An institution for the experience of office.
United World Leaders is an independent, nonpartisan nonprofit institution. It brings together Presidents and Prime Ministers, ministers, ambassadors and other current and former senior officials with leaders of enterprise, finance, philanthropy, science, academia and civil society, and gives them a platform to act together.
The rarest resources in international life are not money or information. They are trust between people, and the judgement that comes from having governed.
Every former President and Prime Minister carries something no institution can manufacture: the relationships of a career at the highest level, an understanding of how crises begin, and the credibility to be heard in capitals that would not listen to anyone else. Most of that leaves public life when they do.
United World Leaders exists to keep that experience at work. It is more than a network. It is a platform that gives exceptional leaders institutional credibility, international visibility, strategic relationships and a community of peers, so that they can achieve what they could rarely achieve alone.
Its independence is the condition of its usefulness. An initiative led by one government is seen through that government’s interests; one led by a single bloc, company or party meets the same limits. United World Leaders belongs to no government and takes no side, which allows it to offer what formal channels often cannot: neutral institutional ground.
It complements governments, the United Nations and regional organizations; it does not replace them. Its value lies in the relationships it makes possible before they are urgently needed.
What the Institution is, and is not
Independent
Not affiliated with nor governed by any single institution or government. Authorized to enter strategic agreements and to establish regional and international headquarters.
Nonpartisan
Political neutrality is its first value. Members serve in a personal capacity; the Institution endorses no party and no candidate.
Built for action
Action over rhetoric. Leaders create through it: they propose, establish and lead Councils and Initiatives, with the Institution’s support.
A government, a party, a lobby, or a substitute for diplomacy between states. It does not represent any member’s country, and no member speaks for it without its authority.
The ecosystem
Several platforms, one purpose.
- CouncilsOpen
Councils and Initiatives
Standing bodies of leaders and experts, each led by a Chair, on peace, the economy, governance, health and education.
- PolicyOpen
United World Leaders Policy Institute
An action-oriented think tank for practical, implementation-oriented policy work.
- YouthOpen
Young United World Leaders
Mentorship, projects and the Young World Parliament, for the next generation of leaders.
- AcademiaOpen
United World Leaders Forums
Former Heads of State and leaders of enterprise on university campuses.
- SocietyOpen
United World Leaders Society
A separate organization for economic development, investment and business cooperation, with its own governance.
How it is measured
Not by the number of meetings held or conversations started, but by what those relationships make possible.
Launched
Created
Developed
Improved
A short history
Founded as Lives Amplified
A society of leaders convenes in New York and Miami. Its first name, Lives Amplified, is still lettered on the Institution’s seal.
The first members of the Board
Former Prime Minister of Belgium Yves Leterme joins the Board; former President of the UN General Assembly Miroslav Lajčák joins the Institution.
An institution of former leaders
Former Presidents of the Dominican Republic and Serbia and a former Prime Minister of Ukraine join. Partner convenings in Dubai, Bucharest, Monaco and Washington.
United World Leaders
The Institution takes its present name. Former Presidents of Senegal, Malawi, Mauritius, Slovakia, the Maldives and Trinidad and Tobago join, with former Prime Ministers of Moldova and Lebanon.
China and the United States
In Guangzhou, the Chairman delivers a keynote on developing better cooperation between China and the United States.
Councils and the next generation
Chairs are appointed to the Women’s Healthcare Council, the Council on the Integrity of Governance in the Age of AI and the Global Consular Leadership Council. Young UWL holds webinars with former Presidents Ameenah Gurib-Fakim and Joyce Banda.
The Young World Parliament
The procedure of a standing deliberative body for the next generation of leaders is published in preview.