Humanity Care: UPGs and SDGs 7

Member Care Updates Special News--January 2020 Issue 129

Member Care Updates Expanding the global impact of member care Working together for wellbeing and effectiveness Special News--January 2020 Following Jesus Globally The Global Pearl of Great Price Applications for Member Care and Mission The Pearl of Great Price Detail from cover: Global Member Care Volume Two (2013) Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. John 12:26 NIV  Warm greetings! In this Update we feature one item: a short article that we jointly authored, just published online in the Lausanne Global Analysis. In it we distill several of our core perspectives and strategies for staying current and relevant in view of the many new challenges and opportunities for serving Jesus in our world. Following Jesus Globally: Engaging the World through Global Integration --The article is also in French, Spanish, and Portuguese (official translations by the Lausanne Movement). We also link to a copy of the article which has a translation tool for 50 languages (not official translations by the Lausanne Movement). --We list five suggestions at the end of this Update to stimulate discussions and applications of this article for mission and member care. --We plan to host online round tables in 2020 as a way to further interact with colleagues about the themes in this article. Please consider discussing and sharing this Update/article with your colleagues and networks. And join the conversation--consider writing a short comment at the end of the article. Many thanks! See also: --Into the Communities of Unreached Peoples (MC Update, June 2019) --Righteous and Relevant Leaders (MC Update, June 2018) --Global Member Care Model—Seven Spheres (MC Update, February 2017) ---------- Our Special News-Updates 1) promote the wellbeing and effectiveness (WE) of staff and sending groups and 2) support the diversity of colleagues with member care responsibilities. The focus is on the mission sector with applications for/from the overlapping health, development, and humanitarian sectors. Warm greetings from Geneva, Kelly and Michèle       --Share your comments and resources on our MCA Facebook page  --Send us your ideas and resources for future MC Updates MCAresources@gmail.com Featured Resources Following Jesus Globally The Global Pearl of Great Price Applications for Member Care and Mission UN photo (UNRWA) Palestinian refugees in Yarmouk, Syria (January 2014) Global Integration: A framework for actively and responsibly engaging with our world, collaborating locally through globally for God’s glory. For the last 10 years we have been working increasingly across sectors (humanitarian, health, development, peace-security, United Nations) as psychologists in mission. Central to our work has been a simple, strategic framework which we call  Global Integration (GI). GI is a framework for actively and responsibly engaging with our world, collaborating locally through globally for God’s glory. What's in the Article? In Following Jesus Globally, we share our updated description of the GI framework and present the material in terms of three strategic “GI Directions” to carefully and prayerfully consider: --Following Jesus into Humanity Care --Following Jesus with Global Integrity --Following Jesus as Global Integrators. We conclude this short article with a checklist of seven “directional commitments” for engaging in our world strategically and relevantly, locally and globally. The 20+ end notes include many additional perspectives and resources too.  What Does it Mean? Some Applications for Member Care and Mission Following Jesus Globally, like the GI framework itself, is meant to help us forge new relationships and pursue new opportunities for addressing major issues affecting our world and especially the Church-Mission Community’s work among unreached peoples. It supports our efforts for being salt and light for God’s glory; promoting the growth and development of workers in the context of sacrifice, stressful work, and prudent risk; calling upon our best selves--the common sense of our human belonging, identity, and mutual responsibility--as we seek to engage our precarious, perilous, yet precious world as followers of Jesus Christ. Here are five areas of application for the GI Directions emphasized in the article (humanity care, global integrity, global integrators). How can these GI Directions help us to: --Support mission workers and sending groups in their well-being and effectiveness? --Equip mission workers and sending groups with tools and opportunities for their work? --Equip member care colleagues who work with others besides mission staff? --Support colleagues across sectors via materials developed in member care/mission? --Stay informed about and pray for current and crucial issues facing humanity? Notes --For more ideas for applying GI Directions including across sectors, see the Volume 2--Application Section on the website for the Global Member Care book series. --Here is a separate link a copy of the English version which provides a translation tool into 50 languages. These additional translations are separate from the three official-professional translations done for the Lausanne Movement’s Global Analysis (French, Spanish, Portuguese). We note that online translations are helpful yet have limits, as the technical terms and idioms, for example, are not always easily translated or understood.  Member care: Renewing the strengths of our souls

MC Sync-Link 12

Member Care Update—December 2017

Special News—1 December 2017

During 2017 we are syncing our CORE MC entries with our monthly MC Updates. Essentially, we'll add a monthly weblog entry that contains brief excerpts from the MC Update for that month. By linking their two strap lines together, the purpose and potential for connecting these two MCA tools becomes clear: "expanding the global impact of member care...reflections, research, and resources for good practice." May these materials encourage and equip you as you endeavor to practice member care well, with character, competence, and compassion.

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The Essential Review
Three Years of Resources and Reflections
(2015-2017 Index)
(preview of the Global Integration Update for December 2017)

Click HERE to access it.

In this summary Update we index the GI Updates from 2015-2017. These 17 Updates both shape and are shaped by the foundational thinking for the global integration framework (defined below). They contain crucial resources and reflections for understanding and engaging with major issues facing our world. We have kept the Index simple. It includes the title, link, and a short description of the content. We encourage you to review the Index and to note the topics (resources and reflections) that are the most relevant for your work.

Global Integration

Actively integrating our lives with global realities 
by connecting relationally and contributing relevantly
on behalf of human wellbeing and the issues facing humanity,
in light of our integrity & core values (e.g., ethical, humanitarian, faith-based).

This Update concludes with seven commitments that reflect many of the values and directions that have influenced our development of the global integration framework. Ultimately global integration involves "global integrators" whose lifestyles are marked with personal integrity, relevant skills, and healthy relationships that are leveraged for good. (adapted from the summary entry for the Global Integrators series, CORE Member Care, December 2015)

Warm greetings from Geneva,

Kelly and Michele

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or on the MCA Facebook page.

Share this Update with your colleagues and networks.

Global Integrity 25

Summary and Summons
A Global Integrity Movement

Moral Wholeness for a Whole World

This entry is very special.

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This is the 300th entry since the weblog began 10 years ago (December 2006--December 2016). Many thanks Michèle for your input and inspiration to me! This entry is also special because it is both a summary of the global integrity entries and a summons for a global integrity movement. This strategic topic is a capstone marking this 10 year learning journey to share "resources, research, and reflections for good practice."And it reflects my yearnings--and I think lots of people's yearnings throughout the ages--for peaceful, just societies; for well-being for all; for virtuous living; for the better world for which we were created. Ad majorem Dei gloriam. Kelly

Integrity is moral wholeness—living consistently in moral wholeness. Its opposite is corruption: the distortion, perversion, and deterioration of moral goodness, resulting in the exploitation of people. Global integrity is moral wholeness at all levels in our world—from the individual to the institutional to the international. Global integrity is requisite for “building the future we want—being the people we need.” It is not easy, it is not always black and white, and it can be risky. These entries explore the many facets of integrity with a view towards the global efforts to promote sustainable development and wellbeing.

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Summary

Let’s Be the People We Need

25 Entries on Global Integrity: January—December 2016

We have certainly traversed a variety of terrain in our exploration of integrity at the individual-institutional-international levels. These 25 entries, listed below by title/topic, have helped us to get an initial feel for how global integrity is part of the corporate, faith-based, UN, social, environmental educational, psychological, moral, and philanthropic areas. Three of the overlapping themes that we have regularly encountered on this year-long trek, and which we have endeavored to highlight, can be summarized in these assertions.

--Integrity begins with oneself. Personal transformation is foundational for social transformation.

--Integrity requires external referents and accountability. Trust yourself...but verify, don't self-justify.

--Integrity, with its emphasis on endeavoring to live consistently in moral wholeness, is a core dimension needed in the global efforts for human-planetary wellbeing. There is no development without moral development.

1. Definitions—Global Analysis article (2015), Lausanne Movement

2. United Nations Personnel—UN Competency Development (2010)

3. We Have A Problem—research on leadership qualities, Lausanne Movement

4. Facing Ourselves—Facing Up to the Challenge of Evil and Suffering (2013)

5. Corporate Integrity—United Nations Global Compact, Principle 10: Anti-Corruption

6. Living with Our Deepest Differences—Global Charter of Conscience (2012)

7. Anti-Integrity—personal reflections, Transparency International

8. Corruption Connections—EXPOSED Campaign

9. Hiding Hypocrisy…at all levels—Ten Psychological Tactics for Avoiding Accountability

10. Affirming Integrity...at all levels—Ten Psychological Tactics for Avoiding Accountability

11. Pro-Integrity—Global Declaration Against Corruption, Anti-Corruption Summit: London 2016

12. Education for Global Citizenship—Gyeongju Action Plan (2016), UN DPI/NGO

13. Integrity in Professional Psychology—Universal Ethical Principles for Psychologists (2002) etc

14. Positive Psychology and Integrity—Authentic Happiness

15. Integrity Needs External Referents—personal reflections

16. Integrity Training—Integrity Action

17. Executive Integrity—Managing Executive Health (2008)

18. Creation Integrity—World Council of Churches, UN, Vatican, Earth Charter, Earth Day

19. Public Integrity—Center for Public Integrity

20. Philanthropic Support for Integrity—John Templeton Foundation

21. Christian Integrity—Cape Town Commitment (2010), Lausanne Movement

22. Christian Missional Integrity—Serving Jesus with Integrity (2010)

23. International Anti-Corruption Day

24. Living in Integrity—Trio Gatherings

25. Summary and Summons—A Global Integrity Movement

Summons

Let's Build the World We Want

Global integrity is a multi-level global good. It belongs to us all. But it must be discussed, debated, understood, emphasized, and cultivated. Global integrity does not happen by chance. Rather it takes intentionality to see it take root in our personal, organizational, social, and national lives. Like the character and virtue in which it is embedded, it is refined in the caldron of life’s tough challenges and choices. 

I believe our common identity and shared responsibility as global citizens can be leveraged to "integrate global integrity at  all levels." I believe it is a propitious season to undertake a new (and renewed) joint initiative--a strategic, skilled, relational coalition/alliance that resolutely and unhypocritically emphasizes integrity on behalf of our "precarious, perilous, but precious" world.  Invest in integrity. 

I envision a growing Pro-Integrity Platform that can help to shape and support a sustainable Global Integrity Movement. Some ideas for the entities that could help form such a Platform-Movement are listed below, several of which have been described already in the 25 weblog entries. As for the overall objectives, value-added benefits, relevant products, funding sources, and functional structure that would embody such a global effort for global good…well, that is TBD.

Investing in Integrity: Civil Society

--Templeton Foundation. Character and Virtue Development is one of its four emphases.

https://www.templeton.org/--Caux Foundations—Initiatives for Change.  Caux Forum 2017—Just Governance for Human Security

http://www.caux.ch/Just-Governance (see also the Principles for Business, Caux Round Table)

--Globethics. http://www.globethics.net/ (see Higher Education Ethics in Action: The Value of Values Across Sectors, based on the 2016 conference).

--Lausanne Movement-Global Integrity Network, Lausanne Movement. https://www.lausanne.org/networks/issues/integrity-and-anti-corruption

(next consultation: in USA April or May 2017)

--Center for Christian Thinking, Biola University. http://cct.biola.edu/

--Trinity Forum. http://ttf.org/ “The Trinity Forum is a nonprofit organization that works to cultivate networks of leaders whose integrity and vision will renew culture and promote human freedom and flourishing.”

--Center for Study of Global Christianity. http://www.gordonconwell.edu/ockenga/research/index.cfm

--Pew Research Center. http://www.pewresearch.org/ (see Global Attitudes and Trends)

--World Council of Churches. http://www.oikoumene.org/en/ (see Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace)

--International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development. http://www.partner-religion-development.org/

--Transparency International. http://www.transparency.org/

--International Anti-Corruption Conferences. https://iaccseries.org/ (17th in December 2016--Panama; 18th in 2018 in--Copenhagen).

--Integrity Action. http://integrityaction.org/who-we-are

--World Bank (see the Integrity Vice Presidency)

--Positive Psychology Center, University of Pennsylvania. http://ppc.sas.upenn.edu/

--Etc.

Investing in Integrity: UN and UN-Related

-- DPI/NGO. http://outreach.un.org/ngorelations/ (note the 2016 Education for Global Citizenship Action Plan)

--UN Office on Crime and Drugs http://www.unodc.org/

--SDG 16, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg16 (to be reviewed at the High Level Political Forum in 2019)

--UN Convention Against Corruption. http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CAC/index.html

 (various meetings in UN Vienna)

--UN Global Compact. https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/our-work/governance/anti-corruption (see Principle 10 also)

--UN Anti-Corruption Day (9 December). http://www.anticorruptionday.org/ (theme for 2016: United Against Corruption)

--UN Task Force on Religion and Development (see Engaging Religion and Faith-Based Actors in 2016)

--UN Academic Impact. https://academicimpact.un.org/

-- Etc.

Afterword

I want to note that this vision for a Pro-Integrity Platform--Global Integrity Movement is profoundly influenced by the Global Integration framework (GI) that we have been promoting over the past six years. GI involves actively integrating our lives with global realities by connecting relationally and contributing relevantly on behalf of human wellbeing and the issues facing humanity, in light of our integrity and core values (e.g., ethical, humanitarian, faith-based) for God's glory. Global integration requires global integrity. And both are inseparable for global integrators.

Global Integrators---25

Summary and Conclusion
Globalntegtration for Global Integrators

Detail from cover
Global Member Care: Crossing Sectors for Serving Humanity

You can leave a comment and share resources
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 for Member Care Updates and Global Integration Updates.
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This is the final entry on Global Integrators. The 25 entries reflect my best conceptual thinking, my clearest directional sense, and my deepest heart-felt yearnings for colleagues around the world to link their skills and values on behalf of the major issues that are devastating humanity. It has definitely been both stretching and enriching. I trust the same is true for you as you review the entries, discuss them with others, and consider ways to apply them and to further develop GI. 

 There are three parts to this entry:

--listing of the 25 current topics on Global Integrators (January-December 2015)
--listing of the 10 initial topics on Global Integration (July-December 2011)
--a summons and seven commitments for Global Integrators (conclusion)

 One guiding question stands out as I have endeavored through these entries to help shape and support the emerging corps of Global Integrators. How can colleagues around the world practically apply the GI framework in various settings-sectors in order to connect relationally and contribute relevantly? In other words, how can GI People link their skills and values as forces for good in order to make a difference in our world?

Part One

Global Integrators
25 Topics, January-December 2015
Click HERE to access all 25 entries

GI-1. Background and Overview--Globalntegtration for Global Integtators

GI-2. Trans-Practitioners—Working in the Trenches, the Towers, and Everything In-Between
GI-3. GI People for the SDGs—Connecting and Contributing for Sustainable Development
GI-4.  Sector Connectors—Personal Reflections on Crossing Sectors
GI-5.  Global Disintegration—The Precarious Exploitation of People-Planet
GI-6. LTPeople—People Loving People with Truth and Peace)
GI-7. Taking the Pulse—Global Reports
GI-8. Global Intercessors—Praying for the World
GI-9.  Charting Your Course in the Missio Dei-Missio Mundi
GI-10. GI Training—Pathways for Preparation
GI-11.  First Love—Values that Guide and Goad GI
GI-12. Transforming the World—A Call for Personal Transformation
GI-13. Staying Updated—Staying Outdated
GI-14. GI Corelitions—Core Group of Colleagues-Coalition of Organizations
GI-15. Global Innovators—Making Important and Sustainable Differences 
GI 16. The Preeminent Pantocrator—Connection vs Contention
GI 17: Global Interns—Common Ground as Learners-Practitioners
GI 18: Global Towers and Global Trenches
GI 19. The Global VaticUN—How Far Should We Go with GI?
GI 20. Globe-Bael and Globe-Babel—New Concepts and Old Cautions for Global Integrators
GI 21. 7Is for GIs—Seven Indicators for Global Integrators
GI 22. Faith-Based Foundations—Christian Worldview
GI 23. GI Partnerships—At the Global Tables and in the Global Trenches
GI 24. Resilience for Global Integrators--Staying the Course
GI 25. Summary and Conclusion--Globalntegtration for Global Integtators

Part Two

Global Integration—10 Topics, July-December 2011

(emphasis on member care and mental health applications)
Click HERE to access all 10 entries (located at the end) 

GI 1. Foundations and Directions
GI 2. Windows and Agendas
GI 3. Tran(s)pan in the GI Commons
GI 4. GI and Psychology International

GI 5. Mapping GI

GI 6. Finding Our GI Voices
GI 7. GI Footprints
GI 8. Climbing or Confining—Three Commitments for GI
GI 9. Writing GI Statements
GI 10. Conclusion: Moral Courage and Global Duty

Part Three

Conclusion
.A Summons and Commitments for Global Integrators
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We encourage colleagues to grow deeply and to go broadly as Global Integrators. One way that we support colleagues to do so is through the materials in the GI Updates, sent every two months to nearly 2000 emails around the world. You can sign up easily HERE. The GI Updates (2015-current) along with the initial “GI paper trail” (2012-2014) are archived on our main MCA websit in the GI section.

 A Global Summons for Global Integrators

The previous 24 entries had identical opening paragraphs (see next paragraph). The difference in the new version below is indicated in yellow highlights. The new version is neither speculative nor tentative. Rather it is a global call to purposefully join together now as Global Integrators on behalf of the needs and opportunities in our wonderful but troubled world. 

We think that the time is coming definitely here 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 definitely here 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).

Commitments for Global Integrators

The seven commitments below are adapted from The Missional Heart of Member Care (IBMR, April 2015). They reflect many of the values, directions, and commitments that have been highlighted in these 25 entries in 2015 and the previous 10 entries in 2011.

1. We commit to diligently pursue our own journeys of personal and professional growth—to grow deeply as we go broadly.

 2. We commit to integrate the inseparable areas of our character (resilient virtue) and competency (relevant skills) with compassion (resonant love).

3. We commit to go into new areas of learning and work: crossing sectors, cultures, disciplines, and comfort zones.

4. We commit to embrace our duty to work in difficult settings, including those permeated by conflict, calamity, corruption, and poverty as those in great need are often in places of great risk.

5. We commit to have clear ethical commitments and standards that guide our work in global integration, respecting the dignity and worth of all people.

6. We commit to working with others to promote wellbeing and sustainable development, building the future we want and being the people we need.

7. Add your core values-commitments here, in relation to global integration.  For example: integrity (consistent moral wholeness), agape (sacrificial love for people), Pantocrator (Jesus Christ), and ad majorem Dei gloriam (God’s glory).

Global Integrators--24

Resilience for Global Integrators
Staying the Course

Rwanda, refugee tents circa 1994; photo credit UNHCR

We think that the time is coming for a diversity of colleagues to join 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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You can leave a comment and share resources
at the end of this entry and on our Facebook page for:
 Member Care Updates and Global Integration Updates.

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"Human resiliency is the ability to face reality: to engage with and grow through life's challenges and adversities via inner strength, social support, coping skills, and core beliefs/values including life purpose and spiritual meaning."
Kelly and Michele O'Donnell

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This entry focuses on the need for resilience in order to remain effective as global integrators. It is a reminder that GI Involvement comes with a cost, and sometimes a great cost to our personal stability, sanity, overall health, and  relationships via critical incidents, cumulative stress, etc.

Resilience is a protective factor of resilience (defined above) which is necessary to stay the course over the long-haul in GI. There are certainly so many more perspectives, principles, and resources that can be shared. We invite you to add some of yours via the comments section. It would also be very helpful to do a survey to assess what global integrators (and different types of global integrators) do to remain resilient.

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Member Care Update—November 2015
Resiliency Toolkit–Strengthening Ourselves and Others: This Update focuses on developing resiliency. It provides practical resources to  promote well-being and effectiveness (WE) for workers in mission, aid, and development as well as for member care workers themselves. The resources include brief assessments and articles–core items in a versatile toolkit to strengthen yourself and others. 
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Periodically we do special Updates that feature items to put in such a member care toolkit. Five past examples are archived HERE: 12/2009 Resiliency, 8/2010 Self-Care, 3/2012 Work-Life Balance, 1/2013 Cool Tools, and 10/2014 Creative Healing. We finish the Update with a reflection on resilience from Pearls and Perils of Good Practice ( excerpt below--available now as an ebook) as well as one of our favorite resiliency songs, Ready for the Storm.

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“For the mission/aid community, helping can often involve staying sane—and alive—in unstable, insane places....It is not that mission/aid work always deals with life-threatening experiences, of course. Rather it is just that helping to relieve the “maims and moans” of creation takes its toll. Mission/aid workers, like the people they are helping, have some special challenges and needs for resiliency...”(pp. 2,3)

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Headington Institute—Resources

“The Headington Institute partners with humanitarian relief and development organizations and emergency responders, before, during, and after deployment in order to ensure the wellbeing of individuals. Our team of psychologists, many with over 30 years of clinical experience, bridge cutting edge academic research with practical application at the field level, in order to strengthen the impact of humanitarian response and promote the long-term wellbeing of humanitarian personnel.” (from website) Some examples of their resources:

--Resilience

--Stress and Burnout

--Trauma

--Moral Injury (blog entries, quote below)

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“I became interested in moral injury a few years ago when I worked with military veterans who were struggling to make peace with things they had seen or done, sometimes more than 40 years after the fact. Moral injury…is defined as the lasting impact of participating in, witnessing, or failing to prevent something that goes against deeply held beliefs and values. People who are helping others during an emergency or after a disaster don’t have the same experiences as those who go to war, but the nature of this work can bring people face to face with human suffering and tragic outcomes. An emergency responder might be haunted by a life that could not be saved, or an accident that could have been prevented.” Lisa Finlay, Guilt and Shame: The Messy Part of Moral Injury, 20 July 2015

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and maintain a good sense of humor...

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Final Reflection

I finish this entry by citing a medley of quotes which appeared in my first entry on Global Integration, back in  January 2015. The quotes are basically exhortations to help us stay the GI course with integrity and skill.
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"Persevere as you pursue areas that you are passionate about and stretch yourself into new areas of interest as part of life-long learning.  As in most human enterprises, there can be political agendas, power dynamics, territoriality, and dysfunctional behaviors to navigate” (O’Donnell, 2012, p. 201).  Keep in the forefront the opportunities for “selfless moral struggle” in partnering with others (Patel et al. 2011, p. 90) and the “duty and choice to risk your own rights and well-being” on behalf of fellow humans (O’Donnell, 2011, p. 187). “Embrace lifestyles that reflect commitments to equality, justice, and wellbeing for all” (O’Donnell, 2012, p. 201). Develop your personal character and professional competence as a responsible global citizen committed to “seeing reality clearly… [including] physical and mental suffering due to human cruelty… [without giving up] our dream for a more loving and peaceful humanity” (Mollica, 2013, p.15). Connect with a supportive caravan of colleagues for your Global Integration journey in the service of humanity. Remember that in all you do and in whatever comes your way, “your task is to be true, not popular” (Luke 6:26, The Message)." 
 

Global Integrators--23

GI Partnership:
At the Global Tables and in the Global Trenches

Image from the UN's Partnership for SDGs website

We think that the time is coming for a diversity of colleagues to join 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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You can make comments at the end of this entry.

See also our GI Facebook page to comment on
 the MC Updates and the GI Updates.
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The material below is from Staying Current-Navigating the News
(Global Integration Update, December 2015, Personal Reflections).
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To say “Your side of the boat is sinking” makes no sense in view of the fact that we are all passengers on the same precarious global boat. We must all do our part to make sure that the Sustainable Development Goals do not lapse into the Fatigue-able Development Goals or worse, morph into a set of Sustainable Survival Goals.

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We believe that a variety of people must be at the “global tables” in order to help shape and influence agendas, policies, and action in the “global trenches.” That includes people from all countries, sectors, and faith backgrounds, who are informed and skilled, and dedicated to the common good. The UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Transforming Our World) explicitly encourages such diverse and competent involvement and encapsulates it in Sustainable Development Goal 17: “Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.” (see also the partnership examples and updates at Partnerships Engagement for the Sustainable Development Goals)

  

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One of the main challenges in working internationally [in GI] is how best to convey important perspectives and arrive at consensus given the diversity of people/organizations around the world who are involved or want to be involved in global affairs. This challenge includes how to make room at the global table and in the global trenches for perspectives/agendas that are influenced by one’s own national, sectoral, institutional, and/or personal interests as well as one’s world view (and which may or may not contribute towards the common good).

It is often pointed out by people of faith that the Agenda is highly secularized and does not include God and dependence on God in the picture. While this is true, it can be argued that this “omission” is a necessary reality given humanity’s diversity and the need to find common ground (vs it being humanistic arrogance or anti-religious). We believe it is important to understand, apply, and critique the Agenda (just like other global efforts/affairs) according to one’s own world view and beliefs-values. Our CORE Member Care weblog is currently dealing with these issues, as part of the “Global Integrators” series. Two of the main assertions are the importance of personal transformation for social transformation and the importance of moral development for sustainable development.

The Agenda in our view is a crucial rallying point for the world community to truly make a difference on the horrific conditions in which so many fellow humans live. Two stats in particular come to our minds: one billion urban slum dwellers; 1.5 billion people living in settings exposed to violence and conflict that threaten their physical and mental integrity. There are many more stats like these of course that shine light on conditions of great need, vulnerability, and exploitation in our world, including forced migration, human trafficking, gender-based violence, gender inequality, maternal health and safety, education, corruption, and many other areas addressed by the Agenda.

Is the Agenda part of some conspiracy to weaken national sovereignty, undermine one’s freedom or faith, or usher in an authoritarian world order? Not in our view. Which is not to say however that this Agenda, like similar global efforts, should not be carefully monitored and critiqued, including the extent that it goes after the systemic influences/structures that prop up global injustices and inequities. And which is not to say that the Agenda, like any good thing, could not be somehow high-jacked for ill-intentions. Keep in mind that the Agenda is NOT a legally binding document or treaty, or something being forced on people or governments.  It certainly has moral weight and major influence (and so it should) but it is fundamentally a voluntary set of consensually derived aspirational goals in light of the serious issues facing humanity-planet.

Having just come back from a trip that included connecting with urban refuges in the Middle East and the poor in Africa—people in desperate situations—we frankly do not have much patience for armchair criticisms that trivialize or denigrate the work of the humanitarian-development sector. We appreciate and affirm the combined efforts of the UN, governmental, and civil society sectors and its dedicated personnel who take risks and make sacrifices often at great personal cost. We do however appreciate informed critiques (including our own!) and know that there is much room for improvement and at times for confrontation within the humanitarian-development sector. (see the World Humanitarian Summit website for many examples, including the September 2015 synthesis report Restoring Humanity: Global Voices Calling for Action)

 

Excerpts from Transforming Our World (September 2015)

We finish with some core quotes from the Agenda that relate to partnership—to encourage us all as we seek to work together in GI at the global tables and in the global trenches.

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 “We are determined to mobilize the means required to implement this Agenda through a revitalised Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, based on a spirit of strengthened global solidarity, focussed in particular on the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable and with the participation of all countries, all stakeholders and all people.” (Preamble)

“The scale and ambition of the new Agenda requires a revitalized Global Partnership to ensure its implementation. We fully commit to this. This Partnership will work in a spirit of global solidarity, in particular solidarity with the poorest and with people in vulnerable situations. It will facilitate an intensive global engagement in support of implementation of all the Goals and targets, bringing together Governments, the private sector, civil society, the United Nations system and other actors and mobilizing all available resources.” (paragraph 39)

"We the Peoples" are the celebrated opening words of the UN Charter. It is "We the Peoples" who are embarking today on the road to 2030. Our journey will involve Governments as well as Parliaments, the UN system and other international institutions, local authorities, indigenous peoples, civil society, business and the private sector, the scientific and academic community – and all people. Millions have already engaged with, and will own, this Agenda. It is an Agenda of the people, by the people, and for the people – and this, we believe, will ensure its success.” (paragraph 52)

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Note for this weblog entry:
We also want to mention the need to address global injustices and global inequities related to the current global governance systems--a central issue which relates to but is not sufficiently addressed by  SDG 10: "Reduce inequality within and between countries." For example with regards to health, consider this perspective: "Power asymmetry and global social norms limit the range of choice and constrain action on health inequity; these limitations are reinforced by systemic global governance dysfunctions and require vigilance across all policy arenas....Global governance for health must be rooted in commitments to global solidarity and shared responsibility; sustainable and healthy development for all requires a global economic and political system that serves a global community of healthy people on a healthy planet. " (The Lancet-University of Oslo Commission on Global Governance for Health, The Lancet, Feb. 2014,  p. 5)