Dear stakeholders,
Thank you for the online invitation to events from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Coalition for the UN We Need. It was on Friday, February 2 at the same time 8:30 in the morning, and thanks to the time zones I had the opportunity to enjoy both events consecutively in the afternoon of the same day.
I prepared the background (some notes) for both events and waited to see how they would unfold. Based on previous communications with you (both parties), I knew that the subject of both events is close and the form standard.
In the end, I combined the findings from both events and am sending this feedback. It is a set of three resources. So one side will always have the part they know best. I would like to believe, this feedback will be successful, and in summary, everything will compare and be useful.
CEO Mark Suzman and Gates Fund Director Thoko Moyop had a virtual interview regarding his annual letter, 2024. Allow me this free reminder in the form of notes and insights:
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is proud of its results; an example is the period between 2000 and 2023. Mr. Suzman reported on the call for proposals in global health and development.
There are many more players in the market regarding philanthropy. He mentioned the African Philanthropy Forum, foundations in India, China, and Singapore, and philanthropists who are rich but small and have a lot of weight in their sum. Furthermore, millions worldwide send money from every paycheck back to their families in their home countries. This type of donation, called remittances, brought in $590 billion in 2020.
The example of philanthropist Chuck Feeney illustrates philanthropists' intentions to give gifts to their alma mater and to benefit basic human needs. Donation is a powerful movement with income capacity and dedication to the correct cause of great benefit, for example:
If the global net worth of today's 2,640 world billionaires is $12.2 billion, there are enough funds for health, education, and start-up infrastructure investments, among other private sources, to be deposited.
From the interview, I would like to point out the need for future investments (mostly in LIC) caused by changes in settlements (due to climate change, and wars), not only in the field of global health and development but also in investments in the necessary infrastructure (new spaces for housing, schools, health centers and spaces for local services and production with access to water, electricity, etc.)
The interview revealed that there is no shortage of problems in the world that need to be solved, nor is there a shortage of innovators ready to help. What is missing is a platform ("a communication square") to recognize the hierarchy and gain consensus on priorities and project tasks, their algorithms, and sub-values into specific returns and benefits (of organizations, projects, and communication) in a global environment.
Daniel Perell, on behalf of the Coalition for the United Nations and the Baha'i International Community, another discussion of the Road to the Summit series entitled "A Pact for the Future" on Saturday on the topic of Chapter IV, Youth and Future Generations. For completeness, I recall all five chapters of the content of the entire Pact of the Future:
Sustainable development and development financing.
International peace and security.
Science, technological innovation, and digital collaboration.
Youth and future generations
The transformation of global governance.
Three questions for the hybrid event on February 2 related to Chapter IV are:
What would we define as success for both the Summit of the Future and the Pact for the Future, emphasizing Chapter IV?
What priorities do we wish to advance going forward, and how can we help each achieve these goals?
What opportunities exist, or can we create most of the coming years?
The discussion was rich, engaging, and very beneficial for supporting the communication of people from different countries, professions, and age structures. Even if she didn't completely stick to the assigned topics (points 1 to 3), it didn't matter. As an example, I will cite the sign of a university student, she captured the problem of education for education (e.g., take advantage of government support and educate yourself) and education for personal development (e.g., you have an education, but we do not have the desired job for you, keep looking).education for personal development (e.g., you have an education, but we do not have the desired job for you, keep looking).
I didn't enter the discussion directly because I still don't know how to join this type of discussion with it (see Item 1, 2, and 3). Nevertheless, I had the following topics in my mind:
Item 1.
In today's world, children and adults alike need their "Toys." Wars are not it. It's about utilizing the gifts of technology already available to us in different ways, and we can all do our part to benefit from them.
The theme says that today's generation must find strength so that the future ones still can value their intellectual potential. For example, by way of a common platform (policy) built on these scenarios:
Global human adaptation (GHA) on Life in the 21st century
Global Digital Transformation (GDT), reflecting the impacts of new technologies, mainly AI and Machine Learning.
Global Financial Architecture (GFA) as a path to understanding the human invention of money.
The UN and philanthropy are ideal partners for joint platform start-ups.
Item 2.
The SDG agenda needs revitalization. It lacks internal communication, especially in the provinces of Low-Income Countries (LIC). No one can buy the processes of project preparations and implementations for the daily needs of one's own country (in one's province).
The goal must be to anchor the acquired knowledge in the home environment. This is the way to develop and sustain the foundations of family life, children's health, disease resistance, and the hope of gaining access to safe water, food, electricity, employment opportunities, etc. linked to the growth of own capital strength and access to finance.
The topic is about the creation of a Web-Portal and its service for life and needs in LIC. It is about supporting discussions, sharing experiences, and educating the widest spectrum of the human community in LIC. Certainly, those who can offer the necessary technological and business incentives, knowledge, and ways to balance the differences that have arisen and significantly advance global development.
It also applies here that the UN together with philanthropists should help the LIC to navigate this specific communication level and find ways to help its citizens so that no one is left behind.
Item 3.
Building the conditions for global cooperation is about getting the partnership of leaders and ultimately everyone who needs and will make this cooperation happen. Choosing an example that will have a strong social (political) potential and will respect holistic needs is not an easy task. Nevertheless, another topic can be imagined, already in the form of a specific project. How to deal with the reality of the emergence of new settlements (so far mainly refugee camps) caused by climate changes, wars, etc. How to take care of the sustainability of health, education and other important functions for life in LIC conditions.
Escape from the countryside to giga-urban and peri-urban areas is not the solution. The way is to approach the urbanism of the 21st century, with respect for the architecture of the specific environment. That's the way for this project. An example can be solutions for the industrial production and distribution of elements and final assemblies of Open Multifunctional Units (OPM).
It is an example of a project with a truly global approach. The UN is at the necessary level to properly discuss global measures. The initiation of this approach again fits into the partnership of the UN and philanthropists. For example, to prepare, test, industrialize, implement, and disseminate the project through blending finance (from independent UN sources and philanthropists). To perform the project proposal to the public. It is not megalomania, it is about understanding the essence of the sustainability of the human population in the environment of the Great Triad (FT - The Earth, Nature, and the Human).
Themes (Items 1, 2, and 3) gained a distinct background on Saturday, 3/2, 2024. In my email, I had a zero draft of the Pact for the Future (according to chapters I to V). After reading, I have understood it is a standard language of lawyers with 148 items, aiming to protect even what does not exist yet or is being prepared, and no one knows how it will turn out in the end. I am not exaggerating, but what this zero draft says can be covered by the hierarchy of the approach outlined algorithms via items 1, 2, and 3 for the digital processing of an entirely new form of document of this type.
The UN is an organization. It should follow the path of introducing the vision and mission, and then the tasks that correspond to the hierarchy of its mission. However, of the Pact for the Future has separate documents announced for Chapters 3 and 4, for more details. This is good news for optimists.
I will try to approach my position on the reform of the UN (after 80 years) with my own view of the goals and paths that the UN is setting out through the 2024 and 2025 Summits.
For every organization (even for the highest administrative institutions), it is helpful to be clear about the issues of supply and demand and its sustainability. For the projects (planned activities) that it initiates, it must have a budget or at least an idea it can defend (before its internal financial control and audits). The organization must know expected costs, revenues, and benefits, including time frames (when what starts and ends) for the works (changes, measures, etc.).
I'm sorry, I'm deliberately not elaborating on political risks, because they are a part of every organization. However, if these risks are so dominant then the performance ceases to be measurable, and understandable (it is fuzzy) then it is not about an organization, but a purpose-built facility for special purposes.
It is true that every organization, even at the top of the hierarchy of holistic perception of its mission, needs a communication environment (an understandable communication strategy) to reach the necessary consensual agreements and risk estimates for evaluating its results, including procedures for the liquidation of incurred burdens and unexpected situations. All five chapters of the "Pact for the Future" are not emphatic enough in this sense.
Linking this feedback to the two events I participated in; I would like to remind you that the reform that the UN is striving for is an extraordinary opportunity that needs a strong start-up that can be played by philanthropists (this experience is generally known to those who deal with the preparation and implementation of development projects). Only then do routine organizational, financial, and procedural procedures begin. Therefore, the question is appropriate: How can we help?
Thank you for your favor.
Best regards
Zdenek Chalus