Global Integrators--3

GI-People for the SDGs

We think that the time is coming for a diversity of colleagues to come together intentionally, visibly, and practically on behalf of global integration (GI). GI put simply is how we skillfully integrate our lives and values on behalf of the issues facing humanity. Likewise we think that the time is coming for colleagues to carefully reflect and act on what it means to be good global learners-practitioners--to seriously consider what it means to be what we are calling global integrators (GI-People).

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The world community via the United Nations continues its effort's to formulate the Post 2015 Development Agenda. This effort currently includes and is conceptually organised around six overlapping "essential elements" (dignity, justice, people, planet, prosperity, and partnerships--see above diagram, taken taken form the December 2104 synthesis report on sustainable development by the UN Secretary General, December 2014, paragraph 66). These essential elements in turn reflect the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) proposed in the UN Open Working Group's outcome document for SDGs  (July 2014). These goals are:

Goal 1	End poverty in all its forms everywhere
Goal 2	End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
Goal 3	Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Goal 4	Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
Goal 5	Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Goal 6	Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Goal 7	Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
Goal 8	Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
Goal 9	Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
Goal 10	Reduce inequality within and among countries
Goal 11	Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Goal 12	Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Goal 13	Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts*
Goal 14	Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
Goal 15	Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
Goal 16	Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
Goal 17	Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

We firmly believe that global integration (GI), as an emerging set of perspectives, processes, and practices, has a key role to play in sustainable development. Through GI (defined simply as 'integrating our lives on behalf of humanity and in view of our core values') we are intentionally building "the future we want" a rallying phrase which is the title and theme of the Rio +20 outcome document on sustainable development (June 2012). And from a GI perspective, which emphasizes character and competencies,  we must become “the people we want to be.”

GI practitioners at all levels of involvement can play key roles in leveraging their skills, interests, and indeed passions in order to connect more meaningfully across sectors on behalf of the wellbeing of both humans and our planet.  Consider carefully the words of the UN Secretary General in his synthesis report on sustainable development (December 2014). They are as inspirational as they are challenging, and addressed to "governments and people everywhere" (paragraph 25).

"1. The year 2015 offers a unique opportunity for global leaders and people to end poverty and to transform the world to better meet human needs and the necessities of economic transformation, while protecting our environment, ensuring peace and realizing human rights. 2. We are at a historic crossroads, and the direction we take will determine whether we will succeed or fail in fulfilling our promises....4. Transformation is our watchword. At this moment in time, we are called upon to lead and act with courage. .... 11. Our globalized world is marked by extraordinary progress alongside unacceptable – and unsustainable – levels of want, fear, discrimination, exploitation, injustice and environmental folly at all levels….13. We have the know-how and the means to address these challenges, but we need urgent leadership and joint action now. 14. These are universal challenges. They demand new levels of multilateral action, based on evidence and built on shared values, principles and priorities for a common destiny. 15. Our global commitments under the [United Nations] Charter should compel us to act. Our sense of empathy and enlightened self-interest should compel us to act. Our responsibilities as stewards of the planet should equally compel us to act. None of today’s threats respect boundaries drawn by human beings, whether those boundaries are national borders or boundaries of class, ability, age, gender, geography, ethnicity or religion. ...25. The stars are aligned for the world to take historic action to transform lives and protect the planet. I urge Governments and people everywhere to fulfil their political and moral responsibilities. This is my call to dignity, and we must respond with all our vision and strength."

What to Do?
Here are five suggestions for getting updated and staying updated regarding the UN 's sustainable development efforts--starting right now! See the items in yellow highlights for the fast track.

1. Watch the "Post-2015 Intergovernmental Negotiations, 17-20 February 2015. This four-day meeting will be broadcast live from the United Nations New York on UN Web TV. It takes place from 10am--1pm and 3pm-6pm Eastern Time, all four days. Look over and save/print for reference, the two page summary "Elements Paper for Declaration Discussion" (pages 3-4).

2. Read (and reread!) the Secretary General's synthesis report on sustainable development, The Road to Dignity by 2030: Ending Poverty, Transforming All Lives, and Protecting the Planet (December 2014) (for a compelling rationale, see the opening 25 paragraphs--excerpted in the main quote above) Watch Ban Ki-moon's 13 minute launch of this report:
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?page=view&nr=872&type=12&menu=1807&template=1042&play=2070

3. Have a look at and periodically check the United Nations Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform. One item to look at for a quick update and overview is the section "2015 Time for Global Action for People and Planet" (including the short overview of the SDG process on the landing page)

4. Read the previous two entries on Global Integrators on this weblog. Want more? then have a look at some of the materials o n global integration that we have done (webinars, powerpoints, papers, etc.).

5. Although not without its flaws and failures (like any human institution), the UN in my view continues to be crucial for promoting and protecting human security/peace, human rights/dignity, and social progress/better standards of life (as highlighted in the Charter of the United Nations'  Preamble, 1945). One way to catch a quick overview of how these aspirations are playing out is by watching the annual UN 2014 Year in Review (below).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdpwkmsxcIE 

Loving Truth and Peace--9

LTP and SDGs

LTP is foundational for the fulfillment of the SDGs

The Age of Sustainable Development

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7PTbo4ZSW0

We are right in the middle, as the world community via the UN,  of formulating and negotiating the Post 2015 Agenda for sustainable development. What will be the agreed-upon goals, targets, and indicators that will take us to 2030? The Open Working Groups Outcome Document from July 2014 is the main reference point for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are emerging, building upon the previous efforts, especially the lessons learned from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Central to the upcoming SDGs is the massive effort to eradicate poverty in all its forms, prioritizing both people and the planet, and doing so by integrating the SDG’s social, economic, and environmental dimensions.

What’s next? Heading towards the SDGs in 2015

The next major step in the SDG process is the UN Secretary General's Synthesis Report due in November 2014. Here are some of the recent and upcoming events related to the SDGs, for reference (source: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/beyond2015-overview.shtml)

“In the lead up to the summit in September 2015 where world leaders are expected to gather to adopt the post-2015 development agenda, the Secretary-General and UN System will keep supporting UN Member States as intergovernmental deliberations continue. Results from consultations, key reports and other processes in 2014 will feed into the Secretary-General’s Synthesis Report, which is expected by the end of 2014. The Secretary-General’s Synthesis Report will be presented to Member States to set the stage for negotiations leading up to the September 2015 summit.

·         High-level Stocktaking Event on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (September 2014)

·         Special Session to Follow Up Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (September 2014)

·         Report of the Independent Expert Advisory Group on the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development (2014)

·         The Secretary-General’s Synthesis Report (2014)

·         World Economic Forum (January 2015)

·         Commission on the Status of Women [Beijing+20] (March 2015)

·         Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (April 2015)

·         Millennium Development Goals Report 2015 (July 2015)

·         Third International Conference on Financing for Development (July 2015)

·         Millennium Development Goals Gap Task Force Report 2015 (September 2015)”

Learning More about SDGs

One way among many to go further and deeper with the SDGs, is to participate in all or part of the free online course on sustainable development by Jeffery Sach’s et al. at the Earth Institute, Columbia University. We have included the introductory video lecture (11 minutes) at the beginning of this entry but you can watch the shorter course overview/promo too (five minutes) called, “The Age of Sustainable Development.” As you will see, the in-depth focus on sustainable development is not seen simply as the faddish-flavor of the month but rather as the main course for this century!

How does LTP (loving truth and peace) relate to the SDGs (sustainable development goals?  

We as humanity must love (highly esteem and sacrificially commit to): truth (honestly reviewing and acknowledging the world situation with its problems, injustices, in equities, etc. along with monitoring our progress in and responsibilities for improving the world) and peace (holistic wellbeing and harmony for all people and all nations—security, prosperity, development). Loving truth and peace for me is thus the foundational value and commitment  as I seek to do my part in the SDGs.

Some Questions

Are the SDGs actually achievable or just aspirational?

What types of major shifts are needed to see them realized?

What are humanity’s strengths and weaknesses in trying to accomplish the SDGs?

What can we learn from past efforts?

What are the core values that underlie the SDGs?

MC New Year(nings)--3

Out of the Slums

Taking a two-minute stroll

through the Nehru Nagar slums of Mumbai

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIaq_5GNI1I

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"Globally, there are over 1 billion slum dwellers in informal housing. By 2030, one in four people will be an urban squatter, rising to one in three by 2050, according to United Nations predictions."

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"Though scenes of squalor, rubbish and polluted waters look like destitution, shanty towns could provide rich seedlings for the urban revolution."

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Out of the Slums, Future, Smart Planet

Online report by Gaia Vince, 14 January 2013, BBC

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130114-slums-and-the-future-of-cities

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More excerpts from the online report by Gaia Vince:

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"I visited Khulna, a city in southern Bangladesh, where shrimp farming had brought considerable wealth to local landowners and the country as a whole – it was the second most important GDP generator after the garment industry. However, the city's success gathered misery in its outskirts as migrants were drawn to Khulna’s apparently gold-paved streets – around 40,000 people a year were moving there.

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In the town’s slums I met some of these fortune seekers. Sleeping seven-to-10 in one-room hovels, many of these people had been forced from their villages by river erosion, by increasing flooding due to sea-level rise, loss of subsistence farming due to increased salinity, and crippling poverty. Everyone came hoping for a better life for themselves and opportunities for their children."

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 And on a more positive note, a few urban and rural scenes

from Kuhlna, Bangladesh and the region:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ahQv0WDPbw

Safety and Protection in Dangerous Places—Part 5

Heroic People in Poverty

Pakistan,  August 2010. ©Abdul Majeed Goraya/IRIN

More and more areas are being inundated as floods spread south.

Over 20 million people are affected in the worst floods in Pakistan's history. 

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  Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;

maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.

Rescue the weak and needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked."

Psalm 82:3-4
(Scriptures on the poor/afflicted: click here)

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But the world is not so happy a place. Billions of people suffer impoverishment, many until the end of their miserable lives…[Such things] should not deter us from responding as best we can, using our talents to improve this always mixed record of trying “to save generations from the scourge of war,” “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights,” and to promote “social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.” The question is, can we do it? Paul Kennedy, The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present, and Future of the United Nations (2006, pp. 279, 289).

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Everyone loves real heroes. Right? They inspire us. They can protect or even save us. We want to emulate them. I have thought a lot about heroic people. On the top of my list are the poor: who have no exit visas from misery; who are plagued by problems without passports; who live in dangerous places; and who nonetheless continue onward in life as dignified human beings with integrity. These people are my heroes and my heroines.

Poverty Environments

In this entry I want to continue to expand our definition of “dangerous places.” It now includes five broad areas or "environments" with the latest one being "poverty environments." Notice in the list below that the first letter of each of the five areas forms the acronym POMPP. The word “pomp”—stately splendour—is virtually antithetical to the “stagnant squalor” being discussed in this current entry.

•Physical environments marked by life-threatening hazards including war, human rights violations, poverty, and disease (as well as road traffic and household-related accidents)

•Organizational environments in which poor management/governance can wreak havoc on both staff and operational objectives (including unresolved relational difficulties and ongoing organizational dysfunction)

•Moral environments contaminated by human corruption which exploits and injures others (Corruption is defined by Transparency International as the ‘abuse of entrusted power for personal gain.’ Covering up or ignoring corruption can be as reprehensible and damaging as the corruption itself.)

•Personal environments whereby an individual's serious problems can significantly interfere with his/her by th work/wellbeing and that of others.

•Poverty environments as reflected in the living situation of the nearly one billion slum dwellers and overlapping with the “bottom billion” who reside in the 58 poorest countries in the world in which the average life expectancy is 50 years, one out of seven children die before their first birthday, and over one-third of children suffer from long-term malnutrition (see The Bottom Billion by Paul Collier, 2007, pp. 7,8). Note that eradicating extreme poverty and hunger is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations for 2015.Watch the short overview about the MDGs called Make It Happen, in the MDG link above. 

I am now shifting the safety and protection focus of these entries–-from the mission/aid workers themselves to the vulnerable people for whom mission/aid workers provide services. Many of these people are in dangerous places marked by conflict, calamity, corruption, and poverty. Here are two resources to better understand and develop skills to help some of the people in these places. They are oriented to states, agencies, and field workers.

(Note: for more information on staff security issues, see the previous entries/resources as well as the June 2010 issue of the Humanitarian Exchange Magazine especially the article “Staff Management and Security.”)

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Resource Nine

Humanitarian Protection (Issue 46, March 2010), Humanitarian Exchange Magazine, Humanitarian Practice Network (text below from the online summary at HPN)

“…After little more than a decade, ‘protection’ has grown from a collection of activities executed by a handful of specialised agencies to being a key component of humanitarian action. Yet protection issues are still not systematically identified and addressed in humanitarian response and advocacy. In his thought provoking lead article, Marc Dubois argues that humanitarian actors must develop a more critical perspective on humanitarian protection, including an honest acknowledgement of their limitations. Related issues are examined in articles focused on the civilian protection mandates of peacekeeping missions and the challenges the protection cluster in Timor-Leste faced during the transition from emergency to development programming.

We also examine World Vision’s work to develop and test minimum standards in protection, a new field manual from ActionAid Australia, and efforts to develop more community-based approaches to protection in Afghanistan, Burma, Kenya and Pakistan.”

Resource Ten
UNHCR Handbook for the Protection of Women and Girls (2008)
(text below from the Introduction; note: also avaible in several other languages)

“This Handbook describes some of the protection challenges faced by women and girls of concern to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and outlines various strategies we should adopt with our partners to tackle these challenges. It sets out the legal standards and principles that guide our work to protect women and girls and outlines the different roles and responsibilities of States and other actors. UNHCR’s own responsibilities in this respect are explained, both as part of its mandate to secure international protection and durable solutions and as a United Nations (UN) agency. Suggestions for actions by UNHCR and partners to support women’s and girls’ enjoyment of their rights are also included. Examples of innovative practices from the field illustrate how these principles can be applied.

Who are women and girls of concern? This Handbook refers to the protection of women and girls with the understanding that we are referring to all women and girls of concern to UNHCR, namely women and girls who are: asylum-seekers, refugees, internally displaced, returnees, stateless, or who have integrated into new communities."

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Reflection and Discussion—Add Comments Below

1. Fill in the blanks:

You never really understand that________is all you need, until_______is all you have.

a. God

b. integrity

c. love

d. nothing

e. other

2. The more things you have, the less you realize what you really need.

True, False, or?

3. Three ways that I know I am in a safe place are…

4. Three ways that my sending group/organization helps people (especially poor people) who are in dangerous places…

5. Three ways that my sending group/organization (or I) could better help people (especially poor people) who are in dangerous places…

Safety and Protection in Dangerous Places: Part 2

Supportive Environments 

The Dandora Municipal Dumping Site, Nairobi, Kenya, October 2007, is a serious threat to children living nearby and the city’s general environment, according to the UN Environment Program. © Julius Mwelu/IRIN(Worldwide more than a billion people live in slums, with as many as one million living in in Kibera, Nairobi, Africa’s largest slum.)

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"…the most stressful events in humanitarian work have to do with the organisational culture, management style and operational objectives of an NGO or agency rather than external security risks or poor environmental factors. Aid workers, basically, have a pretty shrewd idea what they are getting into when they enter this career, and dirty clothes, gunshots at night and lack of electricity do not surprise them. Intra-and inter-agency politics, inconsistent management styles, lack of team work and unclear or conflicting organizational objectives, however, combine to create a background of chronic stress and pressure that over time wears people down and can lead to burnout and even physical collapse." (p. 6). John Fawcett, Stress and Trauma Handbook: Strategies for Flourishing in Demanding Environments (2003, World Vision)

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Here is the next set of resources to help mission/aid workers and others who live is dangerous places. Keep in mind that “dangerous places” is being defined broadly. It primarily refers to physical environments marked by life-threatening hazards including war, human rights violations, poverty, and disease. It also refers to organizational environments, as John Fawcett aptly notes in the opening quote, in which poor management/governance can wreak havoc on both staff and operational objectives. Some would also say that the most hazardous place in the world today, where an estimated 40+ million humans experience terminal stressors each year, is the womb.

Resource Three

Mainstreaming Safety and Security Management in Aid Agencies, Humanitarian Policy Group Briefing, March 2001 by Koenraad van Brabant. This Briefing gives a quick overview of the issues involved in staff security. It is based on a larger report and related to the author’s field manual, Operational Security Management in Violent Environments (2000) available for free download from the Humanitarian Practice Network (HPN). Note that this manual is being updated and the revision should be available this year. This manual offers vey detailed guidelines and practical information and is one of the main references in mission/aid. Note also that HPN has done updates on providing aid in insecure environments in 2006 and 2009.

Resource Four

Responsible Logistics for Hostile Places is a case study on the expulsion of various mission/aid workers from a country How did this group fare, how did their national friends in the country fare, and what did the organization do to support them all? Find out in The Perils of Pioneering, chapter 43 in Doing Member Care Well (2002). This chapter can be used as a learning tool to help you/your group prepare for similar situations involving sudden evacuations in the context of religious/political issues.

Reflection an Discussion

1. In what ways is poverty a “dangerous” place?

2. How might mission/aid workers and their sending groups be too focussed on their own health (comfort?) rather than the needs of those with whom they work? How might they not not focussed enough on their own health?

3. List a few things that your organization does practically to improve its security management practices.

4. Do you agree with Fawcett’s assertion about the possible debilitating effects of organizational culture and management? 

5. Describe a mission/aid organization or setting that you know where the organizational culture and management are very supportive, thus positively impacting staff well being operational goals.