The Social Excellence Forum provides young future leaders around the world with unique training programs on Ethics and Human Rights Values, recognizing their importance as agents of change in their own social circles.
Through the training programs, high school leaders are connected with world renowned scholars, judges, experts from various disciplines and fields, scientists, social activists and opinion leaders, who act as their mentors, thus preparing them for their roles as leaders of tomorrow.
Since its establishment, the Forum has trained thousands of high-school leaders in 12 countries.
Watch the story behind our current endeavor: The International Mock Trial on Human Rights 2022
Students hailing from countries all over the world
Liberia
Connecticut
Israel
New Jersey
Sweden
Colombia
The Philippines
Turkey
Morocco
South Africa
Romania
Germany
United Kingdom
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The Social Excellence Forum was established in 2013 by attorney Avi Omer to provide high-quality programs for young future leaders, cultivating them in the spirit of Human Rights and Moral Values, so they, in their turn, will become agents of change in their own social circles.
At first the Forum ran biannual programs for high-school students in Israel, creating partnerships with the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Justice, the Israeli Supreme Court, Tel-Aviv University, Hebrew University, Haifa University and many other entities.
Our Rationale
The basic idea which leads the Social Excellence Forum’s activity is that the best way to inspire future leaders to take responsibility in the public sphere, and give them confidence in their ability to thus effect society, is through having them routinely “rub elbows” with the ones who did it and get advice and pointers directly from them.
Our Goal
We believe the way to better society is through cultivating its individuals, and especially its future leaders – and the time to do that is in the early stages of adulthood, when they are still considering the path they are going to take.
Our Tools
One of the unique tools to get youth to implement the values of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are Mock Trials on pre-determined cases on moral questions which provoke a discussion, thought and implementation of the material studied. In the mock trials, the young students are divided into teams and research and prepare the case, escorted by top law firms and university faculties of law, to finally conduct a trial in front of thousands of their peers.
The Elected Program
“The Elected” program, developed by attorney Avi Omer as part of the activity of the Forum for Social Excellence which he founded, is based on the rationale of making youth into agents of change through education on social responsibility leadership and Human Rights.
2013 – Establishment of the Forum
The Social Excellence Forum is established by attorney Avi Omer, with the view of providing young leaders with the tools and inspiration to become the leaders of tomorrow.
2013 – The Elected Program
The Social Excellence Forum initiates a unique biannual leadership program for 300 hand-picked young leaders, with the purpose of providing them with tools and inspiration to become future leaders and take social responsibility. The Elected Program gets top government elected officials, academics, professionals, activists, artists and opinion leaders to become mentors of the young future leaders. The program gets support from the Israeli Ministry of Education and creates unprecedented activities.
2014 – Convention on Leadership and Responsibility
The Elected Program holds the convention on "Leadership, Leaving One's Mark and Responsibility" in Haifa University with Members of Knesset, representative of Education and Social entrepreneurship from Google Israel, top businesspersons and social activists.
2015 – Blind Following of Leaders
The Elected students hold a convention on the subject of leadership and blind followers, which includes watching the film "The Wave" and talking live to its author, in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
2015 – Human Dignity and the Generation of Screens
The students of the Elected Program produce a convention on the subject of Shaming on the internet, under the heading of "Human Dignity and the Generation of Screens" in Tel-Aviv Museum. Attending: Minister of Justice, former Supreme Court judge Dvora Berliner, Professor Assa Kasher, Prof. Micha Popper and other esteemed guest speakers.
2016 – Israel-Germany Mock Trial
The Elected Program creates and holds its first International Mock Trial in front of 450 representatives of the young leadership in Israel. Israeli and German high school students team up and argue for and against a case on the balance between the Right to Life and the Freedom of Speech.
2016 – Youth Leadership in Israel
The students of the Elected Program hold a convention on the subject of Young Leaders in Israel with Members of Knesset, the Mayor of Haifa City, the President of Haifa University and others.
2017 – 2019 – The International Mock Trial on Human Rights
The Forum for Social Excellence embarks on its most ambitious project yet - a trial on the subject of racism, human dignity and science, where a case of a real historical figure is meticulously researched, analyzed and presented by 70 young litigators. The trial, sponsored by the Israeli Ministry of Education, takes places in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv University and Ashkelon College in front of 3,000 students.
2020-2022 – The International Mock Trial on Human Rights
After a successful Mock Trial in Israel, which spawned an educational video shown to thousands of students, a book and a documentary, the Forum for Social Excellence embarks on the next step: holding the trial with student representatives from a dozen countries around the world, in collaboration with the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Program. The project, in the midst of a world wide pandemic, is run online.
