The ACRSS, on 24th March, 2021 conducted its second webinar on the topic “Role of Multilateralism in International Development and World Social Order”. Our speaker for the session was Ms. Sirtaj Kaur, an alumnus of AIL. Based in the U.S.A., she is currently the Public Policy Lead (Global Advocacy) at the Global Partnership for Education, World Bank.
The anchors for the day were Ms. Tirtha Ajith and Ms. Jyotika Aggarwal and after a brief introduction, the lecture commenced. Initially the discussion circled around Mam’s work life and what exactly she deals with in her position. Her job includes lead public policy engagement for GPE at global forums and cross-sectoral public policy dialogues to ensure education is high on the international political agenda. Practically it involves integrating education into cross-sectoral conversations like gender equality, climate change, security and migration, nutrition to secure (a) donor aid from countries (b) commitments to reform education policies from developing countries (c) education’s position as a pillar of human development, therefore a matter of constant political interest.
Coming to the topic she covered the aspect of Multilateralism, its meaning, its practical manifestations such as the ASEAN, SAARC, African Union, etc. thereafter, she elaborated upon the ideas of state and statehood and existence of international borders, dividing the peoples around the world. She then differentiated between the schools of international relations, i.e., Realist vs. Institutional. Subsequently, she explained about the Global social order, which is the concept of states interacting in a tenuous balance between realism and institutionalism. Often, realism trumps institutionalism. However, Institutional structures have also had successes. Global concerted efforts have managed to immunize billions of children in the past decades, reduce global poverty (could discuss the global poverty line though), rehabilitated refugees. More children are in school as a percentage of the total population than at any other time in history. The lecture culminated by with a note on the challenges Multilateralism faces in the contemporary world.
The session culminated after a very intriguing question and answer round, with the participants putting forth well though queries. As someone who is a real life change maker and sees the events unfolding in the UN at the ground level, Mam also gave a brief guide as to what steps to follow, what kind of internships and activities to participate in, in order to pursue the career that she has landed in. In a nutshell, the webinar was nothing less than a fountain of knowledge. With Principal Mam, Dr. Tejinder Kaur's grace and the collective efforts of the Faculty Coordinators, Dr. Amita Sharma, Dr. Gagandeel Dhaliwal, Ms. Ekjyot Kaur and the Student Coordinators, the webinar was a sensation, with almost 50 students in attendance. The ACRSS will surely coordinate more such engaging activities in the future.
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