From September 19-24, 2008, the third class of Central America Leadership Initiative (CALI) Fellows, self-named CAtaLIzers, compromised of 24 highly accomplished leaders from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, gathered at the Aspen Meadows Resort in Aspen Colorado, for their second in the series of four seminars – Leading in an Era of Globalization. For this seminar in particular the CALI Fellows had the extraordinary opportunity to share the seminar experience with the South Africa Leadership Initiative (ALI) Fellows, a first in CALI history. Together Fellows explored both the challenges as well as the opportunities globalization presents for the region. The six-day seminar guided by Aspen Institute trained moderators – Stace Lindsay (senior moderator), Skip Battle (senior moderator), Harry Strachan, Ferial Haffajee, Bruce Robertson, Sylvia Gereda (moderator in training), and Karl Flowers (moderator in training) – covered an extensive array of globalization issues ranging from economics, science and technology, and politics, to religion, culture, and values. Fellows stayed with their classmates for the “check-in” and “check-out” sessions, as well as the values session, but where mixed with the ALI Fellows for the rest of the seminar.

One of the highlights of the week was the interactive tele-conference with American economist Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Founder and Co-President of Millennium Promise Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty and hunger. After sharing his views on the globalization mayhem of today world, Fellows had time for questions, which were vividly answered. The Q&A was filled with words of wisdom, passionate advice, laughter, but ultimately a big sense of urgency.

At 6 a.m. of day five Fellows went for a spectacular 3-hour hike to Maroon Bells, a best-loved mountain trail in Aspen. The panoramic view, the beautiful Alpine lakes, the quaking Aspen groves and the wildflower-sprinkled meadows made the experience that much more worthwhile. In the evening, The Aspen Institute hosted a Public Forum titled Leadership in an Era of Globalization: Central America and South Africa. The panelists pre-selected to discuss the opportunities and challenges globalization had placed at their doorsteps where CALI Fellows Andres Botran, Secretary of World Food Security Program, and Alberto Solano, Latin American Programs Director at Global Partnerships, and ALI Fellows Raisibe Morathi, Executive Director of Group Services at Sanlam Limited, and Derek Thomas, Executive Director of Letsema Holdings. Peter Reiling, Executive Vice President of Leadership and Seminar Programs at The Aspen Institute moderated the dialogue. To this event attended predominant and active members of The Aspen Institute, as well as Aspen local community members.

During this seminar, Fellows spent time presenting, polishing and vetting their leadership project proposals to their peers. These projects are a signature requirement of the CALI Initiative 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.

The week concluded with an extraordinary off-site dinner at the Catto Environmental Studies Center at Toklat. Great locally cooked food, live music, traditional hospitality, and a beautiful natural setting amid the woods and bonfire accompanied attendees.