During the third session 2017 Aurora Prize Laureate Dr. Tom Catena; Hainan Cihang Charity Foundation President Philipp Rösler; Safari Doctors Founder and 2017 CNN Hero Umra Omar; and Fondation du Grand-Duc et de la Grande-Duchesse Director Mike van Kauvenberg gathered to analyze the best ways business, government, non-profit organizations and on-the-ground entities can work together to provide lasting solutions. The conversation focused around what makes impact sustainable.
“The Aurora Humanitarian Index shows us that there is a lot of trust for local NGOs, and yet this is where we put the least amount of resources. Demands of accountability really underestimate the outcome that we are able to facilitate,” said Umra Omar when discussing the impact of grassroots action. Philipp Rösler then noted that in many cases it was hard even to get funding for a project that was outside the donors’ immediate sight. “Sometimes we are struggling with the nice guys in the Greater Bay Area [in Hong Kong] even to explain to them that there is a country outside the Bay Area. And there’s a whole universe outside,” he pointed out.
Mike van Kauvenberg highlighted the importance of proper cooperation, understood by the global entities and local activists alike. “The 17th UN Sustainability Goals is really promoting partnerships between all the players – on the government level, on the private business level, but also at the NGO level,” he reminded the panelists. Giving a good example of collaboration that can make the impact sustainable, 2017 Aurora Prize Laureate Doctor Tom Catena told the audience the Aurora Fellowship program, which recruits medical volunteers to make healthcare more accessible to people in different parts of the world. “They train local people, and it will make a difference, but in 10-15 years,” he explained.
Moderator Jane Corbin, award-winning BBC journalist and filmmaker, then invited on stage the Co-Founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative Noubar Afeyan, Founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering, who concluded the 2018 Aurora Dialogues in Armenia by saying: “The notion of gratitude in action is a notion that we hope will compel many people to get engaged with that type of activity. The gratitude part of that statement is the impulse, and the action part of that statement is the impact.”
On June 9, 2018 the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative hosted the third annual Aurora Dialogues, entitled “Inspire, Empower, Impact.” The conference was made possible by the support of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany and through the collaboration with the Global Perspectives Initiative (GPI). Additional information about the first and second sessions is available here and here.