The International Youth Leadership Conference is a weeklong forum on world politics, international relations, law, media, business and global economy. We started the IYLC in 2000 in Prague as a week-long forum that now draws on average 100 university students from 35+ countries across the globe biannually. Since its inception, the conference has touched the lives of nearly 2200 participants from a total of 133 countries and is considered by them an unparalleled learning experience. The theme of the conference is a "cross-cultural exchange of young ideas concerning the future of world leadership."
The main objective of the IYLC is to facilitate an exchange of ideas across an ethnically diverse and socially responsible group of young international leaders. The conference blends social interaction with cultural and educational components into one cohesive experience. Our organisation, Civic Concepts International, believes in the learning method of direct, hands-on experience. In our simulation activities, students have the opportunity to test their leadership skills, debate current issues, deliver speeches, draft resolutions, make executive decisions, and realize through experience the complexities of international relations. By participating in simulations that recreate a United Nations Security Council crisis meeting, an International Criminal Court hearing, and a model European Parliament session, students begin to understand international relations and relationships through practice as opposed to theory (as taught in their university curriculum). Their interaction provokes communication and dialogue that, throughout the week, provides an unparalleled learning experience and cross-cultural adventure.
With a wide range of nationalities participating in the conference, we stress cross-cultural understanding and an open-minded exchange of different national perspectives on global issues. Among the many events packed into the week, the IYLC recognizes communication, cooperation, and dialogue to be the most important aspect of the conference. The individuals that create the conference are each other's best resource in uncovering the similarities and differences between people from different backgrounds coming from diverse geographical locations. By bringing over 30 nationalities together, and exposing them to real world issues, we are strengthening relationships and cooperation between cultures and creating a network between the future leaders of the world.
IYLC student sponsors and alumni agree that the International Youth Leadership Conference is an excellent forum for young leaders to benefit from the experiential learning and cross-cultural exchange of ideas with like-minded students from around the world.
Participants
The IYLC is aimed at university and college students, as well as recent graduates, who seek to strengthen their generic leadership skills and gain meaningful international experiences. The Conference welcomes individuals between 18 and 24, who demonstrate commitment to academic excellence, professional development and community involvement in a spirit of responsible and sustainable leadership.
The International Youth Leadership Conference is a unique model that harmoniously combines academic and socio-cultural components. With its busy 5-day schedule, the IYLC involves participants in diverse discussions and activities that directly and indirectly contribute to their academic and professional careers, as well as raise their intercultural, gender and environmental awareness.
Ethnic diversity of the participants in composition with their rich academic and professional backgrounds ensures that the issues are probed on various levels and crosscuts. Representing various countries with their unique cultures, political systems and foreign policies, participants involve themselves in an intercourse with the whole spectrum of interests and viewpoints represented. The multiplicity of the students is a valuable asset that ensures an unprejudiced and balanced debate on all the issues in the framework of the conference.
Effects
As a recognised academic course, the IYLC supplements and broadens the existing knowledge, as well as equips the participants with new facts and details, essential for a profound understanding of the issues at hand. Those participants, who major in subjects other than political science or international relations, gain a substantial foundation for building up the understanding of these subjects and further expand their practices in the field.
On numerous occasions the IYLC has served participants as a turning point, positively affecting their academic and professional careers through introducing them to areas and issues that they wouldn't experience otherwise. The conference tends to expand the participants' skills: it helps many students to step out of their comfort zones and explore new people and opportunities, thus strengthening their confidence and making them comfortable with new experiences and environments.
For many of the participants, the IYLC is the first opportunity to travel abroad and explore another country. The conference helps them to expand their horizons, experience the joy of travel and discover new cultures and places. Again, it's an opportunity for them to step out of their comfort zones and experience the world at large.
During the conference, many of the participants establish life-long friendships, which in a longer perspective may affect the decision making processes in their countries, promote international peace and non-violence, and determine outcomes of certain problems and crises.
The diversity of the participants inevitably contributes to intercultural communication and better understanding of different cultures. Consequently, the conference reinforces the values of tolerance, equality and democracy among participants.
Last but not least, the conference empowers its participants, and encourages them to work on making their communities safer and better places to live.
Strengths
The International Youth Leadership Conference is a unique model that harmoniously combines academic and socio-cultural components. Placing a strong emphasis on complementarity of theoretical knowledge with practical experiences, it ensures a better understanding and comprehension of the issues at hand and exposes its participants to first-hand experiences that they wouldn't otherwise encounter. With its busy 5-day schedule, the IYLC involves participants in diverse discussions and activities that directly and indirectly contribute to their academic and professional careers, as well as raise their awareness of international conflicts and issues of global importance. Ethnic diversity of the participants in composition with their rich academic and professional backgrounds ensures that the issues are probed on various levels and crosscuts.
Representing various countries with their unique cultures, political systems and foreign policies, participants involve themselves in an intercourse with the whole spectrum of interests and viewpoints represented. The multiplicity of the students is a valuable asset that ensures an unprejudiced and balanced debate on all the issues in the framework of the conference.
Throughout the conference the participants are guided by the facilitators, who as former IYLC participants possess the knowledge and skills necessary to facilitate the discussions and the activities of the conference. Being peers to the participants, they can easier identify the needs, choose better approaches and adjust to working moods and behavioral patterns of the participants, thus positively affecting the group dynamics and the overall success of the conference. During the IYLC, participants have an amazing networking opportunity: with all 5 continents represented they can build contacts with fellow students thus establishing relationships potentially useful in their studies and jobs. This aspect comprises a long-term effect of the conference that directly links to the sustainability of the project. Besides, the participants meet and communicate with high-ranking governmental officials, diplomats, business people, who furnish them with useful tips and advices, as well as share their professional experiences.
The official website