Thinkers and Doers meet in Málaga, Spain for the first Global NESI Forum

What would a sustainable world involve? Can it be achieved? Should we leave it to politicians and corporate interests to determine our future?

If you are a thinker and doer and want to be part of the process of finding solutions to some big issues, NESI may be for you. On 19th-22nd April, Málaga (Spain) will host the first New Economy and Social Innovation Global Forum (NESI Forum).

Sounds grand but it is a simple enough concept. The forum will bring people together so they can focus on what is wanted to influence wider agendas.

The issues associated with population increase, the democracy deficit and crisis, the changing environment, gender inequality, the unmet 2015 Millennium Goals will be re-focused. The aim of this forum is to create a road map which provides the steps to guide governments towards a new paradigm based on values and which guarantees the wellbeing of all people.

NESI Forum will gather over 600 opinion leaders and more than 60 speakers from all over the world, including Marcos Eguiguren, director of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values; Carlos Trías, adviser to the European Economic and Social Committee; Katherine Trebeck, senior researcher for Oxfam GB ; Christian Felber, an economist and founder of the Economy for the Common Good international movement; Jonathan Dawson, sustainability educator, Head of Economics at Schumacher College in Devon; Andy Goldring, Permaculture Association; Federico Guerrieri, European Research & Policy Network Co-ordinator, New Economics Foundation. There will also be people from the Transition and the Local Futures networks.

Co-operation is the key, allowing for the fruition of plans and strategies for participants to act in a collaborative manner, both locally and globally, including new economic models, NGOs, business associations, public administrations and social movements.

Mobilisation is part of the process for change: NGOs, business, social movements, the academic world and civil society will work together to contribute through “bottom-up” processes.

A participant La Moneda said: “The current economic model has brought lots of good things with it but it has also got a systemic flaw: it puts capital before anything else, including people.”

Four themes will encourage participants to rethink money so that it becomes a means instead of an end, to reshape organisations so that they promote the common good, to redistribute power and explore new governance models with a focus on decentralisation, democracy, and collaboration

So what does all this mean? Well, I am going to find out more next week. I plan to interview a couple of people and will write and share more information soon.

See you there!

Here is the NESI Forum publicity video

Check out the NESI website for registration and progamme details