yes+brochure 2009

8/14/2019 YES+Brochure 2009

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ACTIS|Activating Talent in Sustainability

Youth Encounter on Sustainability (YES)The Challenge of a Sustainable World

Living for 10 Billion People

Courses for upper level undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines and all nationalities


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The Sustainability Challenge

The world is facing a severe global crisis: current

patterns of economic and social development are

putting an unbearable strain on our naturalenvironment and cultures. Can young people

begin to move our society towards the ideals of

justice, equity and sustainability? Our goal is that

after you participate in YES you will be able to say:

YES, we can, YES we will, YES, we MUST!

The Vision for the Future

In June 1992, the United Nations Conference on

Environment and Development adopted Agenda

21, calling for all nations to develop and put intoeffect their own national strategies, plans and

policies for sustainable development, and to be

prepared to deal with the common challenges

facing human kind. The tenth year anniversary of

the Rio Conference was marked by the 2002

World Summit on Sustainable Development in

Johannesburg, South Africa. The Rio Conventions,

signed by 150 countries, and other such global

initiatives, were supposed to help us chart a

course for the 21st

century. The reality is that

workable solutions to the environmental, socialand economic imbalances in our world are yet to

be devised and global conversations about

sustainable development continue to wrestle with

how to put these visions into action.

YES is inspired by a set of questions arising from

the gap between the principles in Agenda 21 and

the potential for putting these into action in the

21st

century:

What do the individuals pursuing careers andleading lives in the 21

stcentury have to say

about issues of sustainable development?

What are the views, concerns and freshapproaches of tomorrows leaders to these

problems?

What progress has been made in makingsustainable development a reality and what

remains to be done?

Young people of today constitute an important

group, the cradle of tomorrows leaders andthinkers, whose decisions will have a growing

influence on markets and styles of living.

YES brings together such young leaders from all

around the world to explore the challenges of

sustainable development and the state-of-the-art

research developed to address them. Theyexplore economic, social and technical

complexities in meeting the sustainability

challenge and gain better understanding of the

need for multi-disciplinary perspectives for

problem solving.

The Youth Encounter on Sustainability YES

In the year 2000 the Alliance for Global

Sustainability (AGS) first created the course

concept for the Youth Encounter onSustainability-YES to help develop the leadership

capacity for a sustainable future. The first course

was held in Braunwald, Switzerland that same

year and from then on continued to be held twice

each year, attracting highly diverse groups of

students to discuss global challenges and

opportunities for sustainable development.

Building on the resounding success of the YES

courses in Switzerland, YES courses were

expanded to other world regions. Courses have

since been held in Costa Rica, Slovakia, Kenya,Japan, Austria and Australia in collaboration with

local course partners. At the start of 2009, more

than 1000 students from over 98 different

countries have been trained in the YES course and

form the core of the strong and active network of

YES alumni located all around the world.

Types of YES Courses

YES Basic Courses

The YES basic courses include the original YESInternational course held bi-annually in

Switzerland, and the courses with a regional focus

(hosted in Costa Rica, Slovakia, Austria, Japan,

Kenya and Australia). The framework for the

courses is based on the basic framework

developed over the years of successfully running

the YES International course in Switzerland.

Typically 2 weeks in duration, the course trains a

maximum of 40 students per session with a focus

on basic sensitization to the multifaceted

concepts of sustainable development. The

regionally focused basic courses aim to connect

regional priorities and challenges to the global

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ACTIS|Activating Talent in Sustainabilitycontext. Regional courses are developed with a

thorough understanding of the regions culture,

history and social development in order to

effectively prepare students to take effective

action. Participation in the courses is open to

upper level undergraduate and graduateuniversity students from all disciplines. In both

the international and regional courses a

multicultural and multinational and gender

balance is maintained.

YES Special Courses

The YES Special courses are open specifically for

YES Alumni individuals who have already

attended a YES basic course. The special courses

focus on one particular subject or theme and

incorporate many of the pedagogical anddidactical approaches of a YES Basic course. The

courses are typically 7 to 10 days in duration held

in collaboration with local partners in a location of

great interest and relevance for the course theme.

Elements of a YES Course

A typical course incorporates academic work, field

trips and experience, workshops, cultural and

social activities in some of the worlds great

natural settings. Students participate in:

An in-depth investigation into key issues in thesustainability debate with leading faculty and

special guests from world renowned

institutions and organizations

Discussions on the role of science, industry,civil society and public institutions in moving

societies toward sustainable development

A values and responsibilities component,which considers the role of the social sciences

and discuss the individual behavior changesand ethics in promoting sustainable

development

A unique opportunity for close collaborationwith an international multicultural and

multidisciplinary group of peers in small

working groups on specific projects

Field experiences in the form of excursionsunique to the location providing opportunities

to learn first hand from approaches to

address sustainability challenges

Unique Social and cultural activities among theparticipants

Outcomes for Participants

Enhance your understanding of the principlesof sustainability in a dynamic world, across

geographic and disciplinary boundaries

Unique personal and professionaldevelopment that will open up furthereducation and career opportunities

Inspiration from interacting with like minded,motivated young individuals from all around

the world with interesting and valuable

experiences to share

Provide you with methodological and systemthinking skills to develop holistic and

appropriate solutions to sustainability

challenges

Develop your interdisciplinary, intercultural,and leadership competences

Stimulate your creative thinking about local,regional, and global issues on sustainable

development and broaden your perspectives

Connection to the YES alumni group andassociated communication platforms, a strong

and expanding international network of over

1000 young scholars and professionals from

around 100 countries supporting one another

with follow up activities

Practice in presenting, facilitating and workingin groups in English in a relaxed and

supportive environment

Feedback from Alumni Students

YES provides an extraordinary opportunity for

young people from all over the world to come

together; to learn from one another and to set

the stage for a better world.

YES gave me motivation and hope, broadenedmy horizons, empowered me with new

knowledge and skills and helped me to

understand sustainable development from a

holistic perspective

The best educational experience I have had- the

fact that there were so many different countries

represented made the whole experience

priceless

YES gave me direction, connections and valuableresources for my future career

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ACTIS|Activating Talent in SustainabilityYES is very uniqueso many elements,

interesting topics, surroundings, different people

from all over, with different views. This makes

such a strong impact, it is great while you are

there, and I realize even more what an amazing

trip it was after getting back home

The teaching was exceptional an excellent pool

of experts, modules and presentations

Collaborating Institutions

The YES courses and programs are directed by

ACTIS, in collaboration with institutions and

organizations who form an international

collaborative network. ACTIS - Activating Talent in

Sustainability - is a Swiss organization founded inearly 2009 with the purpose of taking over full

operation of the YES courses and associated

activities. ACTIS was created as a special ETH

spin-off organization due to the strong

involvement of the ETH Zurich in the

establishment and operation of the YES courses

from 2000 to 2008. The ACTIS core staff have

been responsible for running the program since its

creation.

The main collaborating organisation for the YESprograms is the Alliance for Global Sustainability

(AGS), an international partnership created in

1997 between the ETH Zurich, MIT, the University

of Tokyo and Chalmers University of Technology.

The AGS brings together hundreds of university

scientists, engineers, and social scientists to

address the complex issues that lie at the

intersection of environmental, economic and

social goals. Read more about the AGS at:

www.globalsustainability.org

For more information on the AGS Partner

Institutions:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

http://lfee.mit.edu

University of Tokyo (UT)

www.globalsustainability.jp

Chalmers University of Technology

www.ags.chalmers.se

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH

Zurich) www.ethz.ch

Local Collaborating Partners

Regional YES courses are held in collaboration

with additional local partner organizations. In the

past, courses have been hosted in partnership

with UNEP in Kenya, INCAE Business School andCATIE in Costa Rica, Hosei University in Japan,

Egerton University in Kenya, the International

Water Center in Australia (an alliance between

the University of Queensland, Monash University,

Griffith University and the University of Western

Australia), the Wadi Environmental Science

Center in Egypt and the Sustainability Institute at

the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa.

The international group of Faculty for the YES

courses is drawn from the AGS partneruniversities, as well as from regional public and

private partner organizations.

Further Information

Please see the enclosed inlay for more

information on specific courses, the course faculty

and how to apply. For more information on ACTIS

visit the website: www.actis-education.ch

Actis GmbH

Bluntschlisteig 1

CH-8002 Zurich

Switzerland

P: +41 44 280 3306

E:[email protected]

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Actis GmbH is an official spin-off organisation of the ETH Zurich

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Youth Encounter on Sustainability (YES)

Braunwald, Switzerland23rd

October 9th

November 2009

Course Details

ACTIS is pleased to announce the call for applications for the annual Youth Encounter on Sustainability course

in Braunwald, Switzerland.

Course Dates: 23rd

October 9th

November, 2009

Location: Braunwald, Switzerland

Participation Fee

ACTIS raises funds to significantly subsidise the cost of the course for participants. As a contribution to the

costs participants are asked to pay a total of1200 CHF as a participation fee.

The participation fee covers the following:

All local transportation from Zurich to Braunwald, Switzerland Full board (3 meals per day, tea and coffee breaks) and lodging at the Hotel Waldhaus, Braunwald,

Switzerland for the full 17 nights Documents and materials for the course Field trips and all course activities

Participants are fully responsible for their own:

International transportation to Zurich, Switzerland Health and travel insurance (which is mandatory to participate in the course) Visa expenses Any additional activities outside of the course program

Participants are encouraged to seek support for these expenses from their universities or sponsors. In the past

most participants have had success securing the necessary funding from foundations, corporations, their

university or professional associations.

A limited number of scholarships are available to students coming from low income countries. Please place

your request for a scholarship, with a brief explanation of why you should be considered, at the end of your

application essay.

Faculty

Faculty and facilitators for the program will be drawn from around Switzerland and abroad, from world

renowned institutions and organisations such as the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich),

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Tokyo, Chalmers University of Technology, the

University of Zurich along with representatives from industry, the government and non-governmental

organisations.


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Actis GmbH is an official spin-off organisation of the ETH Zurich

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Eligibility

The YES program will bring together and inspiring group of upper level university students from many different

disciplines, cultures and nationalities to learn in a unique environment. The YES programme welcomes

applications from upper level undergraduate (4th

year minimum) and graduate (Masters and PhD) students that

demonstrate a high dedication to sustainability issues and the potential to become a change agent in

academia, business, governmental and non-governmental organisations. A total of 40 places are available for

the course. The full program will be conducted in English and applicants must demonstrate a working

proficiency in the language. The course is open to applicants between the ages of 20 and 32 years.

Application Procedure

Interested students are requested to complete the attached application form (in Word) and return it via email

(with the requested attachments) to:

Dr Roger Baud: [email protected]

Please attach the application form (which includes space for a short essay) along with the following supporting

documents:

A short Resume / Curriculum Vitae (limit 3 pages). One letter of reference (professional or academic) which explains your skills, abilities, experience and

suitability for the program.

Application Deadline: 14th

August 2009

More Information

For further information please contact:

Mail: ACTIS Gmbh, Bluntschlisteig 1, CH-8002, Zurich, Switzerland

Email : [email protected]

Phone: +41 44 280 3306