“Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.”
—Brené Brown
Three months ago, the Internet Society decided to face a new challenge. We took ourselves out of our comfort zone to move our community to the next level: empowerment through education. We began the Chapters Training Program, born to satisfy the increasing need of our Chapter Leaders to engage their members in an impactful and informed way. The purpose was to identify and help form new leaders to work together to create local awareness, as part of our 2020 Action Plan .
This journey was not easy. However, our community embraced vulnerability and we overcame many obstacles, like change and uncertainty. In the end, we succeeded – because together our strength is bigger than our challenges. It’s part of our community’s DNA: having the conviction to build an Internet that enriches people’s lives and enables opportunities to all.We demonstrated that when we work together, we accomplish great things. Challenge becomes just a word… To be brave, first we need to be vulnerable and once we are brave, the sky is the limit!
I want to share the results of our work – and I hope we can all feel proud of ourselves! In less than 3 months we:
- Delivered 25 different courses to the community in 3 different languages (English, Spanish, and French) across 5 different time zones – covering 94 Chapters around the world
- Engaged 473 Chapter members
- Executed 322 Chapter initiatives
Thank you and applause to all the instructors, Chapter trainees, Chapter coordinators, and staff who joined us on this journey. You challenged yourselves to be brave and move from words to action. The Internet is not built alone, it is built day by day with the power of Us!
We are Internet Society and together we are strong.
Inspire others to join our community and be brave to make a change!
Image from the 2019 African Chapters Advocacy Meeting ©Victor Ndonnang/Internet Society