A message from Benjamin Glahn, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Salzburg Global Seminar
Dear Friends,
Thank you on behalf of all of us at Salzburg Global Seminar for your support during one of the most challenging years in memory. The generosity shown by all of you was pivotal in sustaining our mission to challenge current and future leaders to shape a better world.
Over the past 30 years our borders, economies, and societies have progressively become more open. 2020 changed all of that, with travel restrictions and social distancing replacing open borders and in-person communities. Salzburg Global responded with a deep commitment to online innovation and network building, which has seen us engage thousands of new Fellows around the world in the last 12 months. We continued our decades-long commitment to international leadership, collaboration, and systems transformation, focusing our work on the inter-connected challenges of our time: economic equality and inclusive societies, racial equity and justice, and the long-term imperative to address climate and sustainability issues across our programs.
In 2020, Salzburg Global and our Fellows continued to lead bold initiatives, transform systems, and advance change with your support. For example, a six-month partnership between our Education for Tomorrow’s World program and the World Innovation Summit for Education addressed the staggering impacts of COVID-19 on global education and the need for more inclusive and equitable education systems, culminating in launching an e-book at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September.
Meanwhile, our Climate Emergency and the Future of Food series, in partnership with the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, conducted a series of online programs addressing the urgent problems facing our world’s food supply, developing a series of priority actions for systems transformation. In addition, we established a new network of Asia Peace Innovators in partnership with The Nippon Foundation to shape long-term approaches to peace, stability, and regional cooperation across sectors, employing bi-monthly online discussions to catalyze collaborations among Fellows working on community peace-building initiatives across Asia.
In keeping with our standing as a beacon of values-based leadership, Salzburg Global also continued to facilitate open discussions with global change-makers about the key issues and challenges facing our world. Salzburg Global Fellows, Stacey Abrams, a US politician and voting rights activist, and La June Montgomery Tabron, President and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, returned to headline events focusing on civic activism and racial equity as part of our new Designs on the Future initiative – created to address urgent social issues relevant for communities across the globe.
Last year was full of uncertainty, challenges, and reinvention for all of us. But just like any other year, we owe our accomplishments – and all the promise that our future holds – to donors like you. Thank you!
Stay healthy and safe, and we look forward to our work together in 2021.