RSS Feed |The largest, global dialogue ever undertaken between the peoples of the Commonwealth about their association…This is the Commonwealth Conversation.
Dr. Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, talks about what the Commonwealth means to him and how its values of diversity and tolerance are an immense assest.
Categories: Connecting with Young People, My Commonwealth
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Tags: CHOGM, monarchy, Queen, Trinidad, young people, youth
Categories: Connecting with Young People, homepage items, My Commonwealth, The Commonwealth's Relevance
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Dr. Claire Auplat, an academic specialising in institutional theory, suggests building on the existing capacities of the Commonwealth to ensure the association’s survival.
Dr. Auplat classifies the Commonwealth as a ‘conditional organisation’, meaning one that links member status to specific conditions. In the case of the Commonwealth this refers to historical and cultural links to Britain and, more recently, the promotion of values such as democracy.
Categories: Connecting with Young People, The Commonwealth's Relevance
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Last week we featured the opportunity to ask Kamalesh Sharma, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, any question you wanted. He is now responding.
Answering a question on profile, posted on the Commonwealth Conversation website, he said:
“It is by making ourselves relevant and responsive to the concerns of the ordinary people whom we serve that we can best hope to be acknowledged by them.”
Tags: Sharma
Categories: Connecting with Young People, The Commonwealth's Relevance, The Official Commonwealth
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Categories: Climate Change & Environment, Connecting with Young People, homepage items
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Title: Conversation in Uganda
Date: 2009-11-19
The Commonwealth Association, Uganda, engaged over 400 people in their consultations on the future of the Commonwealth.
Speaking to students at various universities, the following observations and recommendations were made:
1) The Commonwealth has done little to raise awareness amongst the people of its work, mission and engagements
2) The Commonwealth should push more for the enforcement of democracy and good governance
3) Its role on the world stage is unclear
4) It has not benefitted the common man
5) The Commonwealth should intervene more to guarantee free and fair elections in all countries
Tags: Uganda
Categories: Connecting with Young People, Conversation Events
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Title: Conversation Youth Discussion in Namibia
Location: Namibia
Date: 2009-10-16
A Commonwealth Conversation took place between a group of young people in Namibia.
1 student had heard of the Commonwealth Games, but did not know who participated in these games and where the next games were to be hosted. When asked of evidence of the Commonwealth’s presence in their community, “there was no response”.
The students spoke passionately about the situation in Zimbabwe and want the Commonwealth to help resolve this. They also asked the Commonwealth to provide more grass roots information on its scholarships and to check how country governments are managing international aid and funding.
Tags: Namibia
Categories: Connecting with Young People, Conversation Events
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Title: Young Commonwealth Climate Change Summit
Location: London
Date: 2009-10-30
Young people from around the Commonwealth gathered in London to debate what the Commonwealth could do to combat climate change.
Categories: Climate Change & Environment, Connecting with Young People, Conversation Events
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This critique of ‘the Commonwealth family’ is written by a young African member of a Commonwealth civil society organisation.
The inter-governmental Commonwealth works in many of its member states and assists them in election observation, peace building and technical assistance. There are also so called Commonwealth ‘civil society’ organisations in almost every country.
Despite these connections and good works, there are still many people that do not know anything about the Commonwealth, suggesting that there is much room and need for the organisation and its work to be highlighted.
Tags: Civil Society, Family
Categories: Connecting with Young People, My Commonwealth, The Commonwealth's Relevance
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Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma is asking ordinary people from around the Commonwealth to email him ahead of this month’s Heads of Government summit in Trinidad and Tobago.
Mr Sharma will respond in person online via email, Twitter and Facebook to as many questions and suggestions as possible during the summit.
This is a unique opportunity for those who can’t get to Port of Spain to engage Mr Sharma directly on any topic covered by the Commonwealth Conversation. The deadline is Wednesday 18 November.
Please send your question or suggestion to asksharma@commonwealth.int by Wednesday, 18 November.
Tags: Sharma
Categories: Connecting with Young People, The Commonwealth's Relevance, The Official Commonwealth
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