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Reflections on CSD-16
Reflections on CSD-16
The New School
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Last night four of us went to the New School to attend Thomas Forster's class on the local urban food revolution. My experience in his class was the highlight of the CSD so far. Everyone in the class was sitting in a circle (after a week of huge, one-directional, plenary rooms the idea of sitting in a circle was remarkably nice).

We were invited to reflect about the intervention we delivered on partnerships, and we discussed as a class some of the unique things about the youth caucus that I hadn't even considered. Some of the questions that Thomas raised include: how do we learn how to speak for a sector? Who are we speaking for when we say we represent children and youth? The fact is we aren't elected to represent the voice of these people so we have to deliver our statements with caution. Attending these UN negotiations require an investment of time and money that not everyone can afford to make and so it is important to be aware of the privilege there is in participating in these forums. Until there is better funding to ensure that more marginalized voices are heard at the UN, Thomas Forster suggested youth make better use of technology to further democratize the major groups at the CSD. Each major group has the potential to actively outreach to their communities back home and seek input from those that aren't at the UN, it's up to us how much we reach out.

Some other things that Thomas mentioned is that each group has its own internal organizing culture. The business major group tends to make more executive decisions with a stronger hierarchy. The youth group can have a lot less structure, which can sometimes to be frustrating, but we also have a lot more collaboration and engagement across the board.

Finally, I have been hearing a lot about the inadequacies of the review year and the need for action. I empathize with these frustrations since the magnitude of the problems being addressed are so enormous, and so pressing. But Thomas (who is my new hero also) raised a good point about how a review year is the only opportunity for countries and groups to get together and truly reflect on best practices and identify policy opportunities for next year, instead of just going into the negotiations with locked positions and minimal opportunity for a negotiated agreement.

A few more thoughts, in no particular order:

This week there will be thematic points of entry culminating in a final stakeholder delivery. It is important for youth to ensure that the major issues that are important to us to get onto the final text.

Partnerships are not insignificant. The reason why we focus so much on partnerships is because encourages more accountable governance. Partnershps interconnect governmental levels, sectors, and groups to work for a common purpose. This is unique. Up until my experience at the New School I didn't understand the hype around "partnerships". I thought it was just another buzz word like sustainability.

I have many more notes from the class but I am really grateful to have been able to join Thomas' class. I was up at Yale this weekend for a conference on environmental governance and democracy, and one of the closing speakers mentioned how the world needs more humility in academic circles in order to solve the environmental challenges we face. The self-centered approach of the ivory towers needs to be turned outward so that efforts are collaborative, and humble. The New School was everything this Yale professor seemed to mention. The students were engaged and curious.
It was an odd contrast going from Yale to the New School in one day's time. I was really inspired by the students I saw in the school, and I hope that we can foster more vibrant pedagogy in Canada during this critical political opportunity.

May 13, 2008 | 7:13 AM Comments  0 comments

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