As part of the British Council's pioneering Global Changemakers initiative, a selected group of young people will represent the voice of their generation when they meet G20 leaders on April 1-2 and discuss the implications of the current global financial crisis and how it affects their own countries. It is the first time that young people have been asked to give their recommendations at a G20 conference. From Saudi Arabia, Yazeed Al-Mujali, a 22-year-old teaching assistant at King Saud University, will participate in the London Summit as a part of a group of 20 young activists in the British Council's Global Changemakers network representing their ideas for the solution of the present economic crisis, Mr. Ahmed Menyawi, Media and PR Manager at the British Council, told Saudi Gazette. The young representatives will present recommendations to G-20 leaders on how best to mitigate the impact of the global financial crisis. Al-Mujali, who was born in London and returned to Saudi Arabia after finishing his A levels, will share his experiences at the G20 conference with a wider audience including schools and students worldwide. “In the week preceding the London Summit, he will meet other Changemakers in Greenwich, UK, for four days of intensive workshops with financial experts and policymakers to shape the recommendations they will make to G20 leaders,” said Menyawi. “The British Council is the United Kingdom's international organization for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We build engagement and trust for the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people worldwide,” he said. The Global Changemakers are a select group of youth (between the ages of 16 and 25) who have demonstrated a significant track record of achievement in their local communities through social entrepreneurship, community activism, and voluntary work. “The youth are part of a global network through which they share knowledge, ideas and best practices, while working individually and together on projects that directly impact the lives of those in their local communities,” Menyawi said. “In addition, each year, a select group of Global Changemakers is chosen to participate in high level political and economic events, such as, the G20 conference, to act as advocates and to raise decision-makers' awareness of key issues on the global agenda,” he explained. Founded at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2007, Global Changemakers have partnered with and participated in World Economic Forum events (in Davos, Sharm El-Sheikh, and Cape Town), as well as the Clinton Global Initiative, and the Global Humanitarian Forum. Individual supporters include HM Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan, former US President Bill Clinton, and the British actress Emma Thompson. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown serves as Patron of Global Changemakers, Menyawi added.
