One Young World’s influence is best exemplified by the stories of its delegates turned change-makers. Co-founder Kate Robertson recalls a poignant moment from a past summit, in which Crystal Asige — now a senator — shared her remarkable journey. “It’s so hard to choose because these people are so impressive,” Robertson remarks. “But one young woman that they had, Crystal from Kenya … It’s really humbling.” Asigeis visually impaired, but doesn’t let that stop her from serving in her home country.
And it doesn’t stop there. Take Canadian environmental scientist Kelcie Miller-Anderson, who founded WildAbility, an organization working to increase accessibility for people with disabilities in the environmental space, or fellow One Young World ambassador Mary Helda Akongo. She’s the Fundi Girls program manager at Fundi Bots, a group offering science lessons in Africa.
As One Young World continues to inspire and empower youth leaders worldwide, Robertson remains invested in her commitment to fostering a global community of changemakers. Through her tireless dedication and unwavering passion, she continues to shape a world where the voices of the next generation aren’t just heard but celebrated. With each pinch-me moment, Kate Robertson reaffirms the transformative power of youth leadership and the enduring legacy of One Young World.
“I think what’s fulfilling for me is when I see what attendance at the summits actually means to these young leaders,” Kate Robertson says. “The value and excitement they put on being there with some incredibly famous world leaders, but also what they derive from seeing the whole world physically in one place, is really … It’s a magic thing.”
When Robertson co-founded One Young World with David Jones in 2010, the humanitarian knew to plant seeds for youth to prosper and grow into the best versions of themselves.
“The work of the One Young World coordinating ambassadors around the world has always been extremely valuable to this community of young leaders,” Kate Robertson said in a video. “Because the coordinating ambassadors are there and doing such a completely brilliant job for everybody, we have growing communities of young leaders in every single country in the world, becoming increasingly important and moving up through the ranks of power in business, into government, running [nongovernmental organizations] and really developing a better world.
“This is thanks to all of the work these coordinating ambassadors put in to ensure that every young leader feels that they are part of a great purpose in creating a better world and part of a community that cares about them.”
From launching social enterprises to spearheading grassroots campaigns, One Young World ambassadors have proven that age is no barrier to creating lasting impact.
The Power of One Young World’s Summits
While One Young World offers a myriad of tools, resources, and programming to develop youth leadership skills, its annual summits are a significant factor in uniting these trailblazers from 190 countries and assembling the puzzle for achieving lasting solutions to community conundrums. From Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Munich, to Zurich, to Bangkok, One Young World’s summits have been priceless in impacting the lives of aspiring young innovators and entrepreneurs.
“Since the first summit in 2010, we are constantly having these young leaders come back here to the office to see us, tell us what they’ve done, write and say publicly how much being part of the community has meant to them, how it’s changed their lives,” Kate Robertson reveals.
It’s in those moments that she acknowledges she’s constructed a vision that has far exceeded any initial expectations. After the first summit, Robertson notes that she began to see the power of what they had started almost immediately.
“When we had the inaugural summit in London, as David said, we were absolutely overwhelmed by the caliber of leadership of the young people that we had there. One thing for which we were extremely ill-prepared was the notion that we would be having bidding host cities. We were just trying to work out who was going to host us next.
“But the truth was by the end of the summit itself, we had several young people in touch with us saying, ‘My city is going to bid.’ Then we had people coming in with official bids and we realized that we had an event on our hands whose importance was much more than we had actually dreamed.”
The Rising Demand for One Young World’s Leaders
“Amid a rising tide of populism and a deteriorating political climate in large parts of the world, One Young World ambassadors are taking a stand for a better future by actively building a fair and sustainable future for all,” Kate Robertson mentioned in One Young World’s 2023 impact report. “They are working across all [United Nations] Sustainable Development Goals to impact people, influence policy, and foster meaningful partnerships for change.”
“One Young World is not a talking shop,” Kate Robertson mentioned in a video. “One Young World is about action delivered.”
Despite all the accomplishments, the co-creator of One Young World is relentless in her pursuit of fostering future leaders.
“It is not enough to put voices at the table,” Robertson said in a Hub Culture Davos video. “We all have to be extremely careful about that as a practice. What I see all over the world is a lot of young leaders being patronized by older leaders.
“Older generations need to be cognizant of what they’re doing. It is not enough to patronize and to have people on the panel. What these young leaders are saying to all of us is scale and speed. They are integral to the goals process. Partner, collaborate, get governments on board and governments have got to act. We have to stop pretending they’re acting. They’re not.”
