Samriddhi, The Prosperity Foundation in collaboration with Asia Center for Enterprise successfully concluded the 3rd Asia Liberty Forum 2015, hosted exclusively at Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza, Kathmandu from January 8 to 10, 2015. The event saw the participation of over 300 changemakers from all over the world, all engaged in the fight for freedom as intellectual activists, entrepreneurs and budding professionals in the field of liberty.
The event kicked off on the 8th with Suraj Vaidya, Chairman, Samriddhi Foundation giving a warm welcome to all present national and international guests. Linda Whetstone of Network for a Free Society gave the keynote speech on ‘Engaging Youths on the Ideas of Liberty’; she has been working tirelessly behind the scenes of major liberty movements all over the world. The day ended with an opening dinner, with promises for fun-filled and informative sessions hence.
The second and third days were filled with concurrent discussion sessions, award ceremonies and in-person sessions with mentors among others.
Some of the highlights of the event included:
Elevator Pitch by Think Tank Start Up Training Graduates
25 graduates from the Think Tank Start-up Training each delivered a one minute pitch to the audience. The winner, decided by audience voting, was Kelly Dhru of Lawtoons, who pitched her idea of creating law comics for children to better understand the constitution and politics.
Concurrent Breakout Sessions
A total of 12 concurrent discussion sessions were held throughout ALF on a broad number of issues including education, policy issues, effective board management, retention of quality team members and the compatibility of religion and liberty among others. The panelists for each session were distinguished national and international speakers, the liked of Gagan Thapa, Anil Chitrakar, Linda Whetstone, Judd Weiss, Dan Grossman and Tom G Palmer among others. Sessions concluded with interactive discussions with the participants.
Remembering the lost heroes of Liberty
This sub-event was a tribute to the great champions of Liberty we’ve lost this past year and a toast to continuing their legacy.
Expressing ideas for a Free Society; a Creative Competition – Awards Ceremony
The winners for the national competition ‘Expressing Ideas for a Free Society’ were also announced; the first prize was clinched by Lopsang Dorje Lama for his music video on the ‘Invisible Hand’, the second went to Gopal Trital for the same concept visualized as a movie and the third prize winners were Nabin Bhatt and Rajan Lama for a documentary on school choice.
Jeevika Awards Ceremony
Centre for Civil Society’s Jeevika Asia Livelihood Documentary Festival provides a unique platform for filmmakers to disseminate information about livelihood trials and tribulations, and has provided inspiration for causes championed by the Centre. Its award ceremonies for the best films were held this year in Nepal under the Asia Liberty Forum 2015 banner.
Zero Hour with Freedom Champions
This unique session gave participants an opportunity to participants for an in-person discussion with their chosen mentor. An informal sessions of sports where people chatted with their favorite mentor on entrepreneurship, business ethics and everything else economics and liberty.
Freedom Dinner
The gala Freedom Dinner was an exclusive event closing of what had been two incredible days of making new friends, learning new ideas and sharing one’s work with those who are equally passionate about being in this movement. It began with a number of freedom toasts, moving on to Dr. Bholanath Chalise’s felicitation by the Fourm for being of the rare true champions of liberty and free economy in the country. His emotional speech left many close to tears.
Kutumba then continued the celebrations with their soulful music, which rapidly turned into foot tapping music leaving many wanting for more. The event ended with a formal recognition of the organizers and hints left for the next Asia Liberty Forum.
New Grant Opportunity Announced by Atlas Network!
Atlas network announced a new grant opportunity for think tanks in Asia to conduct original research focused on obstacles to market exchange and economic growth in their countries. More details about the grant can be found here.