In July of 2006, the first group of CALI Fellows graduates in Antigua, Guatemala.

Throughout the CALI voyage the group created an invaluable circle of friendship, support, advice and wonderful trust. As one of its Fellows Diego de Sola stated in his speech given the day of the graduation ceremony, “over the last 18 months we have laughed, cried and learned together. But most of all, we’ve “transitioned” at the hands of Gandhi, Tolstoy, Martin Luther King and of course, Aristotle. A renewed sense of conviction, responsibility and service has surfaced within all of us, that will undoubtedly serve to improve our region.”

The graduation of the first CALI class represents a new beginning towards the often difficult but rewarding path of effective and enlightened leadership. The class in fact crafted a project in the hope to help guide the first CALI class on its journey and future generation of Fellows. CALI I created the CALI Compact, which is an Initiative for Central American Leadership (ICAL). The CALI Compact is a network of individuals from Central America who are committed to bettering society faced with the challenges of the region, utilizing their knowledge and dialogue as pillars to eliminate dogmatism, debate paradigms, raise consciousness, lead initiatives and take action founded in values such as tolerance, humbleness, respect, trust, responsibility, authenticity and service.

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