Less than one month ago, on June 12th, as an Atlas Corps Fellow attendee I had the privilege to experience one of the best curated and innovative conferences, such as DEVEX World. Happening once every two years, this edition was a a full day of inspiring and interactive sessions dedicated to turning global development ideas into action. More than 1000 experts, motivated young professionals, experienced leaders, were there as change-makers, thinkers and doers.
Through nearly 30 sessions to explore, some shaped as workshops and some as “TED-talks” format, the audience had the chance to learn from themes, such: data revolution, story-telling and movement building, new funding models, innovating at scale, business transforming development, etc.
These insightful talks were as exciting in content as in delivery. To give you a better idea why, I’d
just like to mention only a few speakers here: Rula Ghani – First Lady of Afghanistan, Malcolm Gladwell – New York Times best seller author, Miguel McKelvey- co-founder and chief culture officer of WeWork, Jaha Dukureh – FGM survivor, founder of Safe Hands for Girls and leader of anti-FGM campaigns in Gambia, Katja Iversen – CEO of Women Deliver and many other experts of small and large movements, all perfectly embodying DEVEX’s conference motto: converge, exchange, inspire. 
Going back to my notes from the conference, I stop at the movie dedicated to the heroic children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, under the title ‘Kailash’, which I’m looking forward to watch in the cinemas later this year.
To all my fellows Fellows who will be serving in Washington DC or New York in 2020, this will definitely be a gr
eat chance for you to discover new platforms, learn from inspiring “doers”, share your ideas with other peers and experts – so get on it and don’t miss this opportunity!
