WiseDemo Campaign 2022 Proposal Presentation Successfully Held

In his quest to enhance global collaboration on poverty alleviation, an Indonesian researcher decided to shared China’s poverty alleviation journey with the world through a documentary. A young Bangladeshi doctor planned to build a medical resource-sharing platform during the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing countries together to fight against the epidemic and to address global public health issues. A young Dutch magazine editor proposed that landscape design can integrate waste incineration facilities into a city, thus reducing carbon emissions from waste transportation. These are among the many inspiring, dynamic and diverse stories that WiseDemo Campaign 2022 has brought to the forefront.

Poised to solicit innovative proposals on global development, the WiseDemo Campaign 2022 received more than 100 proposals from youth hailing from 44 countries and regions around the world, and covered 5 topics: poverty reduction and inclusive development, COVID-19 fight and public health, climate change and green development, innovation drive and digital economy, open cooperation, and interconnectivity.

Focus on Dialogue and Mutual Learning

A key initiative of Global Young Leaders Dialogue (GYLD), the second WiseDemo Campaign was held in July 2022. Under the theme “Global Community of Development”, this event aimed at engaging youth from diverse backgrounds on issues of global development and pooling young people’s insights and suggestions.

At the WiseDemo Campaign 2022 Launch Event, Yu Tao, Deputy Director of China International Communication Group and Wang Huiyao, President of Center for China and Globalization, highlighted the significance of engaging youth on global issues. Mr. Yu emphasized that development is the everlasting pursuit of human society, and the WiseDemo Campaign will leverage youth’s wisdom to enhance global development. Dr. Wang discussed how the exchange of ideas and increased cooperation among young people on issues of global governance are important for global dialogue. In WiseDemo Campaign 2022, fifteen experts from China and abroad from universities, think tanks, international organizations and other institutions elaborated on opportunities and challenges to enlighten youth on critical global issues.

In April, a capstone presentation was held online in which authors of the 43 proposals that passed the primary round of assessment met online and exchanged ideas with mentors on the innovation and feasibility of their proposals. Those who passed the capstone presentation also received one-on-one guidance from mentors on how to polish their proposals to make their ideas more actionable and impactful.

The final round, the WiseDemo Campaign 2022 Proposal Presentation was recorded in the Metaverse, and went live on multiple platforms worldwide in July 2022, attracting tens of thousands of views and widespread appreciation.

Innovate Mechanism to Empower Youth

Compared with last year, the WiseDemo Campaign 2022 has introduced more innovative methods to engage and empower the participants.

Firstly, as compared to WiseDemo Campaign 2021 when mentors only gave feedback during proposal assessment, in the WiseDemo Campaign 2022 experts from different fields shared expertise and answered questions from youth throughout the event. This was a process where teaching and learning reinforced each other and youth found mentors’ guidance rewarding. In return, mentors also obtained brand-new ideas and perspectives from the submitted proposals.

The second innovative change of the WiseDemo Campaign 2022 is that outstanding proposals were granted research funding for further improvement. An award ceremony for the top ten excellent proposals will be held at the Annual GYLD Forum later this year, offering scholarships and bringing media exposure to help these proposals become a reality.

Additionally, the WiseDemo Campaign 2022 adapted formats warmly welcomed by youth. For example, WiseDemo Campaign 2022 Proposal Presentation was held in the Metaverse, an up-to-date technology. All participants, leaders, mentors, and youth used their avatars to participate in the Proposal Presentation, which was new, advanced and futuristic.

“This is an adventure with new technology!” said Jonas Wolf, a German youth, “I like this form of innovation very much, and I also feel the spirit of GYLD. Thank you for establishing a platform like this for global youth.”

The WiseDemo Campaign 2022 Proposal Presentation went live on Bilibili and other platforms where young people sent bullet screens to interact online. Mabel Miao, Founder and Secretary-general of GYLD, mentioned in her concluding remarks that WiseDemo Campaign 2022 Proposal Presentation aims to encourage more young people to think globally, care about humanity, and bring about fresh ideas to global issues. And GYLD Secretariat will keep working hard to build a unique platform for communication, education, and professional development for global young achievers with diverse backgrounds across the globe.