From Consultation to Effective Action

How does discussion on matters of concern lead to concrete change in the lives of people around the world? Skeptics of the United Nations might simply say “it doesn’t.” But it is hard to argue that a world without any exchange of ideas between states, and in the neutral setting the UN tries to offer, would be better than what we have today.

Consultation—whether in the family, the neighborhood, or the municipality—is how problems are identified and solutions and initiatives are proposed. We already know this from local experiences around the world. Nor is it new in human experience. But effectively scaling it to the level of intergovernmental negotiations is an aim never before achieved.

How might we take a method of problem solving that works at the local level and bring it to life on the international stage?

Such was the question that animated our “Road to the Summit” discussion series. The series began over two years ago and will conclude later this week. Organized by the Baha’i International Community (BIC) and the Coalition for the UN We Need (C4UN), the 16 sessions of the series held thus far have drawn over 1,200 participants from nearly 80 UN Member States, 20 UN agencies, and hundreds of Civil Society organizations. Our discussions built on previous dialogues hosted by the BIC ahead of the Post-2015 agenda, and focused on the upcoming Summit of the Future and its related processes.

Why have we chosen to invest our time and energy in this way? Central in my mind is the fact that, in addition to conveying substantive content, the series aims to offer a space that is difficult to create within the UN today: one where participants enter as human beings first, and only second as representatives of their nation, organization, or constituency.

We have found that there is profound value in not being bound to a particular institutional position. It can facilitate a more genuine pursuit of solutions, a posture of learning, and a search for common ground, in ways that positional debates cannot. In fact, this is one of the key dimensions of problem-solving that we have learned from action undertaken in many communities around the world, at the grassroots; when participants see themselves, individually, as active agents and protagonists in a collective process, they become more committed to its success.

We also sought to bring into the series a different posture of engagement. While the substance of the conversations is serious, bringing joy into a space can constructively change the dynamics at play. It helps foster a sense of trust, borne of shared experience, honesty, and ultimately a sense of common cause. All participants were explicitly encouraged to assume the good intentions of others, and to be the embodiment of those good intentions themselves. Each of these unique features helped participants be more open to the ideas of others.

Clearly there are limits inherent in the structure of 90-minute sessions held both in-person and online. And we know that everyone who attended our “Road to the Summit” sessions returned to more traditional modes of dialogue later. Even so, certain features stood out:

• The shared goal of those participating in the space was to deepen understanding. We therefore needed to enter without attachment to any one desired outcome. This required humility and detachment from preconceived notions, in favor of openness to better ideas, since none of us have a monopoly on truth.

• Changing opinions was taken not as a sign of weakness, but rather as a sign of openness to refining understanding, to learn, and to empathize with others.

• The objective was not to convince, but to come to deeper and shared understandings of pressing challenges and responses to address them. In this, there are no winners and no losers.

• All human beings are equal in dignity, so all were understood to have equal agency and value in the conversation. Giving everyone an opportunity to contribute is not a matter of tokenistic representation, but a recognition that the complexity of contemporary challenges demands diverse perspectives to pursue truth.

These qualities are relatively rare in the international arena as currently organized. Yet they are vital if we are to develop relationships of trust and to advance shared endeavors, which are key to overcoming the challenges we face. Ultimately, such qualities allow us to respect one another and see the humanity in each other. They are the same qualities that should characterize conversations in the halls of the UN, where deliberations can have profound international implications.

What did we learn from the series? Many participants commented on the distinctive nature of the space. In a world where hope is in short supply, attendees said they left feeling energized or inspired. Some expressed surprise that those not often in agreement with one another were able to find consensus. Colleagues mentioned that they planned to replicate elements of the approach in their own events. And the quality of the dialogues improved over time, participants told us, which was accompanied by a rise in attendance. I’d like to attribute this to a growing awareness among participants of what to expect when they come into the room.

We can all learn to express these principles and ideas in the format and structure of the UN itself. What might this look like? Meetings could omit name cards and roles, for example, to offer greater latitude of thought. Spaces could be organized around the objective of building understanding, rather than achieving a negotiated result. They could feature only a small number of initial speakers, to get the conversation started, rather than full panels that take up a majority of the session. They could frame dialogue in ways that are exploratory, rather than positional. There are many ways forward with these positive experiences.

We are one people living on one planet: that is the reality. Increasingly, our processes will have to mirror that reality. The “Road to the Summit” series was one small effort to encourage a new way of talking, exploring, and making decisions. It was imperfect in many ways, and we will keep experimenting. We hope you will continue to join us as we do.

SOURCE: https://www.bic.org/perspectives/consultation-effective-action-reflecti…