Young leaders champion global change with relaunch of Future Generations Leadership Accelerator

The launch of the Future Generations Global Ambassadors today (Thursday, March 16) will see the young leaders act as role models and champions of youth leadership in Future Generations leadership, helping to activate young people to become productive advocates in the growing global movement. 

This collaboration between Foundations for Tomorrow, and the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, sees the ambassadors, aged from 19-years-old, represent communities from all around the world – from Wales and the Republic of Korea to Canada, Ireland, India, Uganda and Germany. 

Each young ambassador comes with a broad range of leadership experience and expertise across sustainable development, long-term governance practices, futures, foresight and risk research. 

Making up the 25 includes the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales’ team members Najma Hashi, Partnerships and Networks Change Maker Support, and Jacob Ellis, Lead Change Maker for Public Affairs and International work, as well as members of the office’s Future Generations Leadership Academy. 

The Future Generations Leadership Academy is a group of 18-30 year-olds putting the Act into action in Welsh society – via creating future generations plans for their workplaces, mentoring Welsh leaders and informing the commissioner’s own work. 

From the Academy on this list of global changemakers is Philip Löf Jillesjö is a diplomat originally from Sweden, representing Wales in Brussels where he is the lead on Climate, Environment and Energy and Samer Karrar, an Integrated Masters Civil and Environmental Engineering graduate of Cardiff University, who is interested in sustainability and innovations to decarbonise transport systems to achieve net-zero targets. 

They join Ricardo Pineda, a climate action and decarbonization leader from Honduras, Taylor Behn-Tsakoza, Dene from the Fort Nelson and Prophet River First Nations in Treaty 8 Territory, Northern Canada, currently the Youth Representative for the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, and Sofía Bermúdez – a young education advocate from Argentina. 

The mandate of these ambassadors, who meet with the new Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, Derek Walker, today, is to share their vision for youth leadership in the future generations agenda with the commissioner, helping to shape the future of the Future Generations Leadership Accelerator. 

Anyone can access a free development programme – aimed at other young people seeking to build their understanding of future generations leadership. Across four modules, young leaders are guided through the fundamentals of future generations thinking, examples of future generations policy in practice from around the world and then coached through the creation of their own Impact Roadmap. 

Now, in its second year, the Future Generations Leadership Accelerator will look towards the Summit of the Future from September 22-23, 2024, with the ambition to empower and equip young leaders. 

The inaugural Future Generations Leadership Accelerator was designed and launched in 2022 to empower young people from around to take their places as future generations leaders. This first cohort had 345 young leaders from more than 42 countries around the world participate. Their contributions also led to the creation of the Contract for Our Future presented at Stockholm+50 which captured a powerful call to action for Member States to protect the interests of future generations. 

The Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales is collaborating on this project with Foundations for Tomorrow, a youth-driven Australian not-profit advocating for the advancement of future generations policy. 

Derek Walker, the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, said: “Young people are creating global change, like the action we need on the climate and nature emergencies to ensure we have a liveable planet for now and for future generations. 

“I’m excited about the role the Future Generations Global Ambassadors will play in building future generations thinking into decision-making right across the globe. 

“This is a result of seven years of learning in Wales – and sharing ideas and engaging with other countries to bring new learning to Wales so that we can drive even more impact to people’s lives via the Well-being of Future Generations Act.”

What young leaders had to say about the inaugural Future Generations Leadership Accelerator: 

“The future Generations Leadership Accelerator has been a whole new experience for me. Before this program, I had no knowledge such a movement ever existed. This program built my understanding & knowledge of this topic from a very basic to advanced level in a very interactive way. I loved the games most! I strongly recommend other young leaders to complete this program too” – Bangladeshi emerging leader 

“Yes, absolutely this is an amazing program, for me it is not only young people who should complete this program but our current leaders too. This program allows me to think a lot about my future actions and what will be my contribution to help future generations” – Burkina Faso emerging leader 

“I find the Future Generations Leadership Accelerator inspiring because the learning materials and games provide a new opportunity for me to practice my critical thinking and decision-making skills, this time with a long-term impact in mind. And I believe that other young leaders should participate in this program because it can provide us with ideas for pursuing impactful reforms and solutions to current and future problems” – Philippines emerging leader 

“I now feel confident to start advocating for my country to have a future generations commission” – Zimbabwean emerging leader 

“The Future Generations Leadership Accelerator was a great experience! The material was rigorous yet accessible. The self-paced format allowed me to finish each stage when it suited my schedule. I enjoyed meeting great leaders from all around the world and being part of a smart, motivated and inspiring community. I would strongly encourage any interested young people to consider registering for the Future Generations Leadership Accelerator in future.” – Australian emerging leader