Your Voice at the UN --Why are we here?

Drawing from my experiences and conversations with you, community entrepreneurs, over the past 3 years that I have worked at MBD, I will be busy here trying to make UN recommendations for national policies better for the underserved (at the UN called the “vulnerable,”) specifically addressing environmental, social and economic justice.

But before this conference starts I want to document what I know. What I know now is that our lives are shaped by policy. So are our businesses. Economic opportunity, education, our environment, security, justice, freedom of speech and the right to self-determination, everything. And I know that our economies are fundamentally shaped by the economies of other countries. Outsourcing, the rise and fall of our currencies, the price of gas, the costs of pollution, war. Just like you are not ever in business alone, none of us are on this planet alone.

If you understand peace to be a prerequisite of sustainability in our world (which, no matter what your definition, we all largely want to be present and healthy in the future), it follows that we must work for peace. World history has shownt hat peace not possible without justice. So, we need justice and we need to work together as one society of humans to achieve it—these are things I can hold to! That seems to be the purpose of the Commission here at the UN… so I think I’m in the right place. Thoughts?

Personally, most of my energy right now goes towards working against poverty through microenterprise, a form of systemic injustice that is more and more understood by the "international community" (another buzz word that gets thrown around that just means our collective consciousness as governments and active citizens) to be unacceptable and not merely undesirable. All of you, us, involved in this movement in the US, we have much to learn and so much to share!

Your Voice at the United Nations- Getting Ready for Take-off

Tomorrow opens at 10 but starts with accreditation, which I understand is a lengthy process. I am set with letter and passport in hand, and a map to get across Manhattan efficiently as a visitor.

Today, I attended a pre-conference with other members of the Youth Caucus, which I am a part of, to begin networking and to identify what our policy priorities are as a coalition. What became clear to me today was that being effective at the UN is all about solidarity with other groups, creating allies, and meeting others (especially those with different priorities from yours) on common ground before stirring up the waters. I suppose that is just good strategy in all of life.

It also struck me today what happens at the UN is all based on people. Policy is shaped and reshaped by the conversations and the connections that will happen in the room over the next two weeks, in addition of course to government scripts for their delegates and lobbyists. Institutions (even those as official and as large as the UN!) are as alive, breathing, erring and triumphant as humans.

Some background information, and resources for your further reading:

More information on the history and organization of the UN can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations. I will not repeat all of that myself here! I am sure I will need to reference and explain pieces of it later, but you can check that out yourself. Also, if you’d like to check out the UN website and the Convention on Sustainable Development website for more info.

The UN creates what is called “soft policy,” that is, policy that nations are not legally obliged to follow. Member nations of the UN (there are currently 192, up from 50 when it was founded in 1945) can “ratify” or endorse the policy they help to create, which means they are agreeing to implement the policy in their own countries. Some people disregard soft policy as unimportant, but it is the first and best form of international cooperation and progress we’ve found so far!

The Convention on Sustainable Development (CSD) was established by the UN in 1992 to monitor and ensure follow-up on two important documents called Agenda 21, and the Rio Declaration, and to provide policy guidance for nations to engage in sustainable development. Both Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration were created at Earth Summit (in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). Agenda 21 is essentially a blueprint for sustainable development. The Rio Declaration, which focuses on the environment and development, has had major impacts on trade and decisions. So, the Commission meets to review the progress on these and create policy recommendations. Last year was a review year; this year is a policy creation year!

My fellow delegates with SustainUS and I have been working to put together policy recommendations for our coalition to lobby on. We addressed the four main themes of this Convention—air pollution, climate change, energy, and industrial development. I helped create the Industrial Development policy recommendations, and specifically formed recommendations to nations of the world around 1—encouraging asset development, 2—affordability and access to capital, 3—the need for local control and ownership of economies -- all with you, MBD community in mind!

Here were the recommendations that most directly relate to MBD and the local economic development work we do:

Position local economic control as a fundamental goal of economic policy.
To the extent possible, local economic conditions must be owned and regulated by the communities that create and benefit from them. Strong local economies provide economic opportunity for local residents while ensuring self-sufficiency and self-determination, key tenants of sustainable development. Strong local economies are more resilient to global economic turbulence, while reducing the need for carbon output by sourcing local to consumption.

Make entrepreneurship and asset ownership accessible by ensuring the affordability of capital and resources.
Eradicating extreme poverty is the first UN Millenium Development Goal, and sustainable development necessitates the eradication of poverty. Income is not the sole indicator for poverty-- poverty is informed by access to capital and the ability to acquire assets. The international community widely recognizes the efficacy of entrepreneurship both in alleviating these root issues of poverty and in solving the wider social and environmental issues facing societies. One of the most well-established and successful practices that facilitate entrepreneurship and asset ownership amongst the impoverished is microfinance, which provides access to affordable financial services and relevant technical assistance. This combination of entrepreneurship, access to affordable capital and asset-building opportunities
has been tremendously successful in eradicating poverty, as evidenced by the granting of the Nobel Peace Prize to Dr. Muhammad Yunus in 2006. It ensures that all people have the opportunity for economic self-sufficiency and the right to self-determination, as well as the ability to own and acquire meaningful capital necessary for eradicating poverty.

Give SustainUS feedback!

The SustainUS policy document in its entirety will be posted soon. I will post the link when it is available.

One last thing. There are so many definitions that we can start talking about here. I think I will do one or two each posting. If you’d like, review these definitions and either comment with your perspective or post your own to the E.I. Box to the right of this posting. All of these words have definitions in development! Here are two of the most important tonight:

Sustainability is an attempt to provide the best outcomes for the human and natural environments both now and into the indefinite future.

Lobbying is a concerted effort designed to achieve some result, typically from government authorities and elected officials.

With love from the Big Apple,

Caitlin

Your Voice at the United Nations

Hello! Caitlin Hedberg reporting. Some of you know me as the Director of the Sustainable Enterprise program, others might know me as an advocate for microcredit, a translator, a photographer, or a colleague or friend. Whoever you are, welcome to the MBD blog at the United Nations (UN)!

I will be attending the U.N. Convention on Sustainable Development from opening ceremony on April 30th through the closing ceremony on May 11th. I am officially attending as a representative of Citizens Network for Sustainable Development, but really I am at the U.N. because of you, my community, and the amazing entrepreneurs I get to work with as a staff person at MBD.

During these two weeks, I am your voice at the U.N. Please pass along your words, and I’ll voice them. Feel free to ask your questions, and I’ll try to get some answers. Email me at ch@microbusiness.org or post your question/comment here by clicking on the "post a comment" button at the bottom of this posting.

I will be posting about the UN Convention from a delegates perspective every couple of days. Please keep in touch, ask questions or just say hello!


Caitlin

Breakfast: The Community's Role in Economic Development

On Tuesday, April 17th, 26 MBD clients, politicians, aspiring political candidates, and business development folks gathered to discuss the Community's Role in Economic Development. Here is what the community had to say:

What is your biggest challenge as a Colorado business owner?

Individualized Business Service
Collaborative Efforts

Topic 1: Colorado’s business owners face several challenges as they seek to start and grow their businesses. These challenges occupy a range of topic including: marketing, networking, skill-building, holistic healthcare, financial management and capitalization. As the group discusses these issues in greater depth, they found the common denominator to be “the people.” They believe that immense opportunity exists for building greater personalized services and networks facilitate by the state for business development. Ms. Corrales of Sisters of Color United for Education distinguished tow channels for a business owner’s energy and resources: collaboration or survival. The group concluded that collaboration was a far more productive and efficient use of the State’s resources than sweeping and generalized business assistance services that may contribute to survival in the short-term but not sustainability in the long-term. The health achieved through collaboration will be reflected in Colorado’s businesses. The group would like to see network and cooperation building through summits for like-minded businesses organized around their specializations. By providing services that focus on working more closely with the individual business owner, Colorado’s businesses only stand to gain. In return, the State’s economy and communities will rise as well.

What is the one resource that you think government should provide/facilitate for small business owners?

Consulting
Opportunities
Advocacy
Zoning Relief

Topic 2: The second group was challenged with identifying the one resource they feel the government should provide or facilitate for small- and micro-business owners. Their initial brainstorming session included several ideas such as: personal technical training, resources, capital, traffic analysis, guidance, demographic information, business education, communication of opportunities, marketing, accountability for state services so that they accomplish what they propose, consulting, advocacy for small business, zoning relief, greater publicity and communication of government contracts, guidance on the bidding process, affordable office space and inclusive planning. While the group had a difficult time narrowing their conclusions down to a single resource or service, they were able to articulate their justification for their top four priorities.
1. Consulting – this is a successful service program many city and state governments already provide. Small- and micro-business owners want more! As the group considered the services that most contribute to their business and even personal growth as business owners, they found individualized consulting to be an invaluable tool. Consulting should include general guidance as well as pointed resources such as demographic information.
2. Information and communication on emerging opportunities coupled by pointed technical assistance – “Hindsight is 20/20.” Opportunities are easily recognized after they have passed. Colorado’s small business owners would like a more proactive approach where communication and information failures currently exist. Overcoming such market failures will foster increased competition and higher quality service as a result of the technical assistance proposed here.
3. Advocacy promoting small business as economic development – Large businesses have sufficient capital, resources and dedicated personnel to advocate for policies that directly benefit their business growth and operations. Furthermore, the government (at both the city and state level) readily advocate for large businesses given their potential impact. Small business owners in attendance viewed this as an effort with diminishing returns. Large businesses seek a constantly improving business climate forcing governments to make increasingly generous offers and concessions. Yet small- and micro-businesses taken as a whole could have an economic impact that far outweighs the large businesses in the state. They simply need an advocate!
4. Zoning Relief – Zoning is intended to bring order to growth. It aims to achieve maximum productivity in development for the public interest. Yet zoning also represents a significant barrier for small- and micro-businesses. They believe economic development and the public interest in Colorado is better served by zoning regulations and relief (where appropriate) that is more friendly to the smaller businesses.

What is your big idea for improving the state economy?

Service
Education
Relationship

Topic 3: The last group was asked to undertake answer the question: “What is your big idea for improving the State economy?” Their discussion is best summarized in three words: service, education, relationship.
1. Service – in order for the small- and micro-business sector to realize its full (and large) potential, they will require services that foster entrepreneurship or that support organizations with this same mission. Many businesses get lost in “the system.” Registration, taxation, licensing, and compliance all require a great deal of attention, especially for the novice. Business owner participants want to see a holistic approach by cities and the State that includes small business in their master economic plans. Their strategy should include either guidance for business owners in navigating various compliance issues or simply the process to a manageable workload. An inclusive master plan would support small business not only through education, fundraising, capitalization and technical assistance, but also through specialized initiatives such as alternative energy research and development that identifies clear opportunities for Colorado businesses beyond overarching and good-intentioned resolutions.
2. Education – Elazabieta Kosmicks of Mile High Energetics affirmed “You can’t take education away from a person.” One of the best ways to improve the State economy is by educating all its participants. Fundraising and capitalization of Colorado schools will have a lasting impact on the economy by giving residents a better chance of accomplishing their life goals. Education establishes a solid foundation of knowledge upon which future generations can build. The discussion of education especially centered on the closing of Manuel High School and the gentrification of similar neighborhoods.
3. Relationship – An inclusive master plan for economic development couples by quality education will only go so far in improving the State’s economy. Colorado’s communities also need to build relationship to realize their full vibrance. The State could have a very practical role in catalyzing relationship building by creating innovative tools such as online databases or community centers that aim to connect needs with services; entrepreneurs with capital/funders; and youth with adult mentors. Modeled after the international microfinance movement that uses online tools to connect entrepreneurs abroad with philanthropists and investors in the U.S., this idea envisions physical and virtual community centers that distribute and communicate services while also providing more “traditional” forms of education through mentorship between generations as well as new entrepreneurs and experienced business owners.

The E-Innovation (E.I.) Box

ReDefining Business

What's your definition of social entrepreneurship?