The 2018 inaugural One Young World Summit, which took place in The Hague, International City of Peace and Justice, has created a new benchmark for the ever expanding One Young World (OYW) Ambassador community leading the world toward achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
This week, OYW released the highly anticipated Annual Impact Report for 2018, documenting the incredible impact of its network of talented young leaders accelerating positive change worldwide. As OYW prepares for the tenth annual Summit in London, its impressive Ambassador community has increased to a network of over 10,000.
The report documents a staggering social return on investment, with OYW Ambassadors delivering $13 of social value for every $1 invested. Since OYW's conception in 2010, Ambassador led projects have positively impacted 20.9 million people, with 3.4 million benefiting in 2018 alone.
The impact of the Ambassador community was measured using the Social Return on Investment methodology inspired by Social Value UK and devised following discussions with PwC. 50 projects were selected to reflect the geographical spread of the community and the aim to address each of the 17 UN Social Development Goals.
The report shines a spotlight a selection of business case studies, highlighting corporate partners as the market leaders in their respective fields. By partnering with OYW, corporate entities are paving the way in creating positive social impact by engaging their young, talented personnel to redefine what it means to be a leader in business.
Since the OYW Summit 2018 in The Hague, Delegates-turned-Ambassadors have been inspired to the turn the tide on plastic within the corporate sphere, with initiatives such as Shell’s Beat Plastic Pollution aiming to save 4.5 million bottles in its first year. The 2018 Summit helped to spark a global movement against single use plastics.
Among those featured are Buhler Group, Deloitte and Unilever, with Ambassadors creating change through intrapreneurship by launching innovative and forward thinking projects within their internal teams.
Business minded ambassadors and champions of sustainability have taken fresh perspectives gained at the Summit to design new ‘green’ products in line with modern consumer trends. One Young World Ambassador and Barclays employee, Luke Davies, is featured in the report as the driving force behind Barclay’s The Green Deposit - delivering environmentally sustainable financial services to the bank’s clients.
Other corporate case studies include the introduction of community focused projects such as the Facebook Social Entrepreneurship Award, Volkswagen xStarters and KPMG’s Black Entrepreneur Award.
The report looks back at the success of the 2018 Summit as OYW’s biggest Summit to date, with more than 40,000 applications received, over 1,800 delegates in attendance and 193 countries represented.
Of these, 352 were awarded Scholarship places, a 54% increase on the number awarded at the 2017 Summit in Bogota. Total worth attributed to the scholarship programmes was £1.3 million in 2018. The number of partner organisations sending delegates to The Hague climbed to 187, up by 32% on 2017.
The Summit, opened by H.R.H Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, was hosted by over 20 organisations at more than 30 locations across The Hague. Tribute was paid to the late Kofi Annan, who was instrumental in the leadership of OYW over the past nine years.
For those who were unable to attend, the Summit was live streamed via social media with people tuning in across the four days from 128 countries. The Facebook live stream was viewed 2.2 million times during the event, with over 11.3 million impressions achieved across all channels. #OYW2018 was trending in both the Netherlands and the United Kingdom during the Summit days.
OYW has cultivated existing partnerships and developed new ones to further promote and advocate for the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Over 200 partners have been working with OYW to drive change over the past year.
Lead2030, a new initiative formed by OYW and driven by a coalition of global businesses working together to accelerate youth-led solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals, received over 2,500 applications from over 110 countries. The programme will provide $500,000 to the most impactful initiatives, businesses or movements making tangible impact across 10 of the goals.
Vanity Fair also launched its Global Goals List in partnership with OYW, honouring those leading the charge to achieve the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Content partnerships were formed with select partners including Global Goalscast, Project Syndicate and The Fourth Group to showcase young expert voices in print and digital media.
OYW Ambassadors were recognised in 2018 by over 20 global outlets including, but not limited to, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, World Economic Forum, Obama Foundation, Forbes 30 under 30 and the Queens Commonwealth Trust.
Connectivity among the OYW community also continued throughout the year with over 40 events hosted in over 15 countries thanks to the community of 30 plus Managing and Coordinating Ambassadors.
Read the Full Report
