"The stories I heard from my fellow delegates from different areas of the world about the hardships they have faced by the time they are 22 … were so touching and so emotional," says Anjali Kundu. "It is one thing to hear about these things on the news, but to have a conversation with someone in the midst of it all, living in a war-torn region or amidst political turmoil, impacts you at such a deeper level."
Kundu, staff associate in the Medical Oncology Network of UPMC Cancer Center, was one of Pittsburgh's delegates to last year's
One Young World Summit in Zurich, Switzerland, which brought together young professionals to meet with global peers and develop ideas and projects together, for the benefit of multiple countries.
Now One Young World is coming here on October 18-21, and other young nonprofit leaders from around the region have the chance to apply to be this year's nonprofit delegates. The World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh will choose eight to 10 such delegates, ages 21-29, whom the Council describes as "team players who demonstrate leadership potential, and who have the ability to grasp complex concepts and provide valuable insights, as well as a commitment to cultural diversity." The application is available
here.
Kundu's colleague Eric D. McIntosh, UPMC Cancer Centers' HR director for the International and Commercial Services Division, is already signed up to attend this year. He sees it as "an opportunity to develop ideas with a global view … to develop solutions to some of the issues that plague our planet.
"People don't really realize the significance of this," he adds. "It's a really prestigious event that will showcase Pittsburgh as a world leader in a number of areas."
Brandon Blache-Cohen, executive director at
Amizade Global Service-Learning, was another nonprofit delegate last year. "I travel to 65 countries, but the world never felt as small as it did at the conference last year," he says. "The empowering experience [was] being with these folks who are doing such amazing things all over the world at such a young age. It's been really lovely, since this conference, to stay engaged with what they are doing and how we can exchange [ideas]."
Writer:
Marty Levine
Sources: Eric McIntosh, Anjali Kundu, UPMC; Brandon Blache-Cohen, Amizade Global Service-Learning; The World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh