![The EOC: A valid proposal for
today’s world [economy]?
EOC Youth School, Mariapolis Piero
Lorna Gold](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/lornagoldpresentation-150622124057-lva1-app6891/85/lorna-gold-the-eoc-a-valid-proposal-for-todays-world-economy-1-320.jpg)
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Lorna Gold: The EoC: A valid proposal for today's world (economy)?
- 1. The EOC: A valid proposal for today’s world [economy]? EOC Youth School, Mariapolis Piero Lorna Gold
- 2. The World Economy Today
- 3. The World Economy Today
- 5. New Global Sustainability Framework in 2015? Financing for Development (Addis Ababa) JULY Sustainable Development Goals (New York) SEPTEMBER Treaty on Climate Change (Paris) DECEMBER
- 6. Rise and Concentration of Corporate Power
- 7. Is this really a problem?
- 8. Risks of Growing Corporate Influence/Concentration • Hidden shift of accountability away from elected governments, and their role in the provision of services and human rights – into the hands of large financial and private institutions. Threaten governments with lawsuits if they seek to implement human rights standards. E.g. TTIP • Rise of corruption at all levels (but on the other hand, the rise of transparency movements globally) • Lack of basic standards around basic standards – race to the bottom - gross violations of human rights, fuelling conflict (e.g. in Extractives) • Crowding out independent, local business based on more sustainable practices – locked into unjust supply chains • Exerting undue influence over political processes – from the national level all the way up to the UN.
- 9. Duty to ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ • UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights • Putting in place essential checks and balances to address the new roles business is playing • Legal and policy reform to address gaps • National Action Plans • Push for a Global Treaty on Business and Human Rights • HOW TO IMPLEMENT?
- 10. ‘Do More Good’ • Get beyond CSR – about building a new business agenda around the concept of doing good. Integrate the concept of ‘shared value’ right across the organisation and externally in terms of benefit to society • Developing new, innovative models of business which respond to this challenge • Creating companies which are designed to address the major paradoxes of society – shifting from consumerist culture to shared ownership; “less is more”; whilst creating decent jobs, especially for youth!
- 11. Is the EOC a Valid Proposition? • The Charism of Unity is THE valid proposition! • The spirituality of unity provides the cultural tool kit to address the complex problems we face today, including economic ones. • Spirituality teaches us to listen, to share, to dialogue, to build consensus, to compromise, to cooperate, to generate together, to take the first step, to show mercy, to take risks, to love. It is that “soul” which translates into a myriad of initiatives • Prophetic message of the EOC – starts with really being the SOUL
- 12. 8 Things the EOC brings… 1. Power of example – in our new world, small events can create big changes… 2. Integrity between the values of the business leadership and ethical values. 3. Ensuring that the whole supply chain is a ‘chain of love’ – a chain where people’s rights and the environment is respected 4. Networked capacity for creativity – and innovation 5. Responding to the real needs of people – providing services and good that add to human dignity, not diminish it 6. Finding new, creative ways of sharing value – internally and within the community through profit sharing 7. Zero tolerance attitude to corruption – upholding the highest integrity; Commitment to public good - paying fair share of taxes 8. Vision of equity and sharing in practice
- 13. Ideas for the future… 1. Communicating this vision – do more research on the experiences, the impacts, and translate it into and to bring it into the leadership networks – and into the policy arena. More capacity to speak together as one. 2. Need to strengthen our own network – our strength is in unity and we need to see a blossoming of this creativity and collaboration, also involving others. 3. Need to connect with others who want to achieve the same vision as us – but use different language. Work together. 4. To do that, we need to focus on the elements which are our core strengths – what is really innovative about the EOC? It is the charism – the great ideal of unity, of universal fraternity.
- 14. And finally… • “But what is beyond the strength of a million isolated and separate people appears possible to those who have made reciprocal love, mutual understanding and unity the motivating force of their lives.” • Chiara at UNESCO Peace Prize, 1996
Notes de l'éditeur
- The big issues in the world economy today To understand if the EOC is a valid proposal for the world economy today, we have to first understand a few things about what is happening in our world economy – and what is likely to happen in the coming years. Trying to understand the current situation in the world economy is extremely difficult and it very much depends on who you talk to. Ask one economist, say from the IMF, the world bank, and their view may be pretty optimistic. The only thing that matters really is to get economic growth moving again and everything will be fine. Everything comes down to the GDP of countries. In that respect, most African countries are doing very well… The more developed, Northern countries are not doing good at all. In fact, most of them are finding themselves in very serious fiscal crises which are difficult to resolve. The solution proposed, however, is to extract more economic growth.
- Problems with the Growth Paradigm This prescription, however, is starting to wear thin for a number of crucial reasons: The growing levels of inequality at national, global level – and the realisation that social, economic and political inequality has a significant effect on the prospects for sustainable economic development. The growing realisation that a issues of environmental sustainability, including addressing climate change, are going to play an ever more important role in the future – and a global economy based on carbon fuelled growth is ultimately destructive to all of us. Scientists now know that if we continue to burn carbon at current rates, the threshold for “safe” levels of Co2 in the atmosphere will be used up by 2035. Many of the types of economic growth we are seeing now, especially in western countries, are forms of rent rather than productive activities which involve job creation. The primary actors in global economic activities – transnational companies – are outstripping the capacity of national governments and citizens to hold them to account, creating a serious governance crisis.
- New Global Framework Many have been calling for a new global framework to address this crisis. 2015 is a critical year in this regard. These issues are being discussed and played out through three inter-related global processes in 2015: Financing for development conference, which will take place in Addis Ababa in July, which will seek to address both the issues of how to finance international cooperation and systemic issues relating to the global economy. The UN Summit on the Post-2015 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, which will be signed off in September in New York (which Pope Francis will attend) The Summit in Paris in December to agree on a binding global deal to curb climate emissions The prospects for each of these critical processes, which are very interlinked, is very hard to judge. At the heart of this agenda is a need to shift the paradigm of well-being – and to find new economic models which enable a more equitable, sustainable sharing of goods. I’ll return to that later.
- Where does business and private enterprise fit into this picture? Recent decades have seen the massive expansion of transnational corporations in particular, into arenas which were previously only the domain of the state or of civil society organisations. Now, there is a blurring of those lines, with growing intersections of state-business, state-civil society, business-civil society. Some are based on collaborations, some are take overs. This is particularly evident in the sector I work in – international cooperation – where we have shifted from a sector which was primarily about non-profit based service delivery, to for-profit financing of private services. Business is very much at the forefront of the push for the SDGs – many hoping to bid for lucrative contracts.
- Serious risk entailed with this increasing role (slide about power concentration) Form a political perspective, this new focus on the role of the private sector comes at a time of rising global inequality – which has only increased during the big recession. Many governments, if not bankrupt, are beholden to international debtors that dictate many aspects of their domestic and international policy. Whilst we have seen an increase in the number of democratically elected governmnets, we are actually seeing a hidden shift of accountability away from governments, and their role in the provision of services and human rights – into the hands of large financial and private institutions. Threaten governments with lawsuits if they seek to implement human rights standards. Rise of corruption at all levels – but on the other hand, the rise of transparency movements globally Lack of basic standards around core areas – gross violations of human rights Exerting undue influence over political processes – from the national level all the way up to the UN.
- Serious risk entailed with this increasing role (slide about power concentration) Form a political perspective, this new focus on the role of the private sector comes at a time of rising global inequality – which has only increased during the big recession. Many governments, if not bankrupt, are beholden to international debtors that dictate many aspects of their domestic and international policy. Whilst we have seen an increase in the number of democratically elected governmnets, we are actually seeing a hidden shift of accountability away from governments, and their role in the provision of services and human rights – into the hands of large financial and private institutions. Threaten governments with lawsuits if they seek to implement human rights standards. Rise of corruption at all levels – but on the other hand, the rise of transparency movements globally Lack of basic standards around core areas – gross violations of human rights Exerting undue influence over political processes – from the national level all the way up to the UN.
- Duty to protect, respect and remedy - prevent harm from occurring. What does this mean? This is about reforming the legal and policy frameworks in which business activities take place to make sure that they are fully in line with the UN Guiding Principles. I am involved in Ireland in the debate around the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights. Similarly, we are involved in international debates at the UN around a binding global treaty on business and human rights. Getting these frameworks right is absolutely essential if the worst forms of human rights abuses are to be avoided in the future and accountability is to be addressed adequately. In particular, issues of corruption and transparency are key.
- Need to focus more on the kinds of services and value that companies create – rather than focusing only on the profit motive. The value of a company as a human organisation does not rest only in its financial bottom line, but in the social value it generates. This needs to become a central part of its operations rather than an add on. Developing new, innovative models of enterprise which respond to the new problems of society today. At a deeper level, this means creating companies which help us address the critical paradoxes of modern society – shifting from cultures of consumerism/individualism to cultures of shared ownershpi
- In the face of the immense challenges today, I would start by saying that the Charism of unity is the only valid proposal. In my work, which brings me daily into political, economic and social arenas, I see how this charism is so essential and so valuable. Perhaps those of us who have grown up in it, sometimes don’t see the immensity of this charism for the world. In effect, the spirituality which it offers to the world is a critical public good. Why do I say that? The effects of the charism bring the basic values and skills which are needed to address the complex problems we face today: capacity to listen, to share, to dialogue, to build consensus, to compromise, to cooperate, to generate together, to take the first step, to show mercy, to love. It is that “soul” which translates into a myriad of initiatives, including the EOC. But it is the soul first and foremost that touches people. The EOC is rooted in a culture of giving – something perhaps we have not talked to much about in recent years. So when it comes to the EOC, this is the treasure we have. We have a patrimony which is prophetic – and speaks to the critical issues the world is facing today. In relation to the specific issues of business accountability and social responsibility, here are my thoughts on what the EOC has to bring – and potentially what it could bring in the future.