Given the current COVID-19 pandemic the GDL 2020 Summit, celebrating GDL's 5th anniversary, has been rescheduled to take place next year. With the topics and goals of the Summit - namely finding innovative approaches to global challenges - being highly relevant, GDL members from around the world met online in a virtual prE-Summit from May 10 - 31, 2020.
The Summit Working Group led the GDL community on a journey through a variety of formats: from virtual fishbowl discussions to intimate skill-sessions. You can follow them on the path, retracing their steps, through texts, cartoons and recordings linked below:
Strong partnerships are at the heart of sustainable development - this the participants of the virtual fishbowl on partnerships agreed on. Different facets of such partnerships were illuminated in the GDL Talks by Patrick Mpedzisi and Blair Glencorse, which you can re-watch here.
Local governments often find themselves at the frontline of global challenges - dealing with Covid-19 or the implications of the climate crisis. The member-initiated session on City Diplomacy discussed what potential arises through this new area of diplomacy for future multilateralism.
With the aim of taking results of the 2018 and 2019 Labs to the next level, GDL members, partners and hosts discussed what further steps could be taken to ensure sustainable impact of the successful and inspiring Labs.
Further Events
Patrick Mpedzisi is an organisational development consultant with over 15 years’ experience in the NGO sector in Africa. During this time he opened various processes for CSOs in Africa to engage in regional processes. He has managed major CSO initiatives, led regional campaigns and built civil society capacities across the continent. He now focuses on building NGOs’ capacities to be more effective in their sustainability and resource mobilisation.
A lawyer by profession, he also founded Mitupo.org, a platform for restoring, preserving and celebrating African culture and identity and promoting ownership of the evolution of culture. Prior to that, he coordinated the African Democracy Forum, was project coordinator at Southern Africa Trust and led the African Youth Parliament, among other roles. He also co-authored a paper on South African foreign policy and regional integration.
......................................................................................................................................................
You can read more about his engagement here.
Blair Glencorse is Founder and Executive Director of the Accountability Lab, an incubator for creative, youth-driven ideas for accountability and transparency around the world.
Blair is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Anti-Corruption and Transparency.
Previously, Blair was a Social Impact Fellow at the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania, an advisor to the now President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, and worked for the World Bank on issues of governance and development.
He is an Echoing Green Fellow and winner of the BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders Award, the World Technology Award and the D-Prize.
......................................................................................................................................................
Read more about Blair in his blog post and his article about a crowdfunding development aid. Also listen to this podcast in which he shares his vision about sustainable use of resources.
