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)

 

 

Member Care and Lausannne 3: Blog Three

The United Nations and the Global God

The Lausanne 3 Conference brought together some 4000 people this past October in South Africa. Here are excerpts from one of the seven MCA blogs at the Global Conversation portal at Lausanne 3.

The main question of this particular blog:
How does the work of the United Nations relate to the work of member care and Christian mission, and vice versa? Is the mission/member care community able to effectively help humanity's problems apart from intergovernmental bodies like the United Nations? Yes, No, or Probably?!

 

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Consider these two brief quotes below as a launching point for discussion. Leave a comment!

"The United Nations is a 20th-century organization facing a 21st-century challenge as an institution with impressive achievements but also haunting failures, one that mirrors not just the world’s hopes but its inequalities and disagreements, and most important, one that has changed but needs to change further….The single greatest problem facing the United Nations is that there is no single greatest problem; rather there are a dozen different ones each day clamoring for attention. Some, like the crisis in Lebanon, the Palestinian situation and the nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea, are obvious and trying. Others we call “problems without passports”— issues that cross all frontiers uninvited, like climate change, drug trafficking, human rights, terrorism, epidemic diseases, and refugee movements. Their solutions, too, can recognize no frontiers because no one country or group of countries, however rich or powerful, can tackle them alone." Shashi Tharoor, The Good for Something United Nations, Newsweek, September 4, 2006

"The Christian mission requires that we meet basic human needs for education, food, water, medicine, justice, and peace. As is evident in the Apostle John’s assertion that Jesus was sent to “destroy the works of the devil” (I John 3: 8), our mission is to continue his earthly mission by undertaking the kind of organized research and enterprises that combat evil in all its forms—violence, injustice, poverty, environmental exploitation, drug trafficking, and disease…In this way, Christians extend God’s rule in the world, particularly in the transformation of society, render the Christian gospel believable, and make world evangelization possible. All of this is to the ultimate glory of our good and gracious Creator and Redeemer God." David Hesselgrave, describing the essence of Dr. Ralph Winter’s “kingdom mission.” Evangelical Missions Quarterly, (Volume 46, April 2010; p. 196).

Note: The above quotes were part of a presentation at Fuller School of Psychology in the United States in June 2010. The presentation focused on the role of organizational culture in mission/aid and its impact on staff well-being and operational objectives. Participants were encouraged to explore viable ways to practically link and connect with some of the most challenging global issues facing humanity. You can access for free the materials and audio/video at:

http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/fuller.edu.4220124415.04220124420

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Reflection and Discussion

1. How does the "Probably" video clip relate to one or both of the quotes above?

2. Share an observation or a practical example about how the mission/member care community and intergovernmental bodies like the United Nations  mix or don't mix.

3. What items in this entry can be helpful for you to discuss in yourorganization/setting?