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This op-ed piece is part of a series written by Fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar program “Public Policy New Voices Europe”
Photo Credit: Katrin Kerschbaumer
This op-ed was written by Valeriia Chernysh, Ghislaine Gill, Idrissa Kaba, Kondwani Happy Ngoma, Anne Odongo and Elaine Yeung.
Diversity is characteristic of contemporary European societies. It is not an aspiration or desired outcome but a reality. Do European institutions and societies have the agility to maximize the talents and dynamism inherent in diverse groups? This challenge cannot be addressed with outmoded institutional designs and practices. Through our social enterprise, the Global Regeneration Enterprise (GRE), we advance a new social contract tailored to meet 21st century challenges.
GRE is built on a self-sustaining model of maximizing social impact. This model aligns with a new social contract rooted in substantive and collaborative arrangements between individuals, the private sector, and the state. Substantive arrangements extend beyond symbolism, ensuring that we realize our goal of creating a more just, inclusive, and equitable society for all. While European institutions have historically had social contracts, they have generally applied to a narrow band: 17th and 18th century social contracts stressed ideals of individual liberty but largely applied to white men with property, whereas 20th century social contracts suited monoculture societies. Globalization trends, including migration, have changed European societies‘ complexion. Unfortunately, European institutions, particularly public policy spaces, do not reflect the social diversity resulting from these trends, thus contributing to increasing inequality within and between social groups.
To address this imbalance, we explicitly recognise groups and individuals under social diversity. Our definition encompasses age, economic/social/cultural backgrounds, gender and sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, (dis)ability and caregiving roles, political/social world views, class and religion. A categorical breakdown of social groups enables public policies to better reflect and leverage a cross-section of actors comprising European communities — aligning with our 21st century social contract of ensuring that no one is left behind.
To implement the new social contract, GRE focuses on the following intersecting areas:
One defining element of our strategy is acknowledging that there is no one-size-fits-all solution: each community is different. Communities constantly evolve due to social processes, including gentrification or national construction projects. We emphasize data collection and analysis to better understand communities’ make-up and tailor policies to their needs. While formal methods (e.g. census) are comprehensive and indicative of larger social trends, they often take time and are periodic. We thus integrate informal processes, including observations and in-person interviews, reflecting more nuanced and immediate changes with a “human” factor.
An example: Urban Hosts’ block party in Berlin‘s Friedrichshain district. The event focused on “neighborliness”, an element of social cohesion forming the basis of governance and policymaking in urban contexts. For successful implementation, we learned about the people and businesses represented in this neighborhood; the issues directly affecting them; and its support network‘s resources. Only with this knowledge could we host an event with, for, and about the neighborhood.
The current education system faces challenges including inadequate data and lack of diversity in people holding power. We advocate for improved data collection processes and a more inclusive education system, equipping individuals with skills to advance throughout life’s different phases.
In the Inclusive Education for Development project, implemented in Kenya’s Nyandarua county, assessment was conducted on children with disability for proper diagnosis and care, and to allocate them to appropriate schools and care institutions. A key aspect was creating community dialogue groups to deconstruct underlying societal stigma associated with disability. More records on the number of children with disability is needed to aid policy decisions and future interventions.
Data analysis also affects decision-making processes, which we see in the representation of women in leadership positions in schools, healthcare, and businesses. Comprehensive data at global, national, and sub-national levels shape policy development and program design. The Transforming Education Co-Action Summit‘s guide works towards sharing power and adopting an inclusive approach.
We envision politics supporting community-building, and our institutions reflecting our diverse and inclusive societies. Societal groups often have formal representation and participate in political decision-making spaces. However, even in existing participatory setups, some face barriers due to institutions’ path dependency — leading representatives to check out of political participation. GRE works with political actors to align institutions with our diverse societies. We want to humanize politics, shifting focus from procedures to humans, communities, and societies. Our approach to political participation welcomes critical overhaul of the playing field, instead of perpetuating one where "new" players must "build capacity" to be heard.
An example: our pipeline project uses data collection and analysis to map the different (sub)cultural communication styles in shared political decision-making. All cultural communication styles are necessary as reflections of today’s diverse society; political procedures should not favor one over the other. Specifically, we want to better understand the influence of high-context and low-context cultures on policy formulation by evaluating the uptake of low-context (explicit, verbatim, repetition) and high-context context (less explicit, body language, metaphors) inputs.
While we view the Global Regeneration Enterprise as a vehicle for change, using data and partnerships as ways to improve social diversity across public policy areas, people remain the main catalyst to create solutions for more substantive impact. We place a premium on substantive impact because we believe outcomes matter. Our goal is to bring about these outcomes by strengthening the renewed social contract which fosters equality, inclusion, and lifelong learning among diverse communities by engaging public and private actors.