Could the Future Team Movement and Network International Youth Organizations Form the Foundations for Alterglobalization?
KEY CONCLUSIONS
The youth should influence global decision making
“We can and should not only show our views, but also influence the decisions made by our senior politicians. Our organization has an ambitious plan of taking over global youth leadership,” Alexey Spivakov, International Block Coordinator, Future Team.
“We should have a say in the decisions made by our colleagues, we should take part in the activity of our national leaders, and we should be an indispensable part of decision making all over the world,” Francine Furaha Muyumba, President, Pan African Youth Union.
“Future Team Initiative is a critical tool for cooperation. It helps young people today become leaders in the future. <…> It is extremely important to stay in touch with each other, since it is a global international forum,” Samy Naguib Samy Ammar, International Relations Specialist, Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Arab Republic of Egypt.
Future Team offers alternative ways of globalization
“Future Team is a wonderful team that offers alternative ways of globalization,” Imad Rizk, President, Isticharia for Strategic and Communications Studies.
“In many countries one can feel the consequences of a certain unification in different spheres – social, economic, political, and cultural. Unfortunately, it is impossible to resist this globalization movement, but we can influence it,” Angelina Tomashuk, Curator, Middle East and Europe, Future Team.
“Alterglobalization offers possibilities for creating a different world. Do you believe in such a possibility? I do. I believe a different world is possible. <…> The Future Team movement, the Russian Government, and everyone in this hall have shown their commitment to our cause, their will to unite the youth all over the world, and their desire and aspiration to achieve and develop a consistent agenda,” Alex Njuguna, Chief Information Officer, Cabinet Affairs Office, Presidency of the Republic of Kenya.
It is necessary to strengthen cooperation among youth organizations
“Such conversations and dialogues help create a good environment for cooperation. <…> During such forums, we should propose joint initiatives and projects and involve as many participants as possible keeping in mind needs and requests – those realistic things that we can actually accomplish,” Miriam Hinthorn, Operations Manager for US, Consortiq Limited.
“In Brazil, we have a certain experience in conducting World Social Forum. This is one of the first organizations that started discussing consequences of globalization, so we have a lot of materials. We hope that we will be able to use it within the Future Team platform,” Michael Susin, Journalist, National Federation of Brazilian Journalists.
“It would be very interesting if there was an international programme like internships or international exchange, so that we could learn about other countries and organizations. We could probably invite people from other countries. <…> In the USA, we could help many people from other countries develop joint projects – it would be of great interest to all youth movements,” Robert Willard, student, Columbia University, New York.
PROBLEMS
Lack of experience in joint work
“Not everyone is capable of turning their ideas into reality, so we have to learn it by acquiring leadership skills. It is crucial for young people, since we have little experience and we need to get it, <…> learn to work in a team, including an international team,” Monika Lionaite, Foreign Affairs Coordinator, Disrupt Synergies AB.
The number of active movement participants is going down
“There is a question of how many participants of Future Team still work actively in this area. I think, that this number has decreased, or maybe not everyone was able to come, which is a different problem,” Monika Lionaite.
“While the Future Team movement has thousands of members, only very few of them could come and voice a common for every Future Team member opinion at our panel discussion here,” Angelina Tomashuk.
SOLUTIONS
Development of innovation projects
“It is necessary to develop real projects if we truly want to be the team of the future. <…> In Belgrade, we’re building a creative ecosystem for technological development. <…> In June 2015, in Belgrade we founded a science and technology park with the support of the government and Belgrade University. During last year, 64 companies, that earn about USD 14 million by using innovative approaches, have come to the park,” Dragomir Petronijevic, Member of the City Council, City Administration of the City of Belgrade.
“As International Council of Tunisia, we have established a division of the Future Team movement in Tunisia. 25 cities have already stared their business projects, in order to take part in our movement,” Oussama Zebda, Founder, Future Team Tunisia.
Participation in educational system modernization
“It is necessary to attract young people, who would contribute to modernization of educational system. <…> In Serbia, we try to establish creative spaces to implement specific projects. We hope to provide Future Team with a platform as well. <…> Online-platforms and their use in education is something that every country should be developing,” Nikola Srdić, Head of International Cooperation Office, Students' Union of Serbia.
Lobbying the movement interests in the sphere of politics
“All decisions that we take need propaganda – we should fight for them and promote them instead of just having them on paper. They don’t mean much for the governments in many countries, that is why we should learn to manoeuvre also in politics and continuously involve in lobbying and promoting our movement in bureaucratic offices of our countries,” Africa Joseph, Chief Operations Officer, BRICS Journal.
Developing a new communication strategy of the movement
“We should also communicate within digital platforms, since there is no better way to promptly get in touch with anyone in a different country. <…> in other words, we have to develop such communication strategy for our future team – for the Future Team,” Africa Joseph.
