Peace Day!

Peace Day is an annual celebration of peace around the world. It takes place on 21 September.

The Geneva Hub has put out a call to action to all Hubs around the world to organize an activity, big or small on Peace Day under the Peace One Day theme of who will YOU make peace with?

We hope to create a day of global unity across Global Shapers Hubs and to raise awareness among Shapers and local communities about how we each play a role in peace.

On Peace Day or the week leading up to it, Hubs can organize activities big or small, here are some ideas:

• Post on Facebook, Twitter or a blog

• Share a Peace Meal

• Host a workshop

• Watch the Peace Day concert

• Screen the Peace Day film

To find out more about Peace Day or to get additional ideas, check out the Peace One Day website.

Challenges in Building a fulfilling career

The Geneva Hub hosted its first Meet the Leader session on 19 March. International Women’s Day inspired us to invite female leaders from different sectors and explore the “Challenges in Building a Fulfilling Career.” The event was an open discussion with three successful women of varied backgrounds that spoke about their personal and professional experiences.

The leaders included:

Elissa Golberg, Ambassador and Permanent Representative to Canada to the United Nations in Geneva. She has been working in the Canadian diplomatic service since 1996, working on a range of issues, including humanitarian affairs, and served as the Director General of Canada’s Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force and as the Representative of Canada in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Taiba Raim, a teacher of Afghan origin, inspired by her father to improve access to quality education in Afghanistan. Ms Raim is highly motivated to improve the social and human conditions for her fellow citizens in Afghanistan. She is President of the Nai-Qala association that is building schools in Afghanistan to improve access to education.

Zohreh Tabatabai who built a career within the UN system and served as Director of Communications and Public Information at the International Labour Organization for almost ten years before starting her own PR and CRS company called Quince Partners.The discussion was focused on personal experiences from all three leaders ranging from making difficult family and career choices to how to deal with career pressures as a woman. The night was filled with inspiration and an insightful view into the lives of three very successful and diverse women.

Some of the key take-aways from the evening were: 

• Women can have it all, but it is very difficult to have it all, all the time. At some point one element of life will be "limping"- be it career, relationship with your partner or your children.

• The importance both mentorship and sponsorship: emphasis is often put on the importance of mentorship but equally important is sponsorship. The difference is that with sponsorship, the mentor uses his or her influence with senior executives to advocate for the mentee.

• Pick a good life partner and make a choice on whether you want to have children.

• It is important to work horizontally and not only vertically.

After a question and answer period, the session ended by carrying out a group activity of goal setting and sharing tips on goal achievement.

The event was held at the home of Atalanti Moquette.

Turning Davos moments into momentum

Last week, I attended the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos as one of 50 Global Shapers. It was an incredible and overwhelming experience. Many people talk about their "Davos moment," a meeting or one-on-one encounter that is transformative. I met with world leaders including Kofi Annan and Mohamed Yunus and each of these meetings was a "Davos moment." But now that I have come down from what they call the Magic Mountain, I can say that my Davos moment was something bigger and more powerful. It is less of a moment, and more of a momentum.

I heard it at an early breakfast meeting: "2013 will be a year for women's movements around the world." I saw it in the panels on women and decision making that included the likes of Christine Lagarde and Drew Gilpin Faust. I saw it in a preview of the film Girl Rising in the panel aptly called "Smart girls." My Davos moment that I hope turns into a momentum is about the importance of empowering girls and women in order to improve the state of the world.

The Global Shapers delegation that I was a part of had equal representation of young women and men. I was well aware that the percentage of women amongst the 2,000+ participants was around 17 percent. While much is rightly made about this dismal figure, it is not so much a reflection of the World Economic Forum, but rather a reflection of our societies.

So rather than dwell on the 17 percent, I am interested in how can we look into the mirror of our societies and see more women in positions of leadership? What will it take to raise women's profiles and make it easier for women to go all the way?

Here are some of my takeaways:

Women's empowerment is not just a task for women. Neither is it an issue that can only be addressed by men. Women and men -- across generations -- need to work together to make a gender-balanced society a reality. Fostering dialogue between men and women can contribute to recognizing each other's potential. Mutual understanding will help us to value our differences. For instance we might see that differences in management styles are in fact an asset - -not a weakness. Women should be able to embrace their own individualist styles and not fall into a specific category.

Traditions are manmade and can be changed by men and women. This quote from a participant at Davos really resonated with me. There is a need to change mind-sets about traditional gender roles and recognize and utilize the capacity or agency that each of us has, regardless of gender.

Focus on girls. Empowerment needs to start EARLY! If we want to contribute to a more gender-balanced society we need to focus on girls. Smart girls make sense: both from an egalitarian and economic perspective. A report by the Global Campaign for Education shows that a 1 percent increase in the number of women achieving a secondary school education can increase annual GDP growth by 0.3 percent.

The power of mentorship. This is by far my biggest takeaway that I want to share with the world. Mentoring is a great way to pass on one's knowledge to younger generations. Hearing about success stories (or failures) from more experienced women -- and men -- can have a real impact on young women's careers. Sometimes it's enough to know that generations before us have faced and overcome even greater challenges. It means that change is possible and this can empower young women to be more self-confident in voicing their aspirations and pursuing their goals.

I attended a session on public speaking that boosted my own self-confidence. The advice I received I will use going forwards. As a young professional, I will continue to seek out mentorship opportunities. I also recognize that going forwards I have a responsibility to help mentor young women and men.

Mentoring is something that each and every one of us can do. You don't need to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company to be a mentor. Leadership is everywhere, at every level of society and at every age.

So the next time a young person comes and talks to you, remember how powerful your positive advice can be in creating more empowered girls and women. In fact I urge you all to seek out mentorship opportunities and let's keep this momentum going. We all have a contribution to make to improve the state of our world.

This blog post was originally featured on the Huffington Post

Sarah Noble is a Global Shaper from the Geneva Hub and is one of 50 Global Shapers attending the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. She is committed to social change with a passion for conflict prevention and peace-building. She is currently Chief of Staff and Director of External Relations at Interpeace, one of the world’s leading peacebuilding organizations.

Smaller, younger NGOs to Davos: “We have a few tips too”

"Wow! Are all the panels that contentious?" asked a Davos first timer as he retrieved his parka on his way to the next session. Delighted about by the richness of the debate I just heard at the Davos Open Forum, I smiled to myself: NGO accountability is far from a dull subject -- and I have something to say about it.

Wednesday morning the Davos Open Forum kicked off its 11th edition with a panel featuring a fine selection of civil society power-thinkers, including Human Rights Watch's Ken Roth, and GreenPeace's Kumi Naidoo. Tasked with teasing out the ever-complicated question of NGO accountability, the panel agreed that the general principle was important, but couldn't reach consensus on how the principle should be applied, and who should be accountable to whom and why. The session left me with brain candy to consider for days. In reflecting on the panel's impasses, and my own value-added, one question emerged as most intriguing: What can the sector learn about accountability from smaller, younger NGOs?

Having experienced the growth of a start-up non-profit from its early beginnings, I can attest that every minute of our working life is precious because our human resources are scarce. In the early days, when founders split their time between 990 tax forms and envelope stuffing for holiday appeals, how do we make time for accountability? While we are accountable to our donors and grant bodies by spending their contributions wisely on programs, are we truly accountable to our beneficiaries -- those whom we aim to serve.

In the case of Asylum Access, we aim to better the lives of refugees in developing countries whose rights are violated. How are we accountable to them? Asylum Access has been thoughtful about this question since its doors opened in 2007, and it has paid off.

Our size allows for leadership to hear and learn from our client base. Because we are smaller, we don't need elaborate knowledge management systems to ensure we hear from refugees loud and often. Country Directors open office doors face straight to our waiting rooms, staff shares meals with community interpreters and we stand side by side with refugee leaders in advocacy initiatives. As we continue to grow, we are aware of the challenge of maintaining this dialogue space. This openness doesn't necessarily have to be a function of size -- larger NGOs can certainly ensure more accountability by making more opportunities for unstructured interaction between leadership and beneficiaries.

Soliciting feedback -- good and bad -- from clients is a must. The choice to use the term "client" represents our dedication to accountability. The refugees we represent are not indebted to us or owe us gratitude; we agree to help them in a particular way and they are entitled to hold us to that agreement. If a client is not satisfied with her service, she is entitled to ask us to do better. From our very first one-room office, we placed our complaints form and inbox prominently at the front of our intake desk. We are also piloting satisfaction surveys. In doing so, we give refugees the ability to provide feedback during any part of the process. This sends the message that we are not only concerned with final impact product, but also about the process -- are we respectful and empowering to our clients when we work towards finding solutions for them? Do we give them the choice to disagree or terminate our services? An accountability culture is easily scalable -- we have learned that easy, clear transparent protocols work. If the complaining takes more than one step, clients are less likely to offer their feedback.

To be sure, the structure and history of larger, established NGOs are not to be overlooked. They have opened paths and established best practices that many smaller NGOs draw upon when developing their own systems. Yet, smaller and younger shouldn't connote less accountable or less effective; on the contrary, organizations in their earlier stages of growth, like Asylum Access's stripped down accountability methods, also have lessons to share in helping us stay true to our mission.

Michelle Arevalo-Carpenter is a Global Shaper from the Geneva Hub. She is the Overseas Operations Director at Asylum Access, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to making refugee rights a reality in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Born and raised in Ecuador, she is also the founder and former Country Director of Asylum Access Ecuador.

This post appeared in the Huffington Post 

What #peacemeans to me

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September 21st is Peace Day, a day each year that is dedicated to peace. Right now the World Bank estimates that 1.5 billion people around the world live in conflict affect countries. That is 1 out of every 7 people on earth. People living in relatively peaceful countries often watch the news, see unresolved conflict in far away places, and change the channel or flip to the next page in the newspaper. But peace is not only relevant for countries that are experiencing violence or dictatorial regimes.

Peace is something that affects each and everyone of us. This may seem like a no brainer, but all too often, peace is taken for granted. We each have different understandings of what peace means, depending on our life circumstance. Peace can mean the absence of violence, inner peace, love and peace festivals, and the list goes on. For me, when I really unpack what peace means - it means that I am able to pursue my aspirations without fear. It means that there are positive relationships of trust between people around me and between people and my leaders. It means that I can trust the police officer to protect me. It means I can walk down the street without fear for my safety. It means I can have a political discussion with a stranger and disagree without fear that I will be intimidated or worse. It means that I have faith in my legal system. It means I can pursue my personal, economic, religious and social aspirations. Peace is an ongoing journey and there is no final destination. Peace can always be perfected and is not a static goal. So this Peace Day, mark the day and take a moment to think about what peace means to you and share it: #peacemeans

.Sarah Noble is committed to social change with a passion for conflict prevention and peacebuilding. She is currently Chief of Staff and Director of External Relations at Interpeace www.interpeace and a Global Shaper in the Geneva hub.Photo credit: Ryan Anson for Interpeace.

Trust and Legitimacy: the Intel Chip of Societies?

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Around the world we are witnessing social contracts being redrafted or in many cases rewritten. Turn on the news and you are pretty much guaranteed to see a headline about elections, constitutions, governments rising, governments falling, or popular protests.

The confrontation of differing interests, ideas and agendas – aka conflict – is inherent to social and political life. Conflict can play a positive role in social dynamics as a driving force of innovation and change. However, it becomes a destructive force when it results in violence and coercion.

So how can people and societies manage conflict without violence? What is the key to making relationships between people, and people and their governments, work?

There are many factors: some are tangible; others are not.

Two of the most important factors we need to pay more attention to are trust and legitimacy. Trust is the magic ingredient that makes relationships work between people and groups in society and their political institutions and economies. Legitimacy, in particular of political institutions, means that people in the ability of political institutions to perform their functions for the common good.

Given the complexity of our world, how can we build more trust and legitimacy? The key is to focus equal attention not only on what is done but on how it is being done.The process matters. For example, a constitution that is defined in a back-door closed room will have a lot less legitimacy than a constitution process that involves people.

We need to focus not only on the goal of building inclusive societies, but also on the path and process that leads us there. Equally important is ensuring that institutions and governance systems correspond to the needs and aspirations of people. Priorities and governance models need to be determined locally and, to be sustainable, these models need to be inclusive and founded on trust and legitimacy.

Trust and legitimacy are a bit like the Intel-processing systems of a computer. The Intel chip makes the whole computer work. You can’t see it, but if there is a problem with it, your whole computer is in trouble.

Sarah Noble is committed to social change with a passion for conflict prevention and peace-building. She is currently Chief of Staff and Director of External Relations at Interpeace and a Global Shaper in the Geneva hub. Sarah is one of 27 Global Shapers attending the World Economic Forum on the Middle East, North Africa and Eurasia taking place this week in Istanbul, Turkey.