UN75 Multi-Stakeholder Global Consultation in San Francisco: a Collective Narrative
By Fyodor Ovchinnikov
On April 25, 2020, the United Nations Association of the USA, San Francisco Chapter (UNA-SF) in partnership with the University of San Francisco hosted the UN75 Multi-Stakeholder Global Consultation in San Francisco to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the start of the United Nations Conference on International Organization (UNCIO) and help the United Nations (UN) set priorities for the next twenty five years. This event was the culmination of a series of consultations with several stakeholder groups of San Francisco—the birthplace of the UN.
The group of fifty delegates included representatives of all stakeholder consultations hosted by the UNA-SF in March and April 2020—consultations with government & civil society; indigenous peoples (an interview); business, tech, and communities of wealth; homeless communities and frontline workers; healthcare communities; young professionals; and youth—as well as other voices included through an open application and selection process.
In the context of the rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic, this consultation was conducted online. A participatory process called World Café was used to combine the benefits of small group conversations and cross-pollination of diverse perspectives of the group-at-large. During the World Café delegates rotated across several virtual breakout rooms to share their perspectives, link ideas, identify patterns, and articulate actionable recommendations for the United Nations and other stakeholders. Representatives of all breakout rooms worked in triads to come up with a 3-5 min summary per triad highlighling key ideas and recommendations. All delegates had an opportunity to add to the summaries if they felt that something important was still missing.
After the summaries of key ideas and recommendations were shared and recorded, Anthony G. Gonzales from the American Indian Movement West and Dr. Marco Tavanti from the University of San Francisco offered insightful closing remarks grounded in many years of close collaboration with the UN on Indigenous Rights, Sustainability, and other important issues. UNA-SF President Mary Elizabeth Steiner concluded the event by sharing appreciation for all the members of the UN Global Consultations Committee who worked on this series of UN75 Global Consultations in San Francisco and to all the delegates who contributed with their perspectives and ideas.
Delegates’ reflections were processed into a collective narrative by Fyodor Ovchinnikov using the Collective Narrative Methodology. Elsia Galawish, Vice-President of Administration and Chair of the Nominating Committee of the UNA-SF, served as Head of Engagement for this consultation. Fyodor Ovchinnikov, Chair of the UN Global Consultations Committee of the UNA-SF, served as Head of Process & Reporting. A report based on this narrative will be submitted to the National Office of the United Nations Association of the United States of America in Washington DC, combined with reports from other consultations, to be shared with the UN and members of the United States Congress.
COLLECTIVE NARRATIVE
Recognizing the interconnectedness of all the issues facing humanity, we want to create a collaborative and multilateral world. To avoid heading further towards a unilateral and xenophobic world we must address siloed government structures, increased hostility and polarization, structural racism, and disparities between urban and rural areas, especially with regard to access to education, healthcare, and technology. The future we want is inclusive. Twenty five years from now we want equity in education, healthcare (including perinatal care), housing, racial relations, environmental justice, and food security among other areas.
Achieving this future requires changing our mindsets. We need to increase leadership thinking, systems thinking, and emotional intelligence to help people understand the world’s increasingly complex problems. We need to create new leaders by providing opportunities, modeling leadership behaviors, and spotlighting on progress. As we work on building a brighter future, climate change is definitely key to understanding our many interconnected challenges and equity needs to be the focus of every discussion.
A More Proactive United Nations for the Next Seven Generations
Following the wisdom of indigenous leaders, we are asking the UN to consider that decisions it makes will affect the next seven generations. In this time of a multifaceted systemic global crisis, we believe that the UN needs to be more proactive. So far the organization has been very reactive, which we can see right now in the context of COVID-19. We do not see any reason why the World Health Organization is not taking the lead, but instead is being overruled by countries that have power and money. We also see a growing discrepancy between corporate interests and societal interests, and we want the UN to play a bigger role in increasing accountability for corporate behavior.
Increasing Participation of Indigenous Peoples In the UN System
We discussed the idea of drafting and enacting a Universal Bill of Rights and we are calling for the UN to honor the treaties and other arrangements that were made between indigenous peoples and nation states. We are also asking the UN to elevate the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to a Convention on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, to increase participation of indigenous peoples in the General Assembly and let indigenous peoples have a more prominent presence in the UN System.
Reconnecting with the Original Vision of the UN in the Current Context
Some of us urged everyone to read the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ECOSOC, ICCPR, and ICESCR documents, and the UN Charter that is the backbone of the United Nations Organization. People who have not read the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights written in 1948 may be surprised to see what the authors of this beautiful document intended back then. Their intentions and wishes include much of what we are asking for and seem so far-seeing for those of us who were either not born or very young then. An important part that is missing from these documents however is how to make these ideas live, in policies, throughout the world, in the face of current politics and capacities to be involved.
The UN Should Grow Political Will While Staying Adaptable
We believe that the UN needs to have a stronger role, and the international law on humanitarian and environmental issues has to be implemented. We need to support consensus building and grow political will through global ratification of all international agreements, conventions and treaties by UN member states. The UN could require all member states to report on their activities annually with regard to active commitments. We think that people would be inspired to see that rules created by the UN are actually being followed, and it would foster engagement from the population. At the same time, all guidelines need to have room for change because, as we see with COVID-19, things can always change unexpectedly.
We Need Transparency at All Levels and Exemplary Accountability from Those at the Top
It is also important that the UN itself becomes more aware of its biases. We need more transparency from the UN: its trust and credibility are at stake as big funders to the UN dominate the conversation and therefore the conversation is not equitable. We want to see the UN speaking for all the nations, not for certain political and economic interests.
Also, the UN should reconsider how it communicates so that more people could be involved in its communications. We see a potential for the UN to better communicate the SDG's and the roadmap towards them. We would like to have an easier way for us to showcase the great work that the UN does and also to have online forums in addition to these amazing consultations where individuals could add their voices: something similar to OpenGov in the United States but for the planet.
Bottom up approach is crucial: we need transparency at all levels and exemplary accountability from those at the top. “Top down” rhetoric might be engaging powerful ideas, but there is worry that it is corrupt and/or disingenuous. We believe that the “energy” and integrity of bottom-up thinking could positively affect the dynamic at the top.
Inclusive Policy Should Be Informed by Lived Experience.
Today, we need to recognize the lack of engagement that runs in society. This lack of engagement does not stem from laziness. It comes from the fact that people are still not listened to. The underprivileged, minorities, disadvantaged people are being underrepresented and see their problems being dealt with without being able to voice their own inputs.
COVID-19 has been a great example of this. Healthcare workers have difficulty getting their voices heard and other essential workers are simply being forgotten in the discussion. COVID-19 has also revealed other crises not just in healthcare, but also in human appearance, humanitarian, refugee crisis, education, and gender equality.
As we gathered with representatives from diverse movements today we could clearly see the need to value life experience leadership more. People who have experience in the field should be able to be part of the decisions and take the lead. One of the implications of this approach is that equity and inclusion should be addressed by centering voices, policy, and funding for and led by vulnerable groups. Those shaping policies for a community need to be members of that community rather than “experts” or “consultants”. Inclusive policy should be informed by lived experience, so it is important to look at vulnerable groups as having strength and include them in the solutions.
Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), LGBTQ+, Gender Non-Conforming People, individuals across the ability spectrum, people experiencing homelessness and/or mental health issues, People Who Use Drugs (PWUD), and essential workers in agriculture (disproportionately Latinx) are specific examples that we discussed. Considering all such groups is super important when it comes to including people with lived experiences.
Recognizing & Supporting Grassroots Leadership & Action
We also want to see the UN increasing collaboration with civil society organizations to collect best practices and then use these practices to shift policy creation and implementation for nongovernmental organizations that are committed to doing the work of the UN. For many of us, if an organization is not serving at the grassroots level, its credibility is diminished, so we are calling for an increase of input and design by grassroots organizations.
We have seen that there are many volunteering groups that are representing grassroots interests, but those groups are often not respected by local and federal authorities and they do not receive enough attention. The UN can help those groups by creating a platform for open source toolkits on how political action can be put in place so as to foster empathy and leadership.
Creating Conditions for Stronger Communities
We need to empower communities directly and build trust by investing in harm reduction services for people who use drugs, embracing migration as part of the solution rather than a problem, working on decarceration and decriminalization through developing alternatives to punishment, creating culturally relevant content that takes into account literacy, language, access to technology, etc., increasing engagement in civics and politics, and advocating at the local level. Essentially, without the political will of our own governments, the UN cannot do its work. We also believe that unions need to be fostered so that workers can actually voice their opinions and be more listened to.
Discussing civil rights for political dissidents, we articulated that countries should not be able to turn off the Internet in times of unrest and be cut off from the rest of the world. It is very important to protect journalists along with free speech overall to ensure that we are able to have accurate information about various events across the world.
Involving Citizens of Member States in UN Governance
The Security Council could be reformed into a global humanitarian body, rather than a political body. Member states would elect people who represent them at the Security Council and the General Assembly. An alternative suggestion would be to create an oversight committee within the UN System that would represent each country. Each representative in that committee would actually be elected by the people of their country rather than appointed. These representatives would have experience directly providing services or working with organizations that do boots on the ground work. They would be voted on, actually represent what is going on in their respective countries, and create change that way.
Finding Effective Ways to Engage Youth, Especially in Remote Areas
Our youth delegates are asking for a group to be formed that would focus on the Sustainable Development Goal #16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) and on cooperation and collaboration towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (Sustainable Development Goal #17) with focus on youth including younger children.
We need to mobilize communities for collective action to ensure that we prepare young people to be engaged citizens, inspired to solve the world’s pressing problems. Some of us suggested that the UN should create international standards for education, democracy, and voting. We are envisioning that people in all countries can vote from the same age and have better ways to learn about democracy in their own country.
The UN has to find ways to develop a stronger youth engagement in the UN, especially in remote areas, and to amplify voices of youth specifically. This can be addressed through programs for creating communities of youth across different member states to collect, engage, and amplify voices of youth. The focus needs to be on marketing, communications, and messaging in social media channels and sites where the youth spend time. We should use social media and digital resources to create visibility on all different fronts.
Also, since youth activism from a very young age has become common, engaging more people from ages below high school such as seventh and eighth graders will allow more voices to be heard.
Supporting All Students with Technology, Content, and Mental Health Care
We discussed the need for a push to normalize digital education for teachers and students. Some youth delegates and many others who are parents or even have a niece or nephew, someone who is in the younger range understand that with COVID-19, we need to have better digital resources. Access to free, accessible, good Wi-Fi needs to be universal and every student in every school district should receive a Chromebook or a Macbook, and have access to technology in general.
Someone needs to be monitoring this process and to make sure it runs smoothly so the youth is asking to hold school districts and teachers accountable for what happens during the transition to online formats. Students need to know that they are not alone: students, teachers, parents, and others need to be involved. Education was a major focus of our discussions and it is a fight that involves everyone.
Schools should be accountable for vocational placement and in places where youth have no access to schools or other nourishing learning environments, access to technology and basic education about how to navigate the digital environment needs to be a priority.
We need to encourage systems of empathy and social emotional learning that can be implemented in education across a variety of settings including both in-person and distance learning. High schoolers in particular are calling for bringing our attention to healthcare access, especially as it relates to mental health, because it is a very stigmatized issue. A lot of students are dealing with anxiety, depression, substance use disorder, and other issues that need to be resolved instead of just ostracized.
Finding Secure & Equitable Ways to Use Technology for Information Processing
Those of us from the tech sector pointed out that we need an information digestion system for information understanding. This technology for information processing needs to be as robust as the Internet technology we have for broadcasting information. We need to know what information is accurate. We need to know and understand complex information (such as simulations). We need tools to enable citizens to sort through data and show patterns. This is the next generation of providing information which would allow for a higher level of cognitive understanding and discussion of these issues and it would help us explore solutions, for example, through online simulation games.
As a way to control technocracy and humanize technology we need to support innovation for the common good by growing the Public Interest Technology sector and to keep data safe and nations strong by implementing cybersecurity strategies. Data processing should be controlled to make sure that artificial intelligence cannot target anyone for race, ethnicity, age, religion, criminal record, political or economic background. For example, the AI should only look at the actual skills when screening candidates for jobs or opportunities.
Calling for a Global Green New Deal and a Convention on Toxic Chemicals
We need the Green New Deal on a global scale to pull ourselves out of the crisis in the post-COVID-19 world. We are calling for all countries, not only the US, to sign on to the Green New Deal. Implementing a global version of the Green New Deal would be able to reverse the economic downturn we have experienced worldwide due to COVID-19. It would also drastically lessen carbon emissions ensuring a livable planet for future generations. In addition to that, some of us advocated for a Manhattan project for global warming like the one proposed by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In addition to that, a convention on toxic chemicals is another issue that should be put at the forefront of the conversation as the survival of the human race in the next 40 years depends on.
Expanding Definitions of Gender Equality & Reproductive Rights
As we talked about overpopulation issues, we discussed potential recommendations around reproductive rights that are largely addressed by the UN and other other organizations through programs focused on women and women's reproductive rights. Some of us shared the idea that this should be expanded to male reproductive rights as well, and that men should be included in these programs supported by the UN. Males can reproduce more times a year so it is important to educate them and develop accessible contraception methods for males as well as females.
Gender equality is particularly important given the disproportionate health and economic effects of COVID with essential workers being mainly women. At the same time, we did not feel right that the UN SDG #5 (Gender Equality) only focuses on girls and women and wholly disregards the issues of many members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Building Resilient Food Systems
We also discussed global food chain disruption with COVID-19. We need to make sure that farmers are getting their produce to the stores which involves making sure that truckers who pick up the food at the farm and people who bring that food to the end consumer are safe. Along with that, there needs to be some sort of urban farming. We need to make more local farming environments, even if that means having them stacked on top of each other or using other environments to make farming layouts.
Calling on the UN and Political Leaders at All Levels to Secure Housing, Healthcare, Basic Income, and Internet Access for Everyone in Response to COVID-19
In response to COVID-19, we also discussed calling on the UN to support universal basic income (UBI) of at least $2.5K per month, rental suspension and assistance, investment in infrastructure for broadband access for all, as well as universal healthcare. As we work towards the goal of universal healthcare we should eliminate health disparities with promotion of primary care equal access and quality health services.
In addition to that we are calling for a universal housing policy because we believe that housing is a human right. People experiencing homelessness are still being left behind, and we need to prioritize this issue because for so many challenges that we are facing today with regard to education, health care, food, etc., the foundation of addressing them is actually having a home. How can people focus on being educated or having food safety if they have nowhere to put their food or have nowhere where they can recuperate if they are ill or take care of a loved one who may be sick if they don't have a roof over their head? So we would like to implement a global policy on the right to have a home and have the UN oversee making that happen within each country.
At the national level we discussed calling on Speaker Nancy Pelosi to support #PutPeopleFirst US Congressional Campaign for UBI, universal healthcare, and rental assistance similar to Canadian and British programs and support the Emergency Money for the People Act by Congressman Ro Khanna to provide Americans with the aid they need.
At the state level we discussed calling on Governor Newsom to support Mayor Garcetti, San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and Los Angeles City Council, and many legislators on rent relief and assistance and suspension until the end of the year.
Addressing Economic Displacement by Investing in the Most Vulnerable Communities
We also talked about investing in resources and resource management with attention to the most vulnerable at all levels to make sure that states and cities are funded at new levels for the next generation. In addition to redefining low, middle, and high income levels and ensuring that essential workers (particularly grocery, agriculture farm labor, janitorial, garbage, utilities) have a livable wage, some of us pointed out an opportunity to make a large investment to have impact over the next decade by re-skilling for immediate high-demand STEM occupations such as light manufacturing, 3D printing, warehouse logistics and automation, software engineering critical to rapid COVID-19 responses and recovery; re-skilling from industries with current job losses (and projected future displacement due to automation) to highest opportunity fields within STEM areas; and re-skilling for specific occupational categories with greatest need and opportunity for driving economic growth (software development, cybersecurity, data science).
Addressing economic displacement while expanding capacity for national and global innovation to prepare communities of color for the future of work in a recovering economy can be achieved by investing in grants for public-private apprenticeship partnerships, with a special focus on dislocated workers and economically distressed communities, and providing funding for early-stage startups to create and implement scalable education training opportunities. At a national level funds could be allocated centrally in one department (e.g., Department of Labor, Department of Education) but there are connections to every federal agency.