Young Active Citizens Were Victorious at the 2018 JCI World Congress in Goa!

Ask anyone that has attended a World Congress—the energy is unlike any other JCI Event since JCI members come from around the globe to engage with like-minded young active citizens who are each working in their own communities to create global impact. When these young active citizens come together once a year, a community of changemakers naturally begin to engage with one another, over their shared values and mutual desire to create positive change in our communities. This year’s community of changemakers gathered in the beautiful Goa, India for the 2018 JCI World Congress from 30 October – 3 November organized and hosted through a collaboration between JCI Panaji (India) and JCI.

The theme for the 2018 JCI World Congress in Goa, India was Jai Ho, meaning to be victorious. Over 3200 delegates from 94 countries demonstrated how they’ve been victorious active citizens in 2018 through skills development courses and global meetings while learning how to continue their momentum in 2019 by attending engaging workshops, inspiring power talks and a business exchange conclave focused on the sub-themes: engage, innovate and change.

We kicked off World Congress with the Opening Ceremony which featured speeches by Her Excellency, the Honorable Governor of Goa, Dr. Mridula Sinha, the Honorable Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly, Dr. Pramod Sawant and representative from World Congress sponsor, Nine, as well as JCI India President Arpit Hathi. In between speeches, delegates had the pleasure of seeing Bollywood-style dance performances and witnessed JCI President Marc Brian Lim officially open World Congress with a carnaval parade to close the ceremony.

Once the World Congress was officially open, it was time to take action! The next day, Congress delegates began collaborating, engaging each other and learning how to leave an impactful mark on our world. While that was taking place, JCI Chief Delegates had the exciting responsibility to make an impact during the General Assembly, electing Yokohama, Japan to host the 2020 JCI World Congress, the incoming 2019 JCI Board of Directors, including 2018 JCI Executive Vice President Alexander Tio of JCI Indonesia as the 2019 JCI President, and approving the 2019–2023 JCI Strategic Plan. This plan calls for JCI members to accelerate transformation and align all aspects of the organization to our strategy, so that we create enough momentum to stay relevant and meaningful in a changing world.

To achieve these goals, every JCI member must focus their time, energy and grassroots action toward the five strategies outlined from the previous strategic plan—Impact, Motivate, Invest, Collaborate and Connect—while focusing on accelerating transformation as JCI works toward being the organization that unites all sectors of society to create sustainable impact. These five strategies will allow JCI to focus on the power of young people to advance sustainable impact, unite the passion of young people to motivate bold action, invest in technological, financial and human resources, foster a collaborative culture in a dynamic world and most importantly—connect young people to drive the world in a positive direction.

Outside of the future of JCI being adopted, delegates in Goa had the chance to start each day with the JCI Morning Show and hear a variety of best practices from JCI members and experts from other organizations on how they can engage, innovate and change their communities. After each JCI Morning Show, delegates were motivated by a series of Power Talks featuring Gaur Gopal Das, Shayamal Vallabjee and Prakash Iyer.

A wide variety of skills development sessions and workshops on topics ranging from advocacy, social entrepreneurship and inclusive leadership, empowered members to return to their local communities and amplify positive change. A key event this year was the Action Oriented Leadership series of courses presented by Dale Carnegie, training attendees on how to persuade their audiences to take action, successfully realize change by influencing behaviors and attitudes and how to take individual action at the local level to create a better world.

The Global Citizen Mindset: Advocacy Workshop was presented by Julia Zimmerman from Ban Ki-Moon Centre for Global Citizens where attendees heard from Hassan Ndugwa and Maud Roure from Extremely Together, as well as Chief Delegates taking leadership in the I Am Africa and Step Up For Europe Campaign, explaining why young people are the key to successful sustainable development for the future.

During the 2018 JCI Awards Ceremony, the JCI Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World (JCI TOYP) Honorees were recognized for their incredible achievements alongside the most outstanding projects and JCI members who are creating sustainable impact in their communities across the globe. The event culminated with the JCI Presidential Inauguration before delegates enjoyed Indian dance performances and celebrated late into the night during the Farewell Dinner.

The 2018 JCI World Congress was a huge success as it united the young active citizens present in Goa, India to grow and learn from each other, creating sustainable solutions and ideas for positive impact in 2019. The JCI World Congress remains the event where changemakers from all around the world gather to create a sense of community built on engagement, innovation and the driving desire to take action, creating change and a better tomorrow.

Interested in learning more about the event? Explore the2018 JCI World Congress Report to discover all that the event had to offer.

Visit the JCI Facebook Page to see snapshots of the 2018 JCI World Congress.

Want to know more about next year’s World Congress? Get the latest information about the 2019 JCI World Congress in Tallinn, Estonia and register today!

Interested in attending other JCI Events? Register and learn more about the upcoming 2019 JCI Area Conferences!