Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, and Transforming
The goal of any society is to attain a utopia: a world so ideal and perfect it appears suited for every member of society. A society in which no man or woman is left out. The Commonwealth too has a similar notion for member countries and the goal is to create an ideal world for every human being. It is a group of people organized under a single government, particularly a republic whose aim is to create international co-operation and to advance economies, social development and human rights in member countries.
This essay will elaborate how the Commonwealth achieves connectivity, innovation and most importantly transforms member countries.
The Commonwealth has a core goal which is to attain a ‘common future’, which is targeted at creating a world in which no member country is left out of developmental projects, democracy, human rights, international peace and security, rule of law and many such similar goals as expressed in the common wealth charter (1) .
The Commonwealth has come up with a number of ways in which to actualize these goals and one such a way is through the Commonwealth Games. The objective of these games is to connect different member countries and further promote humanity, destiny and equality. These games further provide a level playing field where athletes compete in a spirit of friendship and fair play thus promoting humanity, dignity and equality among them (2).
The games are metaphoric in nature in that they allude to the fact that countries can come together and show case peace, friendliness as well as fair play. The metaphoric purpose of these games is to show countries that a utopia can only be achieved if all members work towards it and help each other grow and build. This is seen in real time because countries hoping to attain world development are co-dependent and therefore rely on one another to attain tangible development. A crude example of this is international trade and relations. In order for countries to trade effectively, they need to form strong alliances amongst themselves so as to achieve international relations.
When we look to innovation, the Commonwealth prides in motivating its members to develop innovative ideas that would improve not only the livelihood of the people but boost prosperity as well as protect the planet and promote peace while building partnerships for development in the Commonwealth(3).
The Commonwealth has in the recent past come up with awards to be given to the most innovative member countries. These awards are given to motivate and spearhead development by widening the scope as well as the horizon with which member countries come up with solutions to the adverse problems they face. In so doing, member countries will solve their own problems and further join the rest of the world in innovative thinking. This will enrich the countries because innovation is the oil that lubricates the development engine.
In attaining a common future by connecting member countries and realising innovation amongst them, the Commonwealth has transformed many member countries. Countries that were in the doldrums are now emerging as great economies. Powerful economies are being created among member countries and development is the order of the day. Member countries have been transformed and enhanced. Economic, human and political development have been put on a pedestal and many member countries taken the task towards the actualization of such goals. An example of this is Kampala, Uganda which took the baton and formed the “Kampala Declaration on Transforming Societies to Achieve Political, Economic and Human development”.
In this declaration, Uganda acknowledged that in order to fully transform a nation, all aspects stated in the Commonwealth charter are of essence and without them, development was nearly impossible or futile (4). Therefore, as elucidated above, the Commonwealth is more than an organisation. It is a beacon of hope for member countries as it stretches the possibilities available to member countries by exposing them to endless opportunities, educative ideas as well as connecting member countries to a network of endless connectivity and prosperity.
REFERENCES
1 ‘Reaffirming the core values and principles of the commonwealth as declared by the commonwealth’s charter’, obtained from https://thecommonwealth.org on 27th of February, 2020.
2 England Weight Lifting, ‘Commonwealth Games’ obtained from https://englandweightlifting.org on 27th February, 2020
3 ‘Secretary General opens Innovation Awards for Member Countries’, obtained from https://thecommonwealth.org on 27th February, 2020
4 ‘Kampala Declaration on Transforming Societies to Achieve development’ , obtained from https://thecommonwealth.org on 27th February, 2020
NAME: ANGELA HALUBOBYA
SEX: FEMALE
AGE: 23
SCHOOL: UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA
EMAIL: angelahalubobya@gmail.com
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