Martin Lupa

Martin is a networker who loves meeting new people and tries to connect them purposefully. Such connections usually generate some synergies or at least eliminate “reinventing” the wheel.  Martin also co-founded a platform (and a fb group) called Changemakers to bring likeminded people (social innovators) together. His long-term mission is to search for the greatest leaders across the Czech society to develop and inspire jointly the next generation of Czech leaders. He started these activities during his first sabbatical 10 years ago. He also co-created a non-for-profit project called “Lídrárna” and he organized discussions with inspiring people, mainly from non-profit and business areas.

For the last year and a half, he has been organizing meetings with politicians across the political spectrum for active high school and university students, with the goal to bring more young people into politics, as he sees significant “areas for improvement” among ministers and MPs.

His latest project called YPALA (Young Public Affairs Leaders Academy), is an effort to offer education for future top politicians and state officials. It is intended for young people aged 17-35 with an interest in politics and/or work in the state administration. Some participants are members of political parties or their youth organizations. In total, 8 political parties are represented in the program, those that are united in the Association of Youth Political Organizations (AMPO). In YPALA, there are speakers, who are experienced experts from the political sphere, state administration, business, non-profit and academia, and who are willing to pass on their experience to the young generation.