Fairness, Security and what impact can students and younger people have on the Commonwealth’s ‘grand challenges’?  

 LSBM Lighthouse – Term 2 (2018):

Wednesday 14 March 13:00pm

Towards a Common Future? 

"A fantastic opportunity to engage students on the main areas of focus for the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting" (UK Cabinet Office)

Event 4 of 4: 

Towards a Common Future: Fairness and Security and the impact of students and younger people on the Commonwealth: Dr Godfred Boahen, Lawrence Muli

The London School of Business and Management Lighthouse External Speakers’ Programme set against a ‘VUCA’ world of heightened volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity uses the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London in April 2018 (https://www.chogm2018.org.uk/) as an opportunity to engage with external stakeholders in key areas that impact business and higher education now and in the future.  

One in three people in the planet is from a Commonwealth country with its 53 countries spanning the richest to the poorest, the biggest to the smallest with 60% of its population aged 29 or under. Bilateral costs for trading partners in Commonwealth countries are 20% less than between those in non-member countries and half of the top 20 global emerging cities are in the Commonwealth. As such the Commonwealth provides a microcosm of the global community and a powerful, though under-used, way to make sense of global trends and issues from diverse voices and how they affect all of us as whether as students, employees and citizens.

With the theme of ‘Towards a Common Future’, leaders will work to address common challenges, and focus on delivering:-

• A more prosperous future
• A more sustainable future
• A more secure future
• A fairer future 

For the first time, civil society organisations from business, trade unions, NGOs and a wide variety of civil society and professional organisations working in areas from education to urban planning have come together to say what matters from their perspectives in each of these areas. A short paper has been prepared for the CHOGM meeting by these organisations and Lighthouse will provide an exclusive opportunity to hear what these key messages are and contribute to the conversation.    

Each talk will be at Birkbeck B34 at 13.00-14.00. Panels will aim to include a student from one of the Student Societies or the Students Guild. All are welcome. The final talk will be on:-  

• Week 9: Wed. 14 March – Towards a Common Future: Fairness, Security and the impact of students and younger people on the Commonwealth:Dr Godfred Boahen (Commonwealth Organisation for Social Workers) and Lawrence Muli, Youth Division, Commonwealth Secretariat and LSBM Law Society representative (Chair: Arif Zaman) focusing on Fairness (promoting democracy, fundamental freedoms and good governance across the Commonwealth), Security (focusing on increasing cooperation across security challenges including global terrorism, organised crime and cyber-attacks) and how the voice of younger people and students can be heard on the Commonwealth’s ‘grand challenges.’

Dr Godfred Boahen is born in Ghana, a Commonwealth member. He is a qualified social worker and the Policy and Research Officer for the British Association of Social Workers, which is affiliated to the Commonwealth Organisation for Social Workers. After a degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at Oxford University, Godfred worked in the third sector and local authorities. On completing his PhD Godfred became an academic before his current post. Godfred brings personal and professional experience of ‘fairness’ to his work on the themed paper for this Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

Lawrence Muli, Economic, Youth and Sustainable Development Directorate at the Commonwealth Secretariat. Lawrence works on youth empowerment with specific focus on work with youth leaders and youth led organisations, ministers of youth and strengthening policy and programmes on youth development. Prior to this he worked as a policy and advocacy associate Youth Division, Department of Human Resources Science & Technology, African Union Commission in Addis Ababa. He’s worked as a Programmes and Policy Advisor at the Pan African Centre for Social Development and Accountability; a policy think tank that strengthens the work of youth led organisations, youth development practitioners across Africa on backstopping the management and use of data in mainstreaming an evidence-based policy making and programming approach to youth development. Lawrence is a public policy enthusiast with extensive work and experience within the African and Global mandate on youth development and environmental sustainability. Lawrence holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy and Management from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, UK and a BSc in Environmental Science from Kenyatta University in his home country Kenya.

As before events are open to other Knowledge Quarter Partner organisations in Bloomsbury and Euston and especially students and younger people to build interdisciplinary dialogue and understanding. Invitations have also been extended to Commonwealth organisations and students elsewhere. LSBM is proud to be a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities.    

53 member countries. 2.4 billion citizens. Towards a common future. Join the conversation on #ourCommonwealth http://bit.ly/ourCommonwealth 

 For further information please contact arif.zaman@lsbm.ac.uk