TakingITGlobal

4 Message from our Founders 2013 brought many exciting new partnerships and enrichment to our programs at TakingITGlobal. Our revamped website now features an international days section focusing on the global issues that are most important to our members, and the launch of our Explore150 app is connecting young Canadians to historic, natural and cultural locations across our country. The Culture Connect program empowers participants to build understanding with peers across different backgrounds and cultures through intercultural exchange. These highlights amongst new developments at TIG, along with a focus on strengthening many on-going programs and partnerships. TakingITGlobal's staff and volunteers have had a busy year working on a variety of programs that have enabled youth and educators to create positive impact in their communities. Youth engagement across the world opened up numerous opportunities for international cooperation on many projects and facilitated cross cultural dialogue that has allowed for an increased awareness of a global community. We continue to engage and support youth globally with the aid of our donors and partners across our main areas of focus; Digital Youth Engagement, Global Education and Social Innovation. TIG launched Culture Connect, a program that encourages young people to share, reflect on, and better understand the diverse nature of global culture. Appealing to digitally engaged youth, the curriculum was built inside TIGed's Virtual Classroom platform, with a new mobile interface built using HTML5 web standards, ensuring accessibility to all Smartphone platforms. This facilitated engagement amongst youth with diverse backgrounds from over 30 different countries. We were also excited for the debut of Explore150, an app that allows young people to discover, celebrate and share the beauty and inspiration offered by natural, cultural and historical sites across Canada. Our Digital Media Bloggers selected sites and developed content to showcase the diversity of their personal narratives about places that have shaped their perspective on what it means to be Canadian. Their contributions have created the most comprehensive youth-created guide to locations across Canada, with momentum building towards Canada's sequicentenntial in 2017. Our Youth Movements program developed a new mobile impact tracking platform in collaboration with the UN-Habitat Urban Youth Fund. This platform works to more effectively connect youth leaders to track the impact of their projects and be inspired by the work of peers across the globe. The platform toolset creates a more effective flow of information between UN offices and projects in the field, allowing increased responsiveness to the needs and challenges of front line youth projects. Throughout the year, our members have remained committed to their work, and their efforts have allowed TIG to be represented at numerous international events throughout the year. We are grateful to all that made 2013 a year that has exceeded our expectations! Together, we will continue to support youth across the world who passionately pursue their desire to create positive change in the world. Sincerely, Jennifer Corriero Executive Director Michael Furdyk Director of Technology

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