IGCF IN SHARJAH, UAE GATHERS TO DISCUSS HOW TO BUILD TRUST WITH PUBLIC AS WORLD DEALS WITH CRISES

With the world standing on the brink of a potentially deep economic recession, falling behind global climate commitments and with nuclear threat back on the international agenda, world’s leading government communications experts and politicians are gathering at the International Government Communication Forum (IGCF) in Sharjah, UAE to discuss strategies that can avert disaster and best ways to communicate them.

SOUNDBITE (English) Kim Campbell, Former Prime Minister of Canada

“I think in my life time it’s as bad as I’ve seen it, really since the Cuban Missile crisis, because we actually have a nuclear power threatening to use a nuclear weapon.”

SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Shashi Tahoor, Indian MP and Former UN Under-Secretary General

“If the war continues and even gets worse, drags in new actors, for example, we might be well looking at a situation where we have to face the worst, the nightmare scenario in the living memory is the 1930s, when you had a depression and then you had a world war.”

Bringing more than 160 experts and global leaders for its 10th anniversary edition this year, IGCF is the first-of-its-kind platform in the region to discuss best practices in government-citizen relations - a tough job in the times of crises and disinformation.

How do you win support for painful issues, such as rising energy prices or economic slowdown, how do you counter disinformation and create political capital to tackle climate change?

Kim Campbell, former Canada’s first female Prime Minister, says her optimism is based on the solidarity she seems between governments in the face of Russia’s war in Ukraine. 

SOUNDBITE (English) Kim Campbell, Former Prime Minister of Canada

“There is no magic wand. What we need is the will and what we heard this morning was that we should focus on building our capacity to do good things. Seeing some hope for that in the solidarity behind Ukraine, of countries that haven’t just run all for the weeds, and said no, this matters, there is a red line here and we have to stand up and be counted.”

The governments have no choice but level with people around bad news. 

SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Shashi Tahoor, Indian MP and Former UN Under-Secretary General

“Governments often make the mistake that they should only be putting out good news and public relations but when it comes to economic crises people live through them. People experience higher energy bills or loss of jobs or other kinds of bad news in their real lives. So really you can’t lie to them, governments have to level with them and at the same time be as transparent and upbeat about what they are planning to do to address the crisis.”

And when it comes to climate, optimism works better than bad news.

Felipe Calderón is former President of Mexico and Chair of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate 

SOUNDBITE (English) Felipe Calderón, Chair of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate 

“I have heard for decades arguments mobilising fears. And I believe we need to switch from fears to hope. We need to find the right and positive arguments that are able to mobilise governments, leaders, societies - jobs, poverty alleviation, economic growth. The bad news is that I know we are not fast enough, we are losing time, we are out of time already, but the good news is that I believe is that the new generation they understand perfectly what my own generation is unable to understand.”

And indeed these school and university students are all very aware of the challenges they are about to inherit.

This hackathon is run by the Massachusets Institute of Technology’s tech education project, App Inventor, for the first time in the Middle East.

In three days students  explore the possibility to create apps simply by describing what you want in everyday language - using AI and voice recognition.

They are challenged to figure out how to use this power to improve life for their peers, families, communities and the world. What would they build?

VOXPOP (English) Al Jazi Ahmed Sahabi, School student

“When I entered here I was terrified but it turned out that programming is a mindset.”

VOXPOP (English) Jalal Eddin Shweihneh, University student in Dubai

“This workshop opened my mind to AI, I had no idea of what AI could be used for. It opened me up to see that AI will be a thing in the future and it won’t be as negative as it is shown in the media.”

Teams came up with seven projects, among them mini apps to help sight-impaired people and to help people improve their sleep habits.

Mark Friedman is the co-founder of the MIT App Inventor project and led its development while at Google

For him, it is about enabling kids and giving them tech skills that can turn them into creators and solvers of challenges ahead of them, not just passive consumers of technology. 

SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Friedman, MIT App Inventor Co-founder

“Increasingly there is a gap between the technological world that we live in and our understanding of it. And so how are able to properly able to shape the direction of our world as we having a limited understanding of it. And I think what workshops like this do, they promote a very optimistic view. If they can in three short days build mobile apps using Artificial Intelligence, I think it gives them a sense of confidence 

As the forum continues, the themes of transparency, cooperation and technological literacy and how governments can tackle them will continue to be discussed. 

The months ahead will be a testing time to implement them.

1. Various shots of the conference opening segment including shots of Sheikh Nahayan Bin Mabarak Al Nahayan giving opening address
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Kim Campbell, Former Prime Minister of Canada “I think in my life time it’s as bad as I’ve seen it, really since the Cuban Missile crisis, because we actually have a nuclear power threatening to use a nuclear weapon.”
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Shashi Tahoor, Indian MP and Former UN Under-Secretary General “If the war continues and even gets worse, drags in new actors, for example, we might be well looking at a situation where we have to face the worst, the nightmare scenario in the living memory is the 1930s, when you had a depression and then you had a world war.”
4. Various shots of IGCF forum
5. Set up shots of Kim Campbell
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Kim Campbell, Former Prime Minister of Canada “There is no magic wand. What we need is the will and what we heard this morning was that we should focus on building our capacity to do good things. Seeing some hope for that in the solidarity behind Ukraine, of countries that haven’t just run all for the weeds, and said no, this matters, there is a red line here and we have to stand up and be counted.”
7. Set up shots of Dr Shashi Tahoor
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Shashi Tahoor, Indian MP and Former UN Under-Secretary General “Governments often make the mistake that they should only be putting out good news and public relations but when it comes to economic crises people live through them. People experience higher energy bills or loss of jobs or other kinds of bad news in their real lives. So really you can’t lie to them, governments have to level with them and at the same time be as transparent and upbeat about what they are planning to do to address the crisis.”
9. Set up shots Felipe Calderón
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Felipe Calderón, Chair of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate “I have heard for decades arguments mobilising fears. And I believe we need to switch from fears to hope. We need to find the right and positive arguments that are able to mobilise governments, leaders, societies - jobs, poverty alleviation, economic growth. The bad news is that I know we are not fast enough, we are losing time, we are out of time already, but the good news is that I believe is that the new generation they understand perfectly what my own generation is unable to understand.”
11. Various shots of school and university students taking part in Future Worlds Challenge workshop
12. VOXPOP (English) Al Jazi Ahmed Sahabi, School student “When I entered here I was terrified but it turned out that programming is a mindset.”
13. VOXPOP (English) Jalal Eddin Shweihneh, University student in Dubai “This workshop opened my mind to AI, I had no idea of what AI could be used for. It opened me up to see that AI will be a thing in the future and it won’t be as negative as it is shown in the media.”
14. Various shots of school and university students taking part in the Future Worlds Challenge workshop
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Friedman, MIT App Inventor Co-founder “Increasingly there is a gap between the technological world that we live in and our understanding of it. And so how are able to properly able to shape the direction of our world as we have a limited understanding of it? And I think what workshops like this do, they promote a very optimistic view. If they can in three short days build mobile apps using Artificial Intelligence, I think it gives them a sense of confidence.
16. Shot of group photo of students
17. Exterior shot of IGCF
18. Drone shot of Sharjah (Handout, undated)