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Thursday 9 April 2015

Global Integration Update--April 2015

Pursuing common ground for the common good.
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Global Integration 
April 2015 Update

The GI Updates are designed to help you connect and contribute relevantly with our globalizing world--global integration (GI). GI essentially is is how we skillfully integrate our lives and values on behalf of the issues facing humanity. We encourage us all to carefully reflect and act on what it means to be global learners-practitioners--global integrators who are committed to pursuing "common ground for the common good." 
Warm greetings from Geneva,
Kelly and Michรจle O'Donnell
How are we doing as a world community?
How can we better understand current efforts to promote wellbeing for all?
Here are five current materials to help us explore these important questions.

The first four materials are reports that overview the state of world's development (items 1-3) and peacebuilding (item 4). We encourage you to take the time to at least read the overviews/summaries and to make some notes/applications as you do so. We have gone over these items many times (and with several colleagues) in order to grasp the content, new terms, and implications for our world, our work, and our lives. Rounding off this GI Update are some initial reflections on what it means to be "global integrators" (item 5). We have also included  a "Going further into GI-MH" resource after each item for those who are interested in applications for mental health in global integration. 

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1. World Development Report 2015: Mind, Society, and Behavior; World Bank Group. “This Report aims to integrate recent findings on the psychological and social underpinnings of behavior to make them available for more systematic use by both researchers and practitioners in development communities. The Report draws on findings from many disciplines, including neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, behavioral economics, sociology, political science, and anthropology. In ongoing research, these findings help explain decisions that individuals make in many aspects of development, including savings, investment, energy consumption, health, and child rearing. The findings also enhance the understanding of how collective behaviors—such as widespread trust or widespread corruption—develop and become entrenched in a society. The findings apply not only to individuals in developing countries but also to development professionals, who are themselves prone to error when decision-making contexts are complex.” (pp.2-3)
http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2015


Going further into GI-MH: 
Mental Health Economics--Demystifed. Live Q and A webinar with Dr. Daniel Chisholm, World Health Organization, organized by the Mental Health Innovation Network (Thursday, 16 April 2015, 13:00 UK time, 8:00 New York time).“Global Mental Health innovators sometimes get asked – by decision-makers, funders or other researchers – if their innovation is affordable or represents good ‘value for money’. But what do these concepts really mean – are they the same as cost-effectiveness analysis and how does one go about measuring them? “To sign up for free contact:mhin@lshtm.ac.uk

2, Human Development Report 2014: Sustaining Human Development--Reducing Vulnerabilities and Building Resilience; United Nations Development Program. “As successive Human Development Reports have shown, most people in most countries have been doing steadily better in human development. Advances in technology, education and incomes hold ever-greater promise for longer, healthier, more secure lives. Globalization has on balance produced major human development gains, especially in many countries of the South. But there is also a widespread sense of precariousness in the world today—in livelihoods, in personal security, in the environment and in global politics. High achievements on critical aspects of human development, such as health and nutrition, can quickly be undermined by a natural disaster or economic slump. Theft and assault can leave people physically and psychologically impoverished. Corruption and unresponsive state institutions can leave those in need of assistance without recourse. Political threats, community tensions, violent conflict, neglect of public health, environmental damages, crime and discrimination all add to individual and community vulnerability.” (p. 1, bold font added for emphasis) http://hdr.undp.org/en/2014-report

Going further into GI-MH: Here are some upcoming global mental health-related conferences. Culture and Global Mental Health, Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture, 23-25 April 2015, Providence ,Rhode Island USA (http://psychiatryandculture.org/). International Mental Health Congress, World Federation for Mental Health et al., 28-30 April 2015, Lille, France. Theme: Mental Health for All--Connecting People and Sharing Experience (http://wfmh.com/calendar/mental-health-congress/). Crossing Boundaries: Meeting the Needs of Refugee Communities Around the Globe, Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology (William James College), 26 June 2015, Newton, Massachusetts USA (jill_bloom@mspp.edu).

3. Synthesis Report on Sustainable Development (December 2014), UN Secretary General. This Report summarizes much of the current thinking on sustainable development for all. Suggestions: Read the first 25 paragraphs which is a powerful "universal call to transform our world beyond 2015 " and paragraphs 57-81 which describe the 17 proposed sustainable development goals,, organized into six "essential elements" (dignity, people, planet, justice, partnership). You can access the Synthesis Report on the UN Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform:https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/
Going further into GI-MH: FundamentalSDG is a coalition of organizations working to include mental health more fully into the SDGs and the post-2015 development agenda. http://www.fundamentalsdg.org/


4. White Paper on Peacebuilding (2014), Geneva Peaebuilding Platform. "The White Paper on Peacebuilding reflects a 12-month collaborative multi-stakeholder initiative with peacebuilding professionals from all regions coordinated by the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform. The aim of this exercise is to present a range of voices and perspectives about the challenges, opportunities and future of peacebuilding practice. These reflections occur at a moment of several agenda setting processes including the 10-year review of the UN Peacebuilding Architecture and the work of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations. The White Paper on Peacebuilding complements these efforts by broadening the discussion about how countries and societies can move towards sustainable peace, and about the assistance the UN and other international and local actors can bring to such processes." (quote from website)
http://www.gpplatform.ch/white-papers/whitepapers

Going further into GI-MH: Psychologists for Social Responsibility "is an independent, non-profit organization that applies psychological knowledge and expertise to promote peace, social justice, human rights, and sustainability. [The] members are psychologists, students, and other advocates for social change in the United States and around the world." http://psysr.org/
5. Global Integrators, CORE Member Care (2015). This current set of weblog entries by Kelly is exploring some of the characteristics of being global integrators. It includes entries on loving truth, peace, and people (LTPeople); working as sector connectors and trans-practitioners; and understanding global disintegration and sustainable development, Have a look here:
http://coremembercare.blogspot.fr/search/label/global%20integrators


Going further into GI-MH: Mental Health for All and by All is a challenging and inspiring TedTalk by Dr. Vikram Patel, a leading advocate for global mental health (September 2012, 12.5 minutes).   
http://www.ted.com/talks/vikram_patel_mental_health_for_all_by_involving_all

Global Integration
Actively integrating our lives (connecting and contributing) with global realities
(skillfully addressing the major issues facing humanity and promoting wellbeing)
in light of our core values (e.g., ethical imperatives, commitment to humanity, faith-based).

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Member Care Associates, Inc.
Copyright ©2015 Member Care Associates, Inc.

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