News and Events
Alumni Reception in Canberra
At an Alumni Reception in Canberra, HRH Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, reminisced about how the idea for the conferences arose when he visited remote communities in Canada's far north after attending the 1954 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, and how he had thought there would only ever be one conference. "I am delighted that the conference format is still alive and well today," he concluded.
The Reception was held at Government House in Canberra on Saturday, October 22, 2011. Among the 70 Alumni in attendance were representatives from all ten Commonwealth Leadership Development Conferences since 1956, as well as Alumni from the past two Emerging Pacific Leaders' Dialogues.
The Alumni group was drawn from all Australian states and territories and New Zealand. The group included two New Zealand members now resident in Australia, a Canadian member from the 1980 Canadian conference also now residing in Australia, a Solomon Islands member from the 1986 Australia/India conference and a Fiji representative from EPLD 2006.
Sir Eric Neal (CLDC 1986), Inaugural Chair of CSC Australia, Chair of the 1986 Australia/India conference organizing committee and former Governor of South Australia, extended the Vote of Thanks to HRH Prince Philip and the Governor General. The evening was a great success.
Passing the Torch to Canada
After four years as Chair of the International Liaison Group (ILG) Mr. Dhruv Sawhney (Organizing Committee Chair, CLDC 2007), will hand over the ILG leadership to Mr. Robert Taylor LVO (CLDC 1980) on January 1, 2012.
"I am honoured to accept the role of ILG Chair on behalf of Canada at a time when the ILG looks forward to welcoming many new participants to the Emerging Leaders' Dialogues and Commonwealth Leadership Development Conferences, over the coming years. On behalf of all Alumni, I would like to thank Dhruv Sawhney for his strong leadership over the past four years," Bob Taylor said.
Emerging Leaders' Dialogue in Africa?
Our Alumni Committee is giving some serious attention to plans for an Africa-Canada Emerging Leaders' Dialogue in 2013. Alumni interested in assisting with the planning, organizing, facilitating or implementing another successful regional conference are welcome to join the Committee. Please send your contact information to admin@csc-alumni.org as soon as possible.
Caribbean-Canada Emerging Leaders' Dialogue (CCELD 2011)
The CCELD 2011 was an amazing success!
40 Canadian and 80 Caribbean Leaders EMERGED from this first-ever Caribbean-Canada Dialogue. On May 28 participants from business, labour, government and the community assembled in Gatineau, Quebec (Ottawa) Canada for three days of Opening Session discussions on important economic, social, environmental, and regional development issues. Participants were then divided into 10 study tour groups and travelled for a further four days to a diverse number of locations in six Provinces to build their understanding of how these issues impact on decision-making and leadership. Thereafter each group travelled to one of 10 Caribbean countries for similar visits for a further four days. The groups reconvened in Bridgetown, Barbados from June 8-12 to report on their leadership learning experiences.
HRH The Princess Royal, Princess Anne graciously served as President of the Dialogue. She gave freely of her time and met with each study group; her thought-provoking and insightful observations were truly appreciated by all participants. She also visited some groups during their study tours.
Canadian CSC and GGCLC Alumni took the lead in fundraising, planning and hosting the Dialogue Opening and together with CSC Alumni and Volunteers from Bermuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Guyana, Belize, Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada planned and hosted the study tours. The Dialogue Closing was organized and hosted by the Barbados CSC Alumni.
Looking forward… the 2011 Leaders have pledged to continue the Dialogue and are committed to sharing their experiences in 2015 with the next group of emerging leaders.
For more news and information, visit the CCELD website which will continue to be up and running: www.cceld.com.
News from Commonwealth Study Conferences New Zealand Trust
It is with much sadness that the CSC New Zealand Trustees advise that their Chair, Miles Middlemass, passed away on 3 February 2011 after a short illness. As an alumnus from the dynamic group of 1980 CSC attendees, Miles was the driving force behind the Commonwealth Study Conferences movement in New Zealand. He was also instrumental, along with our Australian colleagues, in the establishment and successful running of the Emerging Pacific Leaders' Dialogues in 2006 and 2010. Miles is sadly missed for his superb organisational skills, great sense of humour and lovely manner with people.
The Trustees have appointed Caren Rangi, an EPLD 2006 alumna, as the new Chair. Caren will represent CSC NZ on the International Liaison Group, the Pacific Leadership Foundation and Commonwealth Study Conferences Australia.
Honours!
We are very pleased to advise that Commonwealth Study Conferences (Australia) Inc. has been recognized in the recently announced 2011 Queen's New Year Honours, UK.
Richard FE (Dick) Warburton AO, Chairman, was appointed a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) and J Brian Pickett, Chief Executive, was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO).
These appointments are viewed as not only significant recognition for both Dick and Brian, they also recognize CSC Australia for staging three major conferences in the region over the past eight years together with their generous support to India and Malaysia for the Tenth Commonwealth Study Conference in 2007.
In addition, these Awards represent an important form of recognition to the extensive range of sponsors, speakers and the many hundreds of Alumni and non-Alumni volunteers who have all made major contributions to extending leadership development opportunities to some 475 mid-career men and women over this period.
An Audio Montage from Australian Alumni
Our Australian friends are working on an ambitious and very interesting Oral History Project that highlights interviews with HRH Prince Philip, The Princess Royal, Princess Anne and more than 20 Australian Alumni reminiscing about the Conference years since 1956. The project is expected to be completed by mid-2011 when it will be accessible on their website. Please stay tuned!
Australia - Emerging Pacific Leaders' Dialogue (EPLD) 2010
The Emerging Pacific Leaders' Dialogue (EPLD) 2010 opened in Samoa on March 11, 2010 and closed in the Kingdom of Tonga on March 23, 2010.
The Dialogue was designed to strengthen the capacity of the region's future leaders to manage challenges collaboratively, positively and creatively and it was an event of national and regional significance. This intensive, exciting and intellectually demanding program brought together 120 individuals to examine, discuss and report on current strategic issues across the Pacific.
An excellent range of speakers contributed to the EPLD Opening. Speakers covered sustainable economic development, social, environmental and political subjects of relevance to the region and were drawn from Papua New Guinea, Fiji, New Caledonia, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand and Australia.
"Navigating Our Future Together" was the theme of EPLD, which conveyed the idea of charting a course, working together, and negotiating the shifting tides and currents. The program focused on a number of subthemes, including economic growth; regional co-operation and infrastructure; governance and leadership; security; stabilizing and strengthening communities; climate and environment, and industry education and health.
As for all previous similar conferences, study tours formed the central and critical plank of the conference. Study tour destinations were Papua New Guinea, The Solomons, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, Australia and New Zealand.
The EPLD Closing was almost exclusively devoted to high quality presentations by each of the 10 study groups with thought provoking and insightful commentaries on each presentation provided by Dr 'Ana and in particular by HRH The Princess Royal, Princess Anne.
Please visit the CSC Australia alumni: www.cscaustralia.com.