On 5 February 2021, in an event hosted by the Chair of Global Peace, H.E. Mrs. Graça Machel, and the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, H.E. Amina J. Mohammed, Global Peace launched the Futures Forum and hosted a Global Inter-Generational Dialogue with selected Global Peace Citizens to mark the completion of the 100 Cities 100 Dialogues milestone. At the launch of the Futures Forum, Mrs. Graça Machel further echoed the purpose of the amplification of youth voices. These initiatives, among others, will allow Global Peace to mobilise, conscientise, and organise youth to address the root causes of conflict and challenges facing humanity today. Through the collective action of young people worldwide, Global Peace will restore the dwindling hope for our future and work together for a better world. As of today, Global Peace has held 106 Inter-Generational Dialogues across the world.
Background
On 6 May 2019, Global Peace held its inaugural Inter-Generational Dialogue (IGD) in Accra, Ghana, hosted by the Co-Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocates and President of Ghana, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and the Chair of Global Peace and ACCORD, and one of the 2019 SDG Advocates, Mrs Graça Machel. Since then, Global Peace has held 106 dialogues in over 100 cities globally. These IGDs have served as a pioneering platform for Global Peace that seeks to strengthen the conversation around development and the future of our collective society, making it more inclusive.
Global Peace, an initiative of the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), which marks 30 years of significant milestones, has a vision to act as a catalyst for collaborative efforts that create social compacts between governments, multilateral agencies, the private sector and civil society; towards generating innovative solutions to ongoing challenges to peace and development. Working through young people across the world and key stakeholders, Global Peace will become an ecosystem for Ideas, Innovators, Influencers, Investors and Implementers to find practical solutions to global challenges, enhancing conflict prevention and strengthening the global multilateral system.
Purpose
Global Peace is designed to contribute to finding innovative solutions to the rapid exponential population growth, rapid urbanisation, destabilising climate change, a volatile global financial system, mass migration, and the ever-increasing threat of nuclear war that has placed our planet in a race against time. Global Peace will also help to create a sustainable future that prevents these global challenges from advancing and effectively plunging the world into global instability. It is in this context that, working together for a better world, Global Peace will act as a catalyst for collaborative efforts; from the mitigation of conflict to addressing the root causes of conflict. This will bring together innovators, implementers, influencers and investors, harnessing twenty-first century creativity and innovation to find practical, implementable and cost-effective solutions to global challenges that have local and global consequences.
The Guiding Principles
Global Peace epitomises not merely the absence of war but represents a symbiotic relationship between sustainable peace and development that is premised on the four pillars of Global Peace which are:
1. Building cooperation, tolerance, and shared values.
2. Building inclusive economies.
3. Protecting and sustaining our environment.
4. Sharing knowledge for human progress.
Presentation of Global Peace Declaration of Intent
On 15 November 2019, Global Peace hosted a Global IGD moderated by Global Peace Founder Dr Vasu Gounden during the World Congress of United Cities and Local Governments held in Durban, South Africa. At the same event, the UN Under-Secretary-General (USG) and Special Adviser for the Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the UN, H.E. Fabrizio Hochschild, was officially handed the Global Peace Declaration of Intent.
In just over three years, Global Peace has become an ecosystem for thousands of young people across the world to connect, both with each other and with governments, civil society, and academia, to engage on pressing issues affecting their collective future and the futures of the generations to come. Global Peace’s commitment to serve as a stepping stone for youth to amplify their voices and contributions was reflected in the handing over of the Declaration of Intent in 2019. Mrs. Graça Machel further espoused this message during the launch of the first Global Peace IGD in Accra, Ghana, in May 2019.
The Future of Global Peace
- Convene a biennial Global Peace Forum of leading thinkers, thought leaders, and innovators in peace and development from governments, the private sector, civil society and academia, to focus on innovative and creative approaches to conflict prevention and development.
- Encourage young people to establish chapters of Global Peace in their countries to serve as platforms to advance shared values and social compacts between their governments, private sector and civil society at a local and national level towards achieving the SDGs; and
- Create an innovation hub that connects social innovators e.g. scientists, city planners, architects, engineers, etc. to share knowledge with each other and with governments and private investors to encourage social impact investing in initiatives that are practical, implementable and cost-effective and that address the root causes of conflict.
By the Office of the Global Coordinator General, Global Peace, ACCORD, Durban, South Africa
