pittsburgh selected as delegates to the summit.

“This man won the Nobel Peace Prize among several other prominent awards, and he made it seem like all it takes is passion and pure stubbornness. Not only is his success an inspiration, but the way he depicted making that remarkable impact gave all the young leaders in the room hope for our own journeys,” Mohamed said.

 For student David Givens, it was another opening night speaker who made an impression: former President Bill Clinton. “He took questions from delegates on stage for nearly an hour, and spoke in impressive detail about a wide number of topics, from international sustainable energy production, to nations’ histories (and views) of foreign aid, to on-the-ground specifics about the progress and prospects of the Arab Spring in several specific countries,” said Givens, a third-year graduate student in religious studies, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, and president of Pitt’s Graduate and Professional Student Assembly.

 “His command of international affairs as it functions in conjunction with creative, effective philanthropy and humanitarianism greatly impressed the entire 1,300- member audience,” Givens added.

 And so it was that summit delegates—18-to-30-year-olds representing more countries than any other youth-dominated event except for the Olympics—listened and learned how big ideas can be implemented, small project by small project. Each year, the One Young World summit provides a forum for delegates to debate and formulate solutions for pressing issues the world faces in such areas as hunger, sustainable development, human rights, education, and leadership and governance. After the conference, all delegates become newly designated One Young World Ambassadors and they begin work on their own One Young World projects or support those already in existence.

 Several of the conference’s breakout sessions were held in the University’s Nationality Rooms on Oct. 20. Delegates attended three-hour sessions in the African, English, French, Indian, Japanese, Italian, Norwegian, Russian, Swiss, Turkish, Welsh, and Yugoslav Nationality Rooms. Topics of those sessions ranged from “Creating High Fashion Through Social Good—Recycling & Resettling” and “Unintended Consequences of Aid,” to “Sports and Society,” taught by nationally renowned sports historian Rob Ruck, a senior lecturer in Pitt’s Department of History.

 Among the summit’s Counsellors, who are experienced experts in their respective fields, was Pitt alumnus and trustee William E. Strickland Jr. (A&S ’70), president and chief executive officer of Manchester Bidwell Corporation as well as recipient of the 2011 Goi Peace Award from the Goi Peace Foundation in Japan and, in 1996, a MacArthur Foundation “genius” award. In addition, Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary General and a recipient of an honorary doctorate in public and international affairs from Pitt in 2003, addressed the summit on Oct. 21.

 The Pitt students who were named delegates to the summit are natives of Denmark, Jordan, Libya, Thailand, the United States, and Uruguay. A list giving their names, schools, and native countries follows.

• Osama Yousef Alshogran, a third-year graduate student in the School of Pharmacy; Jordan.
• Pattarapa Boon-Im, a second-year graduate student in the Swanson School of Engineering; Thailand.
• David Coogan, a second-year student in the School of Law and a former U.S. Marine; United States.
• David Givens, a third-year graduate student in religious studies, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, and president of Pitt’s Graduate and Professional Student Assembly; United States.
• Wasi Mohamed, an undergraduate triple-majoring in neuroscience, philosophy, and the history and philosophy of science in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, and president of the Resident Student Association; United States. 
• Mumen Hussein Ramadan, a graduate student in the Swanson School of Engineering; Libya. 
• Zoe Samudzi, a junior majoring in political science in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and a member of the undergraduate Student Government Board; Zimbabwe.
• Florencia Nin Vaeza, a graduate student in the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business; Uruguay. 
• Ruben Sindahl, a graduate student in the School of Law; Denmark.
• Khalil Mohd Yousef, a doctoral student in the School of Nursing; Jordan.