To build the capacity of the next generation of global change leaders to cross borders and partner with new communities to produce responsible, innovative, sustainable solutions to shared global problems.

The Global Engagement Summit began in 2005 as an attempt to develop better training for students participating in on-the-ground international development and social entrepreneurship, to put driven students in touch with one another and with innovative nonprofit leaders, and to develop a resource network to support student global change projects. Past GES delegates have developed projects related to microfinance, community development, global health, sustainable engineering, and many other change-based ideas.

In its three years, a staff of between 60-90 Northwestern University students per year has developed a curriculum featuring more than 40 workshops each year and has created numerous opportunities for project support, including, among others, internship experiences, media outlets and funding prospects through partnerships with groups like the GlobalGiving Foundation.

The GES alumni community now includes more than 400 people. Even as GES has grown, the GES founders were able to expand the idea and build a the Center for Global Engagement, a global program design center at Northwestern University which now offers credited international immersion programs.

• Over 40 countries, 50 universities, and 35 global nonprofits have been represented
• GES has assisted delegates in raising over $75,000 toward their projects
• GES delegates and staff have gone on to:
  • Establish and participate in delegate-led sustainable projects in Guatemala, Mali, China, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Ecuador, Kenya, Uganda, Egypt, Philippines, Tanzania, Panama, India, Afghanistan, Australia, and the United States
  • Impact over 100,000 people through their diverse social change projects
  • Receive prestigious fellowships: Rhodes, Marshall, and Truman; Echoing Green; Northwestern Mind the Gap; Northwestern Public Interest Program; Kathryn Wasserman’s 100 Projects for Peace

Through workshops, critical discussions, community building, and outcome resources, we ensure that our participants have the tools to move beyond their “good intentions” to produce real change.

By providing capacity-building training, GES seeks to enable Summit delegates to build the necessary conceptual and skills base for improving their projects so that they can become better-informed, responsible agents of change in the world.

GES also seeks to build the capacity of its staff. We seek to motivate staff to think deeply about issues of global development, to drive discourse on ‘youth engagement’ among peers and the larger Northwestern community, and to create an innovative, meaningful Summit for delegates from all over the world.

Components of Capacity-Building:

• Conceptual Development
• Skills Development
• Approach and Framework Development
• Resource/Outcome Development
• Community Development

The Global Engagement Summit produces a set of general outcomes post-Summit for both delegates and staff.

GES Delegates

• Better-educated youth global change agents
• A set of improved global problem solving projects
• A growing, interconnected community of people committed to change

GES Staff

• Broader conceptual knowledge of global change sectors
• Extensive opportunities for personal involvement in a student organization
• Connections to a network of people committed to change
• Event planning skills