On Tuesday 16 May, the Institute hosted a special youth dialogue with the United Nations Foundation Board, including former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, International Court of Justice Judge Hisashi Owada, CNN Founder Ted Turner, Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus, former Norwegian Prime Minister and WHO chief Gro Harlem Brundtland and other prominent figures.

The dialogue, “You + Global Leaders + SocialGood”, focused on climate change, education, employment and health. Institute student Will Knechtel presented his leadership experiences in education and employment on stage before being questioned by the Board and audience. Joined by many thousands of people on-line, the dialogue aimed to help garner youth input into global issues ahead of the upcoming 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals and the "post-2015" plan.

Institute alumnus Kofi Annan called on youth to take a greater role in global leadership. "You don't have to be old to lead," he said. Mr Annan also said more action is needed on climate change. "My friends, climate change is here, not in the future, and we need to take action to address it now.”

Ahead of the event, students voted online for the world they want to see at www.kaf.myworld2015.org. The event was also live streamed and can be viewed here. More than 600 young people attended the event, including over 200 Institute students as well as those from other neighboring universities and schools.

The event was organised by the UN Foundation in partnership with the Kofi Annan Foundation and the Graduate Institute.