From July 8-11, 2008, the second class of Central America Leadership Initiative Fellows, self-named Calidos (a play on words meaning both warm blooded and CALI II), gathered at Gamboa Rainforest Resort, a hotel situated at the heart of the tropical forest and adjacent to the Panama Canal, in Panama for their fourth and final seminar – The Promise of Leadership. The four-day seminar guided by Aspen Institute trained moderators – Stace Lindsay, Harry Strachan and María Eugenia Brizuela de Ávila marked both the end of the formal program and the beginning of the next stage of the Fellow’s life long journey toward enlightened and proactive leadership.

 

During this seminar, Fellows spent time formalizing their leadership projects, a signature requirement of the CALI programs in which each Fellow undertakes a project of his or her design aimed at testing their leadership skills on an issue they feel passionately about while giving back to the region.

 

To celebrate the culmination of their 18-month journey and graduation, María Eugenia Brizuela de Ávila , Arturo Condo, Stace Lindsay, Stanley Motta, Peter Reiling and Harry Strachan, on behalf of the CALI Foundation Council hosted a reception and dinner with Jacqueline Novogratz, Henry Crown Fellow and CEO and Founder of Acumen Fund at the Museo del Canal Interoceánico de Panamá in the Old City of Panama. To the event attended prominent members of Panama’s civil society, predominantly the private sector, and also members of the CALI community, among them Inaugural Class Fellows Arturo Condo, Victor Vial and Miguel Simán; CAtaLIzer Fellows Pablo Jenkins, Gisela Porras, Ariel Espino, and Diego Herrera; and other CALI supporters such as Lionel Lopez, Country Director of TechnoServe in Guatemala. 

 

The week concluded with an extraordinary graduation party at Roberto Motta’s residence, where Fellows where awarded their diplomas and were handed a special gift, a book by James O’ Toole, “Creating the Good Life: Applying Aristotle’s Wisdom to Find Meaning and Happiness”, and a chacara, a handmade bag, woven from the fiber of the wild pineapple plant, from the Ngobe-Bugle people in Panama. 

 

Fellows promised to remain in touch via the CALI e-mail list serve, Facebook and the Aspen Leadership Global Network (AGLN); and committed to report back on the successes and challenges of their projects.