The final plenary is dedicated to the Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders (ADEL), a tailor-made leadership program gathering young professionals from across the Atlantic before and during the conference. This year, the ADEL program connects 30 women and men, aged 25 to 35, who have been selected from a pool of over 1600 applicants. These young professionals have demonstrated leadership in their fields and aim to shape the regional and global agenda in politics, finance, business, civil society, academia and the media.
This year’s program, held from December 11 to 13, consists of structured group conversations with decision and opinion makers on key Atlantic development and cooperation issues, informal meetings with innovative community leaders and think tank representatives, and innovative workshops and sessions on collective intelligence, leadership and public policy, to name a few. It also leads to the creation of an interconnected community of 350 Alumni, that the Policy Center is following and inviting in various activities.
Every year, the final plenary of the Atlantic Dialogues conference is dedicated to the Emerging leaders. It provides a platform for the younger generation of Atlantic leaders to share their perspectives on the topic of their choice, but also serves a refreshing conference send-off. The group votes for four of their peers to represent them on stage, a customary way for the Policy Center to close the conference.
The Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders Alumni (ADEL) Portraits are a series of journalistic insights that delve into the stories and backgrounds of impactful young leaders of the ADEL community, now 350 alumni strong. These portraits are more than a biography as they capture the motives, success stories, career shifts, and vision behind each emerging leader’s pursuit of positive impact. From Morocco to South Africa, Germany to Canada, Brazil and the United States, these young leaders from very diverse walks of life came together in Marrakech at some point over the past 10 years to take part in the annual Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program, to connect with other young professionals and leaders from around the Atlantic basin, contribute to bridging the North-South divide very much present in the Atlantic space, and become strong actors of intergenerational dialogue which is a central value held by the Policy Center for the New South. This book compiles 30 inspiring portraits, written by freelance French journalist Sabine Cessou, specialized in African and European matters, and a Research Fellow of the Policy Center for the New South.