UK/India, 25 November 2011
Future leaders from UK and India to address climate change
challenge as part of innovative leadership development Venture
If no action is taken to reduce emissions, the concentration of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could reach double its
pre-industrial level as early as 2035[1]. Addressing
this issue requires leaders both from more developed and newly
industrialised countries to work innovatively together.
Unique carbon cutting measures are happening locally in both
India and the UK, but can those
actions be accelerated and multiplied to reduce carbon emissions by
50% in the next five years?
This is the challenge that participants on the Dishaa Venture, run by
leadership development organisation Common Purpose, will be tackling next week.
Dishaa aims to expand, enrich and energise relations between India and the UK by investing in the
development of the next generation of leaders from the two
countries.
During the Venture, held in London from 29 November to 3 December,
participants will meet with carbon experts including:
The diverse group of participants, 20 from the UK and 20 from
India, are skilled and respected
practitioners in their fields and looking to effect change both in
their organisations and wider society. They will undertake research
tasks beforehand, develop their thinking and work together to come
up with innovative approaches to the challenge. They will then
present their findings and models to a cross sector group of policy
experts from the UK and India.
The Dishaa Venture is run in partnership with the British
Foreign & Commonwealth Office and sponsored by United Business
Media (UBM), Tilda, Cisco, Fly Kingfisher and PwC. British Prime
Minister David Cameron is patron of
Dishaa and launched the Venture in July
2010.
Jennifer Duvalier, Group People & Culture Director, UBM,
explains why her organisation sponsors the Dishaa Venture: "UBM is
a keen supporter of Dishaa, believing that individuals learn most
powerfully when they have the opportunity to engage with impactful
development experiences and to share their learning journey with a
diverse network of fellow learners. It has given UBM's participants
an experience to engage with talented others from India and the UK, and to contribute to
building an innovative approach to accelerating and multiplying
carbon cutting methods that will benefit both societies - a rich
legacy."
Founder and Chief Executive of Common Purpose Julia
Middleton said: "The links between the UK and India are long standing but more
importantly, they are deep, edgy, thoughtful and multi-dimensional.
By learning together the participants will be able to enrich the
connections between both countries and produce some very exciting
ideas."
Notes for editors
Common Purpose is an independent international leadership
development organisation. Over the past 21 years, Common Purpose
has designed and delivered courses that help people at all stages
of their career become more effective leaders in society.
Common Purpose runs courses that give people from the private,
public and not-for-profit sector the inspiration, skills and
connections to become better leaders both at work and in society.
Common Purpose helps people, organisations, cities and regions to
succeed, by broadening the horizons of their leaders and developing
their ability to work together and lead complex change.
and /ventures
Key information
- Four-day intensive Venture in London,
UK - 29 November-3 December
2011
- Continued development of solutions with expert advisors and
mentors using Cisco TelePresence, December 2011 - June
2012
- Presentation of solutions to a panel of policy experts, Autumn
2012
- Participants from organisations including Hindustan Unilever,
Welsh Government, British Red Cross, Government of Uttarakhand,
Rajiv Ghandi Foundation, Standard Chartered, 3i, BAE Systems and
Vodafone Group Plc
- Interviews with and quotes from stakeholders, spokespersons,
participants and alumni of Dishaa available
- Photographs and videos from both current and previous Dishaa
Ventures available
- At each event the participants will be presented with a
challenge to explore. They will investigate the challenge locally,
and work together to come up with ideas and recommendations. Each
year a different challenge will be selected for that year's
participants to investigate.
- The challenge for the last Dishaa Venture in February 2011 was: Heart surgery at $1,000 (USD) - what has to change in how
society operates and innovates to make this a reality? The final
report which includes models and solutions from this is available
upon request.
- Availability to accompany Dishaa participants as they visit
corporations, community projects and local government initiatives
to investigate the carbon reduction challenge.
1. The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/stern_review_report.htm
For further information please contact:
Isabella Betkowski
Communications and Alumni Officer
T: +44(0)207-608-8122
M: +44(0)7958-560-943
E: isabella.betkowski@commonpurpose.org
Louisa on the left and Angela Mackay on the right
