“In crafting this publication, the Global Governance, Justice, and Security program has orchestrated a unique convergence of expertise from distinguished individuals: a former UN official and Senior Advisor to the International Peace Institute, and an organization development consultant. Their collective expertise have carefully melded to assess and advocate for the critical role of substantive civil society engagement, which is pivotal in maximizing the ambition of this September’s Summit of the Future.” — Richard Ponzio, Senior Fellow and Director of the Global Governance, Justice & Security Program
As the facilitators of the inter-governmental preparations for the September 2024 UN Summit of the Future labor away to hammer out a consensual Pact for the Future ahead of the summit, civil society leaders are feverishly planning their own global conference in support of the Summit.
The conference, which will be held in Nairobi on 9-10 May 2024, as part of consultations between Member states, civil society, major groups, and other stakeholders, is not expected to adopt a parallel Pact for the Future but seeks to help ensure that the one being negotiated benefits from the wisdom, creativity, and perspectives of “global” citizens in their diversity in an inclusive, impactful, and innovative way. However, to make the Summit a “once in a generation opportunity” truly fit for the future, the three critical foundational pillars of the global conference need not only to be amplified but also expanded upon with an eye towards implementation and leadership.
The Nairobi Conference is a unique opportunity for civil society to assert its right to co-author the multilateralism we need in the face of unprecedented global changes heralding momentous paradigm shifts. “We the peoples” as enshrined in the UN Charter is not a mere phrase but holds the aspirations, visions, and co-creative imaginations of billions on whose behalf multilateral decisions are taken. The representatives in the conference are, therefore, not only the vision-holders but are a microcosm of civil society exercising their fullest imaginative potentials to be harbingers of different possible futures in these epochal times. The ongoing work on a People’s Pact for the Future is an eloquent step in the right direction.
The three core objectives of the Conference—Inclusive, Impactful, and Innovative—represent the key for the success of the global conversation. The fourth one—Implementing—which is implicit in the Co-Chairs’ concept note, needs to be made explicit given that it is critical to catalyze the desired futures.
Inclusive. Inclusivity has become a buzzword everywhere, often prioritized over transformation. When it is not ignored, it tends to be co-opted by dominant local and global systems anxious to shore up their diminished relevance and legitimacy in the face of mounting challenges for which they were not designed. Genuine inclusion signifies not only diversity in age, caste, creed, race, religion, country, and culture, but also diversities of worldviews, ways of knowing, being, seeing, sensing, learning, and relating to others and nature. This entails that each conference participant should engage in a critical self-reflexivity exercise to ensure that unconscious biases, beliefs, assumptions, and power asymmetries do not unwittingly exclude the wisdom and unique perspectives of others, particularly women, youth, and elders. In this connection, listening with humility and being open to unlearning and relearning is critical.
Deliberately designing an inclusive conference and creating generative spaces are prerequisites towards an Impact for the Future. The diverse stakeholder-constituted Impact Coalitions envisaged by the Conference Co-Chairs are what is needed to provide a holistic understanding of complex and systemic issues; they enable ‘the multilateral system to ‘see itself’ and contemplate from different perspectives its internal cracks and contradictions. This is critical in our increasingly complex and entangled futures, and a planet on the brink of a polycrisis. Only by creating spaces for intersecting, inter-learning, and interweaving different ways of sensemaking and co-creating can civil society or any organization for that matter, offer solutions that hold seeds of futures that are restorative, and regenerative.
Impactful. This implies making decisions and taking actions not for effect but to bring about genuine transformation. It entails, prioritizing those actions that have the maximum positive impact for the greatest number and for the most vulnerable. Being impactful is closely related to envisioning and enabling genuine transformations in the lives of the people and the planet. Helpful prompts that can be envisaged during the conversation, especially by the Impact Alliances is to ask: What type of multilateralism can work for the most vulnerable in the most positive ways? What needs to be prioritized to make the shift from living on Earth to living with Earth?
Innovative. Innovation is vital to creatively address the present and the emergent futures. However, often innovation is stymied by the seemingly insurmountable challenges and predicaments of the present, keeping us churning out incremental reforms and changes that are palatable to the hegemonic paradigms and their outdated institutions. To be innovative, it is not enough to sense into the future from the present. We are in an era of rapid changes and transitions, and the future is unlikely to be a linear projection of the past or present. Therefore, a good place to start is to literally put ourselves into the future—a future we wish to leave behind for future generations, one we dream of inheriting, and one we ardently wish to inhabit. It is also not enough to solely rely on technical solutions or technology itself to deliver that future. It is worth remembering that technology is human-created, carrying our flaws and fallacies, biases and hypocrisies, and tends to be wielded in ways that benefit those who control its creation and dissemination. Therefore, the questions around innovations themselves need to be reimagined and re-scripted. For example: What kinds of innovation would enable us, as civil society, to be the most impactful and inclusive? What does innovation look like beyond technology? How can we ensure that technology is intrinsic to the population which will use it?
Implementing is where the proverbial rubber hits the road. Without solid plans for implementation, everything else is merely wishful thinking. Implementation is not a one-time project rollout, especially when the issues are complex, systemic, interlinked, and multilateral. Therefore, any work of actually landing the implementation must be done with humility and the knowledge that this is not the final solution. And as the conference Co-Chairs indicated in an earlier version of their concept note, the engagement of smart coalitions/alliances in ensuring “follow through and implementation beyond the Summit of the Future moment and its negotiated outcome” is one of the most critical steps in the entire convening process. The ImPACT for the Future package as a key deliverable of the conference should also go a long way in facilitating the process of follow-up implementation.
The four “I” processes and approaches are designed to help civil society offer complementary and impactful ways of helping the multilateral system move from what is to what if. To achieve this, a profound shift in our understanding of leadership is needed. ‘To lead’ was originally meant to facilitate the crossing of thresholds. To be effective, it should entail letting go of the way the world used to be and stepping into the potential of the way the world might be. It is during this threshold phase or liminal space that we experience post-normal times where the established paradigms no longer make sense, the cracks and fissures are visible, and the existing institutions and structures gradually lose their utility. This original meaning of leading is more relevant now than ever for the civil society gathering in Nairobi. It constitutes an invitation to see the world for what it has become and collectively reimagine how it might be different. Every choice we make, every decision we take is a vote for the future we wish to collectively manifest.
In the exercise of this liminal leadership, all participants are potential leaders and pathfinders as they lean in and learn how to navigate the in-between worlds through a process of unlearning and relearning. One of the key features of ‘Leading in Liminality’ is the capacity to imagine what the future would look like and bring it to the present to actualize it. Starting with the future is not to predict it but to transform a present that is already carrying the seeds not only of its demise but also of its rejuvenation. To facilitate this transformative future-back thinking in the context of the Nairobi conference certain questions need to be asked: What kind of multilateralism do we wish to bequeath to future generations? What assumptions, patterns, and dominant narratives that do not serve that future should be abandoned, let go? What seeds of that future are visible in the present that can be harnessed, nourished, scaled? Starting with a vision of the future breaks away from the present-forward thinking approach implied in the theme of the Summit of the Future: “multilateral solutions for a better future”. While offering solutions may facilitate inter-governmental consensus by drawing on lowest common denominators or past agreed language, such an approach will likely extend the lifespan of a problematic present whose expiry date may have long passed. To avert this trap it is critical that the Nairobi civil society conference be generative and future-anchored with the four “I”s outlined above serving as guiding transformative lights.
Unleashing the Transformative Potential of the 2024 UN Civil Society Conference on the Summit of the Future
By Sahana Chatopadhyay • Youssef Mahmoud
International & Regional Organizations
“In crafting this publication, the Global Governance, Justice, and Security program has orchestrated a unique convergence of expertise from distinguished individuals: a former UN official and Senior Advisor to the International Peace Institute, and an organization development consultant. Their collective expertise have carefully melded to assess and advocate for the critical role of substantive civil society engagement, which is pivotal in maximizing the ambition of this September’s Summit of the Future.” — Richard Ponzio, Senior Fellow and Director of the Global Governance, Justice & Security Program
As the facilitators of the inter-governmental preparations for the September 2024 UN Summit of the Future labor away to hammer out a consensual Pact for the Future ahead of the summit, civil society leaders are feverishly planning their own global conference in support of the Summit.
The conference, which will be held in Nairobi on 9-10 May 2024, as part of consultations between Member states, civil society, major groups, and other stakeholders, is not expected to adopt a parallel Pact for the Future but seeks to help ensure that the one being negotiated benefits from the wisdom, creativity, and perspectives of “global” citizens in their diversity in an inclusive, impactful, and innovative way. However, to make the Summit a “once in a generation opportunity” truly fit for the future, the three critical foundational pillars of the global conference need not only to be amplified but also expanded upon with an eye towards implementation and leadership.
The Nairobi Conference is a unique opportunity for civil society to assert its right to co-author the multilateralism we need in the face of unprecedented global changes heralding momentous paradigm shifts. “We the peoples” as enshrined in the UN Charter is not a mere phrase but holds the aspirations, visions, and co-creative imaginations of billions on whose behalf multilateral decisions are taken. The representatives in the conference are, therefore, not only the vision-holders but are a microcosm of civil society exercising their fullest imaginative potentials to be harbingers of different possible futures in these epochal times. The ongoing work on a People’s Pact for the Future is an eloquent step in the right direction.
The three core objectives of the Conference—Inclusive, Impactful, and Innovative—represent the key for the success of the global conversation. The fourth one—Implementing—which is implicit in the Co-Chairs’ concept note, needs to be made explicit given that it is critical to catalyze the desired futures.
Inclusive. Inclusivity has become a buzzword everywhere, often prioritized over transformation. When it is not ignored, it tends to be co-opted by dominant local and global systems anxious to shore up their diminished relevance and legitimacy in the face of mounting challenges for which they were not designed. Genuine inclusion signifies not only diversity in age, caste, creed, race, religion, country, and culture, but also diversities of worldviews, ways of knowing, being, seeing, sensing, learning, and relating to others and nature. This entails that each conference participant should engage in a critical self-reflexivity exercise to ensure that unconscious biases, beliefs, assumptions, and power asymmetries do not unwittingly exclude the wisdom and unique perspectives of others, particularly women, youth, and elders. In this connection, listening with humility and being open to unlearning and relearning is critical.
Deliberately designing an inclusive conference and creating generative spaces are prerequisites towards an Impact for the Future. The diverse stakeholder-constituted Impact Coalitions envisaged by the Conference Co-Chairs are what is needed to provide a holistic understanding of complex and systemic issues; they enable ‘the multilateral system to ‘see itself’ and contemplate from different perspectives its internal cracks and contradictions. This is critical in our increasingly complex and entangled futures, and a planet on the brink of a polycrisis. Only by creating spaces for intersecting, inter-learning, and interweaving different ways of sensemaking and co-creating can civil society or any organization for that matter, offer solutions that hold seeds of futures that are restorative, and regenerative.
Impactful. This implies making decisions and taking actions not for effect but to bring about genuine transformation. It entails, prioritizing those actions that have the maximum positive impact for the greatest number and for the most vulnerable. Being impactful is closely related to envisioning and enabling genuine transformations in the lives of the people and the planet. Helpful prompts that can be envisaged during the conversation, especially by the Impact Alliances is to ask: What type of multilateralism can work for the most vulnerable in the most positive ways? What needs to be prioritized to make the shift from living on Earth to living with Earth?
Innovative. Innovation is vital to creatively address the present and the emergent futures. However, often innovation is stymied by the seemingly insurmountable challenges and predicaments of the present, keeping us churning out incremental reforms and changes that are palatable to the hegemonic paradigms and their outdated institutions. To be innovative, it is not enough to sense into the future from the present. We are in an era of rapid changes and transitions, and the future is unlikely to be a linear projection of the past or present. Therefore, a good place to start is to literally put ourselves into the future—a future we wish to leave behind for future generations, one we dream of inheriting, and one we ardently wish to inhabit. It is also not enough to solely rely on technical solutions or technology itself to deliver that future. It is worth remembering that technology is human-created, carrying our flaws and fallacies, biases and hypocrisies, and tends to be wielded in ways that benefit those who control its creation and dissemination. Therefore, the questions around innovations themselves need to be reimagined and re-scripted. For example: What kinds of innovation would enable us, as civil society, to be the most impactful and inclusive? What does innovation look like beyond technology? How can we ensure that technology is intrinsic to the population which will use it?
Implementing is where the proverbial rubber hits the road. Without solid plans for implementation, everything else is merely wishful thinking. Implementation is not a one-time project rollout, especially when the issues are complex, systemic, interlinked, and multilateral. Therefore, any work of actually landing the implementation must be done with humility and the knowledge that this is not the final solution. And as the conference Co-Chairs indicated in an earlier version of their concept note, the engagement of smart coalitions/alliances in ensuring “follow through and implementation beyond the Summit of the Future moment and its negotiated outcome” is one of the most critical steps in the entire convening process. The ImPACT for the Future package as a key deliverable of the conference should also go a long way in facilitating the process of follow-up implementation.
The four “I” processes and approaches are designed to help civil society offer complementary and impactful ways of helping the multilateral system move from what is to what if. To achieve this, a profound shift in our understanding of leadership is needed. ‘To lead’ was originally meant to facilitate the crossing of thresholds. To be effective, it should entail letting go of the way the world used to be and stepping into the potential of the way the world might be. It is during this threshold phase or liminal space that we experience post-normal times where the established paradigms no longer make sense, the cracks and fissures are visible, and the existing institutions and structures gradually lose their utility. This original meaning of leading is more relevant now than ever for the civil society gathering in Nairobi. It constitutes an invitation to see the world for what it has become and collectively reimagine how it might be different. Every choice we make, every decision we take is a vote for the future we wish to collectively manifest.
In the exercise of this liminal leadership, all participants are potential leaders and pathfinders as they lean in and learn how to navigate the in-between worlds through a process of unlearning and relearning. One of the key features of ‘Leading in Liminality’ is the capacity to imagine what the future would look like and bring it to the present to actualize it. Starting with the future is not to predict it but to transform a present that is already carrying the seeds not only of its demise but also of its rejuvenation. To facilitate this transformative future-back thinking in the context of the Nairobi conference certain questions need to be asked: What kind of multilateralism do we wish to bequeath to future generations? What assumptions, patterns, and dominant narratives that do not serve that future should be abandoned, let go? What seeds of that future are visible in the present that can be harnessed, nourished, scaled? Starting with a vision of the future breaks away from the present-forward thinking approach implied in the theme of the Summit of the Future: “multilateral solutions for a better future”. While offering solutions may facilitate inter-governmental consensus by drawing on lowest common denominators or past agreed language, such an approach will likely extend the lifespan of a problematic present whose expiry date may have long passed. To avert this trap it is critical that the Nairobi civil society conference be generative and future-anchored with the four “I”s outlined above serving as guiding transformative lights.
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