The 2018 YMCA World Urban Network (WUN) kicked in Shanghai on October 15, attended by more than 100 representatives from over 50 foreign and domestic cities, according to Shanghai Municipal Commission of Ethnic and Religious Affairs.
Themed in "innovation, integration, development, and exploration", the five-day conference is hosted by the Shanghai YMCA, a century-old social organization who joined WUN in 2012.
CEOs, general secretaries, and chief staff officers gather together to discuss the development path of the Christian-based movement in cosmopolises. The participants talk about the YMCA movement with social development through keynote reports, group discussions, a pilgrimage, a charity bazaar, and close contacts with Shanghai's cultures, etc.
Founded in 1972, the YMCA World Urban Network (WUN) aims to improve the communication and sharing between urban YMCAs of the same type to face challenges. The conference is conducted every three years. The platform exists to build peer support and offer training and development opportunities to general secretaries, senior workers, and volunteer leaders of the YMCAs.
Ms. Gloria Hidalgo from Columbia serves its president and Mr. Bob Gilbertson from Seattle, the United States, the general secretary.
