4 days and 99 Friends from the Commonwealth

Our guest blogger this week is Izzah Jomari from the Brunei Economic Dvelopment Board who was nominated for the 33Fifty programme. Read her blog about her unique Commonwealth youth leaders experience.

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As part of the 2014 Commonwealth Games legacy, a leadership programme was organized for Commonwealth youth leaders aged between 18 to 25. The programme was held in Scotland from 17 to 20 July and participants were challenged to tackle “What role does the youth of the Commonwealth need to play in progress toward low carbon economies?”

The aims of 33Fifty are to ‘develop young leaders in order to bring people together, reconcile differences, lead change and use the Commonwealth’s networks effectively’. The programme was delivered by Common Purpose and the Royal Commonwealth Society.

Prior to the Programme

Before I begin diving into the programme, allow me to explain on the days – actually months – leading to the programme. My name is Izzah Jomari, a 22 year old who’s currently an Assistant Manager at the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB). One day in January 2014, I received an email stating that our CEO had nominated for me to participate in the programme. Little did I know that there would be a stringent selection process awaiting me and only 100 would be accepted out of more than 900 applications around the world! Having already been nominated by our CEO, it would have been slightly embarrassing if I was not selected to participate and surely, no one would want to disappoint a humbling nomination! Fast forward to 4 months later of grueling waiting time and an email with the subject “33Fifty: Congratulations!” buzzed in my Outlook. A smile plastered on my face as I opened it and on the screen before me were the details for 33Fifty.

Finally, July came and I was browsing through the participants’ pack that were sent to us with all the biographies of the other Commonwealth youth leaders joining the programme and I remember thinking to myself, ‘Wow, what a genuinely diverse, empowered, inspirational . . . and intimidating group of young people!’ resulting in both my anxiety and excitement boarding the flight making my way to the UK.

During the Programme

Day 1, ‘This is the Commonwealth’, was held at University of Glasgow. The day was mostly to break the ice and get us comfortable with being ingredients to this delicious diverse group. For me, that day was all about learning and immersing myself in the stories that each of us had. I connected with a future doctor from the Carribean Islands who takes pride in healing people who also happens to sing ‘Heal the World’ like an angel, a future politician from Canada who is the most patriotic person I know who also happens to have a soft spot for his family, a non-profit founder from India who is petite but has a big heart and is full of great ideas, a youth ambassador from South Africa who blogs about leadership, social activism and business, who is also great at making everyone around him laugh. The more people I conversed with, the more it dawned on me the magnitude of inspiration, drive and passion that was beaming from the young individuals surrounding me.

Day 1: I was stunned and I ate a slice of the Cultural Intelligence pie.

Day 2, ‘The world through someone else’s eyes’, was also held at University of Glasgow and that day was when we started educating ourselves about the challenge and the contributors of a low carbon economy. We were divided into smaller groups and we visited several organizations that were vital stakeholders in Scotland’s strive towards a low carbon economy. I visited the Whitelee Wind Farm which is the largest onshore wind farm in the UK and 2nd largest in Europe. Stepping onto the wind farm was surreal and surprisingly calming. It was astonishing to witness and learn about the 215 turbines feeding energy to just under 300,000 homes per year!

After the visit, all of us were asked to debrief our fellow group members on our visits so that we were able to digest information from the policy-maker, financial institution and private sector enterprises’ perspectives on sustainability. That day gave me a rare opportunity to listen, engage and interact with my fellow peers as each of us had diverse communication and leadership styles.

Day 2: I ate one slice of the leadership pie and another two slices of the cultural intelligence pie.

Day 3, ‘Beneath the Surface’, we started the day early as we made our way to University of Edinburgh for the next half of the programme. What was exciting about that day was, after another round of visits to Edinburgh stakeholders, we started diving into the challenge and each group was provided a mentor to guide us. Each individual within my group played important roles in ensuring chemistry in the group dynamics whether it be as mediator, contributor, consensus-concluder or even as a consensus-questioner. It allowed me to appreciate the different thought processes that other individuals have and to continuously be open-minded. The best part was that everyone in the group accepted this open-mindedness, which resulted in constant positive reception of each other’s ideas.
Day 3: I ate more slices of the leadership and cultural intelligence pie than I could chew, and . . . they tasted so good!

Day 4, ‘Responses to the Challenge’, was held at University of Edinburgh and was the final day of the programme. It was also the day we had to pitch our solutions to a panel of experts and the rest of the 33Fifty participants. From the very beginning, my group had great chemistry and dynamism as we were able to negotiate and compromise when there were disagreements.

We pitched our solution called ‘The Barefoot Movement’, which is a social media movement whereby individuals are encouraged to post pictures or videos of them doing green acts while being barefoot. The message behind this idea was to encourage a cleaner and greener environment that would enable all individuals from all walks of life to be able to walk barefoot on their streets just as they would in their own homes. We received highly positive feedback from the panel where one of them even said, “I never use the word ‘Awesome’ but that was ‘AWESOME’!” The Barefoot Movement minimized the serious and tough issue of climate change or a low carbon economy into something simple, personal and scalable.

After the pitching sessions concluded, each group formed our own circles where we graduated each other. Each one of us had the opportunity to present another group member with a certificate while thanking and appreciating that individual’s efforts in making the group’s experience a success. After the individual group graduations were done, all the participants formed a big circle where representatives from the smaller groups thanked the rest of the participants and the organizers. Some representatives sang, some chanted a poem in their native language and some voiced quotes from renowned leaders. That circle was one of the highlights of the whole experience. That circle represented humbleness, diversity, acceptance, friendship and most of all unity.

Post Programme

As I reflect on my time at 33Fifty, I learnt intangibly profound lessons that I will cherish every day. I have realized that the quality of friendships we make far outweigh the quantity and that life is not only about building networks but creating real bonds and connections with people. I learnt to be open-minded and be constantly present in order to appreciate the richness of others. I have also concluded that heroes are not necessarily the high ranking individuals or policy makers, but are also made up of the everyday people that take action in bettering the lives of others around them.

33Fifty inspired me to reflect on my purpose in bettering Brunei and the greater world. It motivated me to take pride in what I do at the BEDB, where I get to drive projects that develop entrepreneurship and financial literacy skills amongst youths in primary and secondary schools as well as institutes of higher learning. By taking pride in what I do and being empowered to implement it with my best, I fully understand that I am nurturing the future generation of entrepreneurs who will boost Brunei’s economy, who will run future global businesses and will provide hundreds or even thousands of jobs to others so they too can live a fulfilled life.

I act as an important building block for a better future and that is my role as a youth of the Commonwealth.