Purpose of the Common Futures Forum

A critical time of change and growth...
Crucial changes are impacting the social, economic, natural, and political states of communities in cultures throughout the world. The traditional challenges of development such as poverty and conflict persist with increased diversity, complexity, and rate of societal change. Technological and knowledge revolutions, demographic shifts, and a growing gap between those with economic power and those without create new needs and opportunities. These complex impacts are diverse and may vary by region, yet they all demand new forms of leadership with innovative solutions at all levels of society.

To respond to the changing state of the world, we now need a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs from all regions and sectors working in collaboration – people committed to solving social problems by unleashing new strategies of action for the public good. This is why the Common Futures Forum (CFF) concentrates on a certain philosophy of leadership: Think globally, Act locally.

Social entrepreneurship is a unique and effective approach to positive social development...

Our mission...
The Common Futures Forum encourages youth participation and action in development through supportive partnerships and an interactive network of young social entrepreneurs—leaders of social change seeking to connect innovative thinking with effective action for the betterment of our Common Future.
Within different individual efforts, many young people are engaged in promising and creative work worldwide. In 1998, the Global Meeting of Generations, a partnership of 16 international development organizations from various sectors designed to focus all generations in the pursuit of human progress, launched the pioneering program called the Common Futures Forum (CFF) in order to recognize and harness the work being done by youth. For further information on the structure of our partnership and the various programs of the Global Meeting of Generations, please visit our other Web site: www.idc.org/gmg .
The Common Futures Forum is the first global initiative to embrace the energy offered by young social entrepreneurs by creating an active network and fostering new partnerships across generations, social barriers and sectors. The CFF connects the knowledge, resources, and innovations of these individual young agents of social change into a synergy that catalyzes their activities for new levels of impact.
The CFF is a community of social entrepreneurs who:
connects their activities in a participatory network to strengthen the leadership of young people in development everywhere ;
contributes resources and technical support to reinforce and increase the long-term sustainability and impact of the CFF fellows’ programs;
creates a program of shared learning and outreach;
collaborates with other development leaders and organizations in implementing innovative initiatives of good social value;
carries out and works for programs to accelerate social development in their respective countries;
catalyzes their collective capacity to innovate by serving as peer examples of young leadership to inspire other young social entrepreneurs.

Our members…
The members of the Common Futures Forum were selected through a nomination process. Thanks to the worldwide effort of the partners of the Global Meeting of Generations, more than 300 nominations from 70 different countries were received. An international jury met in 1998 in order to select the best candidates. Sixty members from 42 countries were finally selected at the end of the year. To better know them and their work, please visit our Members page.
Social Entrepreneurs are people who have all the qualities necessary to make top business entrepreneurs but channel their energy and work for the public good...
CFF members are 18 to 30 years old and represent all areas of the world, from developed and developing countries;
They are both professional practitioners and thinkers of grassroots social development;
They are innovators, who do not hesitate to take risks, and entrepreneurs determined to improve the human condition;
They are community and grassroots leaders recognized in their various sectors for their work in sustainable development and service of others;
They are founders of organizations or new projects aimed at improving the quality of life and at motivating others, especially their peers, in their communities;
They encourage social entrepreneurship across all boundaries - culture, age, gender, nationality, and, sector;
They build intergenerational bridges in their local communities or on national and international levels, among various sectors and cultures.
Program: past and future actions…
The Common Futures Forum is a global network that embraces cultural and regional differences, interests, and action in various sectors. The unifying thread of this network is: Social Entrepreneurship.
As the CFF philosophy is “Think globally. Act Locally,” CFF members not only develop programs around the global topic of social entrepreneurship and youth, but also serve as individual and collective reflective practitioners. They organize action and '”think tanks” that address local issues relating to a certain area of the world or a specific branch of activity, such as the protection of human rights, employment, micro-credit, computers and technology, education, the resolution of conflict, the environment, civic participation, etc.
To help facilitate the process, this Internet site was developed. This site holds chat rooms or electronic “think tanks” for the CFF members to engage in discussion on these various issues, employing their collective experience. This site also helps broaden exposure to the CFF approach to leadership and share the fruits of the CFF members’ work with a wider audience, particularly other young social entrepreneurs throughout the world.


The Common Futures Forum is focused around 4 principal poles of action:
Workshops
A workshop bringing together the members of the CFF is organized annually. The first took place in January 1999 in Washington, D.C. with the collaboration of the World Bank and InterAmerican Development Bank. The members came together to better know each other and their work. They launched a joint effort in determining the future development of the program and created new links and partnerships with other significant actors in the development field, especially those who took part in the Global Meeting of Generations (www.idc.org/gmg).
The second workshop will be held in Pretoria, South Africa at the end of March 2000. This will be the opportunity to maximize their interactions, evaluate the first year of work, and collectively decide on the future actions and long-term sustainability of the network. The members will also take part in a training program to increase the impact of each member’s organization and/or program. This second meeting is organized in collaboration with IDASA (http://www.idasa.org.za/default.asp), a significant nongovernmental South African organization that aims at developing democratic institutions and principles in South Africa.
A third workshop is envisioned for 2001 to solidify the continuation of the program in future years and to institutionalize a new class of CFF members.
The CFF: a mediator among communities and international agents of the development.

One of the objectives of the CFF is to create new partnerships and co-operation among local activists and international development policy makers. The CFF members are thus engaged in events and activities in which interacting with other change-agents of various generations and cultures is key. Some of these events include their major role at the Global Meeting of Generations and the State of the World Forum, an international event bringing together leaders from all sectors, where the CFF was the largest delegation invited to participate in the Emerging Leaders Program.
Through their participation in such events, the CFF also seeks to promote the positive action of young people in their communities and organizations, and to show that the young should no longer be regarded as passive liabilities but rather as active, positive agents and assets for development.
The CFF seeks to forge alliances with other networks of young people throughout the world in order to generate the advantages afforded by exchanges of differing points of view and new dynamic ideas.
Thanks to the contacts developed so far, new co-operation and action plans are under way. One of the topics currently being worked on with other youth networks is the adaptation of information technology to social entrepreneurship and their local projects.
Information Exchange Center: To share our knowledge for joint action.

The Information Exchange Center, a new activity for spreading ideas and accelerating social change, is in the process of being developed. The Center will facilitate a systematic exchange of information and ideas among CFF members by Internet and periodic regional or international meetings. It will help distill best practices to be shared with other social practitioners—budding and established. Depending upon the financial resources available, the products of this exchange will be published in regular news bulletins and handbooks made for social entrepreneurs by social entrepreneurs.
The Information Exchange Center will mainly seek to develop new strategies aimed at overcoming limitations and generating models and action of integrated development especially at the community, grass roots level. This work will be valuable for the CFF members in their personal and professional growth, as well as for other young social entrepreneurs and organizations eager to know more about original youth actions and strategies for development.
Centers for Young Social Entrepreneurs - To develop the capacity of the Common Futures Forum.

Many CFF members are working on programs that value the “multiplier effect”. The principal objective of these activities is to identify and support young social entrepreneurs in a more systematic and global way. Each CFF member plays the role of mentor or peer example for other young people in their respective countries, encouraging them to become social entrepreneurs and set up innovative programs to accelerate the economic and social development of their communities. Right now, CFF members are performing a feasibility study aimed at creating national centers for young social entrepreneurs where specific training on management of an organization and various technical support would be offered to young people dedicated to creating their own development programs.


For more information, please visit the other sections of this site where you will a presentation of our partners, the profiles of the CFF members, and other useful resources for young visionaries with the entrepreneurial drive and creativity for social change.


© 1999, Common Futures Forum

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