There is an urgent need to fill the global leadership vacuum in order to address the complex, pressing challenges confronting humanity today. The Global Leadership project was launched by WAAS and the UN Office in Geneva in November 2019 to address this critical need. This multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral project highlights innovative strategies and effective principles to accelerate the emergence of dynamic leadership for successful implementation of the SDGs. The project will involve consultations with IGOs, nation-states, business, scientific research and educational institutions, civil society and youth organizations.
The overarching objective of the project is to become a catalyst to accelerate the emergence of leadership for global development. Its strategy is to consciously apply at the global level essential principles of effective leadership that have previously served as catalysts for rapid transformation.
“The aim of this initiative is to identify strategies for a new transformative leadership to successfully accelerate progress on pressing global challenges.”
Tatiana Valovaya, Director General, UNOG

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Reports
The report addresses 5 interdependent pillars of a comprehensive approach to building global leadership鈥擱edefining Multilateralism, Sustaining Peace & Human Security, Mobilizing Civil Society, Financing Implementation of SDGs, and Transforming Education. Under each pillar it identifies key areas for breakthrough initiatives.
This report summarizes the main discussions of the WAAS-UNOG conference on GL-21 held in December 2020. The conference was the culmination of a 1 year joint project to develop cross-sectoral catalytic strategies to address current leadership challenges. It explored the integration of research into policy making and implementation.
Events
Impact of Science and Technology on Society and Economy听– Trieste, Italy – Mar 4-5, 2013
Opportunities & Challenges for the 21st Century: Search for a New Paradigm听– United Nations Office at Geneva – Jun 3, 2013
Opportunities and Challenges for the 21st Century听– Library of Alexandria, Egypt – Jun 5-6, 2013
New Paradigm for Human Development – Baku, Azerbaijan – Apr 30, 2014
Published Articles
New Paradigm
In 2013 WAAS embarked on a new project to examine the global challenges and opportunities听confronting humanity in the 21st century. The first phase of the project was launched at a conference at the United Nations Office in Geneva on June 1, 2013 jointly conducted by WAAS and UNOG with the participation of 200 senior diplomats, heads of research institutions and civil society organizations. Phase I led to the publication of more than 100 articles on different sectors of global society, including peace and security, global governance, democracy, economy, finance, employment, education, ecology and environment, society and culture. Phase I identified certain common characteristics of all the challenges confronting humanity and argued that a mere change in public policies would be inadequate to address any of them. More fundamental changes would be needed necessitating a paradigm change in approach, including a reconstitution of institutions at the national and global level, a reformulation of social theory to take into account the interlinkages and interdependencies between sectors, a restructuring of education to overcome the barriers created to independence silos of knowledge and fundamental changes in the way we think of global issues. The outcome of Phase I conferences and published papers led eventually to the launch in 2019 of Phase II of collaboration between WAAS and UNOG under the title Global Leadership in the 21st Century as presented above.听
More Articles
Leadership
, David Harries, Oct 2019
, Jakob von Uexkull – Sep 2014
, Michael Marien – Oct 2014
, Orio Giarini, Heitor Gurgulino de Souza, Garry Jacobs, Ivo 艩laus, Alberto Zucconi – Apr 2014
Ten points on New Paradigm, Kassym Jomart-Tokayev – Nov 2014
, Yehezkel Dror – Feb 2015
, Janani Harish – May 2015
, Garry Jacobs – May 2015
, Thaddeus C. (Ted) Trzyna – Mar 2015
, Jonathan Granoff – Oct 2013
Democracy and Law
, Garry Jacobs – Oct 2019
, Fadwa El Guindi – May 2019
Global Governance: A New Paradigm for the Rule of Law, Winston P. Nagan – Jun 2013
, Federico Mayor Zaragoza – Mar 2015
Crises & Opportunities
, Ian Johnson – Oct 2011
, Ian Johnson, Garry Jacobs – Oct 2012
The Role of Crises in Social Evolution, Ljudmila Popovich – Jun 2013
A Creative Moment, Garry Jacobs – Jun 2013
, Garry Jacobs – Apr 2014
, Alexander Likhotal – Apr 2015
, Ashok Natarajan – Oct 2015
Mind
, Robert van Harten – Oct 2018
, Garry Jacobs – Mar 2014
Societal Power
, Janani Harish – Oct 2014
, Garry Jacobs, Winston Nagan, Alberto Zucconi – Oct 2014
, Ashok Natarajan – Oct 2015
, Winston P. Nagan – Mar 2015
, Dimitar Tchurovsky – May 2015
, Ivo 艩laus, Garry Jacobs – May 2013
, Ivo 艩laus, Garry Jacobs – Oct 2013
Economics, Money and Finance
, Garry Jacobs, Mark Swilling, Winston P. Nagan, Jamie Morgan, Barry Gills – May 2017
, Winston P. Nagan – Nov 2015
Discussion of Some Elements of the “New Economy”, Yehuda Kahane – Mar 2014
, Ruben Nelson – Sep 2014
, Maria de Lourdes Mollo – Oct 2015
, Orio Giarini – Oct 2014
Education
, Janani Harish – Oct 2015
, Alberto Zucconi, Garry Jacobs – Apr 2014
, Garry Jacobs – Apr 2014
The Evolution of the Educational Paradigm, Carl Edwin Lindgren – Oct 2013
Future of Education, Janani Harish- Oct 2013