Taking Action at the 2020 Skoll World Forum

In 2019, we embarked on a journey to learn more about the impact  of the Skoll World Forum. We also investigated what we could do to increase, extend, and amplify that impact in the future through intentional program design. We learned that delegates want more opportunities to connect, especially with other leaders who work within the same challenging systems. They want more opportunities to build up their knowledge and skills base. And they want us to create space to go beyond dialog and move the collective brain-trust of leaders who convene in Oxford toward unified action.

In 2020 we’ll host panel discussions that cover the meta-issues of our time: climate change, human rights, storytelling, capitalism, democracy, and beyond. We’ll also have a curriculum of six skills-focused workshops designed for social change leaders who are committed to driving impact at scale.

In the spirit of Collective Strength, we’re piloting a new kind of session at the 2020 Forum: Action Labs. Over the course of the Forum, we’ll host three Action Labs intended to build connection and drive action. These will be oriented toward new, generative thinking and forward momentum on specific topics including:

• The human face of climate change. Climate change threatens to undermine the drive for health equity and reverse health gains made. How can we meet the urgency of the moment to catalyze transformative action?
• Culture shifts on capitalism. Collaborate on culture-shifting ideas and actions that will accelerate the mind shift we need to move from an economy centered on profit to one centered on people.
• Funding systems change efforts. What do change leaders need to achieve the systems change they seek, and how can funders better support these collective efforts?

A departure from panel sessions and talks, Action Labs will bring a curated group of people together, meant to spark in-room collaboration and commitments to post-Forum actions—while balancing for what can be reasonably accomplished in a few hours.

We are excited to see what happens when we convene the world’s foremost leaders in these areas: encouraging new connections to form, igniting new ideas, all with an eye toward taking action.