GLOBAL CAFE
CHICAGO & ONLINE INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC SERVICE FORUM

HOT ISSUES AND CURRENT INTERNATIONAL TOPICS FOR OUR COMMON FUTURE AND GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT

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The Global Café is a series of discussion forums between academics and practitioners exploring hot issues in our global society and international public service. This is a collaborative initiative of Dr. Marco Tavanti in collaboration with alumni, students and faculty of the International Public Service (IPS) Graduate Program active in the World Engagement Institute and other Chicago based international and national nongovernmental organizations.

The discussion forums are open to the public on the web through a Global Community Social Media which includes various resources and links for each topic. Participants are encouraged to join the online community and share their comments.

Click on the button to join the online community and get additional information:

global cafe community

The topics for each forum are selected in dialogue with our circle of stakeholders and they reflect issues relevant to the WEInstitute's mission. These topics are also matter of analysis of the graduate courses and learning outcomes of the International Public Service program at DePaul University. Click here for more information.

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ISSUE: WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

• WHY IS WOMEN EMPOWERMENT THE KEY TO POVERTY ALLEVIATION? Many international organizations focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment not only as a human right, but also because they are a pathway to overcome poverty in the world. Women empowerment is also the key for inclusive societies and holistic management in organizations. Our panel will discuss the contemporary challenges and opportunities of women empowerment in the context of leadership, businesses, education, development, immigration and  cultural diversity. Learn more >>
  

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Issue: MICROFINANCE

• IS MICROFINANCE THE ANSWER TO POVERTY ERADICATION? Indeed, microfinance approaches have been successful in some aspects of poverty alleviation, but they also have manifested their limits.  Microfinance is not just microcredit. It is the provision of a variety of financial services such as micro-loans, micro-savings, micro-insurances, and other services including trainings. Microfinance has been a successful tool for alleviating global poverty. Through the promotion of women entrepreneurship microfinance institutions (MFI) have been making a difference in many  developing communities worldwide. However, financial loans without proper social capital development support could also very risky and contradictory reality profiting from the poor or the epidemic of borrower's suicides. Microfinance is a very good tool, but just a tool, in the fight against global poverty and it needs to be understood in its diversity of approaches. Learn more >>
  

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Issue: SUSTAINABLE FUTURE AND POST 2015

Sustainable Development

• WHAT IS THE FUTURE WE WANT? WHAT IS THE POST 2015 PROCESS? The international community has been engaged in a constructive debate over the Post 2015 development agenda. Fortunately, the sustainable development objectives emerged after the Rio+20 Earth Summit (see The Future We Want) will be merged into the development objectives after the year 2015, at the expiration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In spite the relative success of the common MDG agenda, numerous areas and goals have been left out from a more integrated, comprehensive and sustainable approach. The current new agenda integrates both development and sustainable goals into a comprehensive list of 12 goals. Now is the time for civil society, academic community and other concerned global citizens to speak up on this new agenda, on its feasibility, comprehensiveness and sustainable values. The panel and resources associated with this global cafe offers opportunities to learn more and engage more in the 'the future we want'. Learn more >>
  

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Issue: MULTI-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS

Building Partnerships

• WHY AND HOW TO PROMOTE MULTI-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS? What can be achieved when public, private and civil society sector organizations collaborate? The world is facing increasingly severe crises due to poverty, water scarcity, lack of sanitation, wars, environmental disasters, refugee and migrant flows, emerging diseases,  lack of education, domestic violence, gender inequality, and the list goes on.   Each of these issues is too large for just one sector to solve independently and requires greater collaboration between public, private and civil society organizations.The issue of public-private partnerships, and more important the topic of multi-sector partnerships are highlighted in our cross-sector analysis course in the School of Public Service. They are also the reality of most projects and initiatives in public, private and nongovernmental works at local, national and international level. This seminar presents outstanding examples of successful collaboration.  Speakers will discuss the concepts, mechanics and outcomes of their work.  The seminar will be moderated by Susan Ross, CEO of SR Consulting.  She has worked with CARE, USAID and other organizations in building partnerships and is the author of Expanding the Pie: Fostering Effective Non-Profit and Corporate Partnerships. You will find these conversation stimulating and quite relevant to your studies and careers. Join us in person or online. Learn more >>
  

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Issue: HUMAN TRAFFICKING 

Human Trafficking

• WHAT'S YOUR SLAVERY FOOTPRINT? Human trafficking is a global crisis of our generation. What are we doing about it? The Global Cafe in human trafficking will engage scholars and practitioners in Chicago active in the fight against modern slavery. We know that trafficking in persons is a serious crime and a grave violation of human rights. What we don't know is that its happening all around us and we are all somehow complicit in it. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), every year, thousands of men, women and children fall into the hands of traffickers, in their own countries and abroad. Almost every country in the world is affected by trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination for victims. The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) define human trafficking as "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation." Human trafficking is not just a despicable crime or a moral issue, but also a profitable business. As part of our global chains of production, we all can make a difference, as responsible consumers, to stop this unacceptable business. Start by assessing your 'slavery footprint', and explore the resources available in the Global Cafe community. Learn more >>
  

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Issue: FAIR TRADE

Fair Trade

• IS FAIR TRADE REALLY FAIR? The Fair Trade Movement has a long history but its modern form began in Europe in the 1960s. The slogan at the time, "Trade not Aid", gained international recognition when adopted in 1968 the UNCTAD, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and when Oxfam launched the "Helping-by-Selling FT stores. Recently, “fair trade” has become merely a buzzword and the movement has been co-opted. Yet Alternative Trading Organizations (ATO) promoting fair trade certified products support essential global citizenship principles in the area of human rights, environmental protection and gender empowerment. The event engages Chicago based FT organizations, FT scholars and concerned citizens to critically and constructively review fair trade in its values, benefits and shortcomings. The Global Cafe Community includes various resources and links learn more about this issue and engage better in making the world a better place through fair trade mechanisms. Learn more >>

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Forthcoming Issues

Global Cafe

• Ask to be added to the Global Cafe Community to get updates and information on the forthcoming issues:
  
• Women Empowerment
  
• Human Security
  
• Indigenous Rights
  
• Gender Equality
  
• Food Security
  
• Slow Food
  
• Sweatshops
  
• Conflict Minerals
  

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Partners, Collaborators and Sponsors

Click to learn more and get involved in these programs, organizations and initiatives.

• International Public Service Graduate Program (MS-IPS)
• World Engagement Institute (WEI)
• Sustainable Capacity International Institute (SCII)
• International Public Service (IPS) Network
• DePaul Earth Week
  
• United Nations Association (UNA-USA) Greater Chicago Chapter
  

"The issues, challenges and concerns of our global societies should be our own issues, challenges and concerns as global citizens."
Marco Tavanti

"The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.” Thomas Paine, American revolutionary (AD 1776).