2020: Year Zero?

At a time when the whole world is experiencing an unprecedented upheaval with day to day life brought to a screeching halt, why not seize this opportunity to examine the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of our models? It is unlikely that, in our generation, we will experience another moment such as this one, a moment which can allow us to fully explore the possibilities for profound societal transformation.

All the indicators suggest that the decade we are entering will be decisive for our common future. The cri-sis we are going through requires collective action. It requires thinking long term and on a local and global scale. The way each of us approaches our role will be decisive in the management of the upcoming social, economic, environmental and democratic challenges. Earlier this year, the United Nations Secretary-General called for an acceleration of collective ambitions to make the Sustainable Development Goals agenda a success, calling for the 2020-2030 decade to be one of action.

To succeed in this ambitious agenda, it is crucial that all the players bring their efforts together. And it is towards this convergence that our Forums and all of our work contribute. Our role is to create a meeting point for all the positive social initiatives that emerge every day, by bringing together local players throughout the world who devote their expertise to developing solutions that are innovative, ambitious and bring concrete improvements to the communities they stem from.

This publication presents 100 Concrete Solutions for the World of Tomorrow. Based on six key SDGs high-lighted by the 12th edition of the Convergences World Forum (“Education”, “Growth”, “Inequalities”, “Climate”, “Peace”, “Partnerships”) and the initiatives presented during the event. All envision possibilities for new forms of mutual aid, solidarity and collaboration. They carry technical and societal innovations which, taken together, represent a model for a planned transition revealing that true wealth lies not in what can be counted, but in what matters.

2020 can be the year of renewal, of a transformative change in our models and our societies, a milestone for the fight against poverty, exclusion and climate change.

These 100 Solutions carry the concrete ambition of a Zero Exclusion, Zero Carbon, Zero Poverty future everywhere!

Thibault Larose, Executive Director, Convergences

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