Neighbor Tuesday: UNGA week re-cap

An example of global neighboring

Hi neighbors! What an incredible few weeks it has been! Last time I wrote, I was at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in NYC during the UNGA week.

The CGI meeting had incredible speakers: Jose Andres, Jane Goodall (y’all!), Matt Damon, Prince Harry, Yulia Navalnaya (wife of Alexie Navalny), Dr. Tedros, Nicholas Kristoff (I brought his new book, but no luck on getting it signed), Samantha Power (I brought her book too, but again, no luck) and more. It was like an overload of information, calls to action, and hope. My favorite session was definitely with Jane Goodall and Jose Andres. (You can watch most of the sessions here.)

I was there with my colleague from St. Jude and my program manager from Duke. We were pitching our project on global children’s cancer care and the project was introduced by Chelsea Clinton. (Please see my favorite picture from the trip - the one on the left that my parents took on their laptop as they watched the meeting from their couch in NC. My parents are the best!)

One of the coolest moments was on the first night. We heard that “someone” was coming to the final plenary of the day and most people thought it would be Kamala Harris or Volodymyr Zelensky (either would have been fantastic!). All of a sudden, we heard the presidential song come on and out walked PRESIDENT BIDEN. We all lost our minds and didn’t sit down until he left the stage. Dr. Jill Biden was already on stage with the Clinton Family, so it was neat to see two presidents together like that. President Biden was presented with the annual Global Citizen Award, but President Biden was not expecting it. It was a really neat moment for me! (That middle picture is me getting a ‘selfie’ with the Presidents. ha!)

We also had some fun times walking through Central Park and to the Met. If you’re looking for a book, read “All the Beauty in the World” about the Met. It was fantastic! So, I had to get a quick picture of it. Sadly, I didn’t have time to go in and will have to keep that on the bucket-list for now.

After a really fun (and packed!) week in NYC for the Clinton Global Initiative and some UNGA side events, I’m home. Well, I made a quick trip to DC for another conference. But, I’m finally home for a few weeks. As promised from my last post, I told you the UNGA this year was a big year for 3 reasons.

• First, it’s a major election year for over 60 countries this year. And, we all know that whoever is in power plays a huge role in global development (and domestic policy).

• Second, this year’s UNGA was the 79th year and held an incredibly important event, the Summit of the Future. It lays out a strategic plan to “adapt international cooperation to the realities of today and the challenges of tomorrow”. The Summit was the culmination of work over several years from LOTS of people in governments, civil society, other key partners, and leadership. The document resulting from this work, the Pact for the Future, was voted on during the UN meeting. This Pact is by far the most wide-ranging agreement by the UN member states (countries) with a strong lens towards the future - so, you hear a lot about human rights, gender, sustainable development, poverty, climate change, peace, security, technology, and financing. For those of us who follow international policy, this Pact was exciting - particularly because of the immense amount of work over YEARS and a realistic and hopeful view of the future world.

• Third, here’s where things got odd. Before the adoption of the Pact during the UNGA meeting, Russia objected at the last minute. But the Congo delegates saved the day with their procedural skill, halting Russia’s attempt to topple everything! The Pact would go on to be adopted. 143 countries voted in favor, 7 against, and the rest were abstentions or didn’t participate. Overwhelming support from the majority of countries!

Why does this matter to us? I want to offer that this is an example of global neighboring. Of hope. In a world of increasing polarization, we just witnessed multilaterism work - globally, with lots of people at the table with probably differing priorities and backgrounds. But it worked. I’m not saying that everything is fixed and we now have all the answers as global neighbors. We all know that the world is hard right now with complex power structures, war, climate change, poverty and…But, I do think we saw a great example of leaders at a common table, adopting common goals, and achieving a common rubric of how to move forward - and this was the majority of countries.

My personality always lends itself towards hope and optimism. Well, almost always. The pandemic kicked that out of me for a few years. Now I’m gaining it back, but in different ways. My hope feels deeper now. Well, what’s the right word? Maybe my hope feels more informed. Not a naive hope. But one that has to have long roots in the soil when storms come (because they have and will).

I guess what I’m trying to say is to look up for the hope. People can come together as global neighbors. Countries can quit fighting and come to a common table. Sure, the issues are complex and awful power structures can still try to topple that table. But, not always as we saw for the adoption of the Summit. (Thank you, Congo!)

In our own little ways, I wonder if that’s how we can all be global neighbors? Speak up when we see power being wielded poorly. Vote. Build longer tables. Raise and parent future global neighbors. Teach optimism and rooted hope.

And, raise our heads to smile. In the past several months, I’ve learned that joy bubbles up from rooted hope. (I’m going to write a more personal post on that for you paid subscribers soon.) That’s what I’m hoping for you as I finish this post. That you, neighbor, would find yourself at great tables or voting booths or car lines with like-minded people. And, collectively we all win.

-Emily

PS: As a reminder, these Neighbor Tuesdays come to your inbox every other week (maybe weekly if I have way too much to say). For paid subscribers, you can expect 1 to 2 to 3 posts (again, depending on how wordy I am) that are more personal in nature. I’m so thankful for you subscribing to my little corner of the interwebs.