Commonwealth Foundation Events

The three candidates for Secretary-General will present and debate their vision for the future of the Commonwealth.

Civil society experts from the Pacific are invited to share their views ahead of the 2024 Commonwealth People's Forum in Samoa.

The Commonwealth Foundation presents a special screening of seven short films from the Caribbean region

Civil society experts from Asia and Indian Ocean are invited to share their views ahead of the 2024 Commonwealth People's Forum in Samoa.

This event—a partnership between the Government of Samoa and the Commonwealth Foundation—will seek to facilitate an intergenerational dialogue to address the pressing challenges faced by SIDS communities and explore sustainable and actionable solutions that involve young people.

Civil society experts from Africa and Europe are invited to share their views ahead of the 2024 Commonwealth People's Forum in Samoa.

Civil society experts from the Caribbean and the Americas are invited to share their views ahead of the 2024 Commonwealth People's Forum in Samoa.

The first event in a series building up to the Heads of Government Meeting and People's Forum in Samoa 2024 will provide a structured space for civil society to affirm their shared goals and determine what needs to be done in the year ahead. This global conversation will kickstart a series of regional conversations taking place from February 2024.

This special online Commonwealth Writers Conversation brings together Kenyan writer and activist Kevin Mwachiro, with South African author Mark Gevisser and fellow African activists Nickita Maesela and Xeenarh Mohammed to discuss the themes which permeate Mark Gevisser’s book, ‘The Pink Line: The World’s Queer Frontiers’. The panel ended the session by answering questions from the live-audience.

Drawing from their wide knowledge and experience of LGBTQ+ rights and activism on the African continent and further afield, the panellists explored:

• the importance of writers and gay icons in shifting the narrative around queerness
• the gains and losses of the past decade; and the impact of colonialism and globalisation
• the ‘awkward dance’ between legal reform and social change
  the role of the Church in the debate around issues of gender identity and sexuality in Africa

Central to this conversation is Mark Gevisser’s new book, The Pink Line: The World’s Queer Frontiers—one of Time Magazine’s Top 100 Reads of 2020.

Six years in the making, The Pink Line follows protagonists from nine countries across four continents to tell the story of how LGBTQ+ rights became one of the world’s central human rights frontiers in the second decade of the twenty-first century. The Pink Line folds intimate and deeply affecting stories of individuals, families and communities into a definitive account of how the world has changed for LGBTQ+ people, so dramatically, in such a short space of time.

‘The panel recognised that the internet offers queer Africans a space to connect, see, listen, and read their stories. As Nickita Maesela beautifully stated, “We have words and movements to say we are here…These words are helping reclaim African queerness; they are reinstating African queer stories in the story of Africa.’”‘

Kevin Mwachiro, Panel Chair

Read Panel Chair Kevin Mwachiro’s blog ‘A Very Pink Line’ about the Commonwealth Writers Conversation here.

As part of Cyprus@60, an online festival to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment and independence of the Republic of Cyprus organised by the Cyprus High Commission in the UK in October 2020, Commonwealth Writers organised a conversation between 2019 Short Story Prize winner Contantia Soteriou, translator Lina Protopapa, and novelist Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi.

During this interactive roundtable, you will help formulate recommendations for Commonwealth Finance Ministers. Please note that spaces are limited to those with knowledge and experience in debt justice, climate finance and climate advocacy.

Join this interactive roundtable alongside gender, climate, and health experts to devise gender-responsive climate strategies focusing on health.

Civil society representatives and Senior Officials at the Commonwealth Health Ministers meeting will discuss how government and civil society can work together to advance universal health coverage.

Join us to talk frankly and openly about the challenges that lie ahead and recommit to the political values and aspirations of the Charter that can—and must—guide us into the future.

Join young changemakers to discuss how to turn Charter values into action.

Join health experts and practitioners to discuss how healthcare systems can better address the needs of women and girls as an essential aspect of progress towards Universal Health Coverage.

Climate leaders from small island states will discuss how they are using international law to secure climate justice.

Join leading figures in the effort to hold major polluters accountable under international law in this special event.

This event has taken place. Watch the recording now.

This event has taken place. Watch the recording now.

How can reparations for climate-induced loss and damage finally be turned into reality?

Can a transition to clean energy be achieved without imposing fresh burdens on the world's poorest?

A creative expression on the theme: Delivering a Common Future: Our Health, Our Planet, Our Future. Welcoming speech by a speaker of the Rwanda parliament.

How can the Commonwealth be a positive force for change on the topics that the People’s Forum has explored –and more? Join us the people of the Commonwealth to hear their vision for the future of the Commonwealth and use examples from their own lives and work to inspire advocacy and action for change.

The Commonwealth Charter affirms that freedom of expression is essential to democratic societies and a basic condition for development. This session will involve a positive and forward-looking discussion of freedom of expression: why does it matter and how can it be protected? What can the Commonwealth do to support and advance free and responsible media?

This interactive debate will discuss innovations that are bringing people into governance: giving them a voice in shaping their institutions and holding them to account.

As countries seek to respond to the health and economic effects of recent crises, debt is surging to record levels, with Low-and Middle-income countries especially vulnerable. Their capacity to fund strong health systems, and to respond the impacts of climate change, is increasingly constrained. What can be done to support these countries to meet their climate and health goals?

The effects of climate change are being felt throughout the Commonwealth, with some Member States experiencing global warming as a direct and immediate threat to their economies, their communities, and their way of life. The Commonwealth has a special responsibility to amplify their voices and build meaningful solidarity to protect their interests.

Throughout the Commonwealth, the past two years have laid bare the fragility and inequality of many national health systems, and the apparent incapacity of international systems and institutions to provide practical support. What can be done internally to help build up health systems?

Artivism involves using creative and artistic means to bring about social or political change. Although the term itself has only gained popularity in the last two decades, artivism embraces the deeper social purpose found in artwork throughout the centuries. Modern artivist campaigns are expressed through a variety of mediums, including film, photography, visual art, literature and poetry.

Studies show that artivism is more effective than traditional activism. Audiences are more receptive to the messaging behind artivist campaigns which are oftentimes more memorable.

Artivism offers a unique platform for marginalised people to use their voices and drive change. How can we harness it in the Commonwealth, where free expression appears to be in retreat?

This Critical Conversation will bring together young creative activists from across the Commonwealth. They will share their experiences of combining art and activism to answer vital questions:

• Can art influence the way we think and act as individuals, and as a society?
• How can artists work with civil society to accelerate social change?
• How can the Commonwealth provide support or create an enabling environment for more creative activism?

Illustration credit: Aretha Brown

This event has now taken place. You can watch the recording here:

The Covid-19 pandemic has laid bare the consequences of a failed approach to global health that has widened inequalities between countries and stalled progress on Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The divides between nations are stark. Millions in developing countries cannot access treatments that are readily available in developed ones and half of all Commonwealth citizens remain unvaccinated against Covid-19.

The pandemic has also revealed the deep moral bankruptcy of an intellectual property system that operates at the expense of human lives. The major pharmaceutical companies and their state sponsors have consistently blocked efforts to waive intellectual property rights that would increase the availability of treatments or distribute vaccines to those in need.

There are a growing number of proponents for a more just global health system. The Director-General of the World Health Organisation has advocated for enabling all regions to manufacture the vaccines, medicines and health technology they need.

This Critical Conversation will bring together health experts, policy makers, thought leaders and activists. It will answer questions about global health, intellectual property, and the Commonwealth’s relationship with the two.

This event has now taken place. You can watch the recording here:

Climate finance, particularly compensation for ‘loss and damage’, is a critical issue for the Commonwealth’s small and vulnerable states.

These states have felt the catastrophic effects of global heating, including the increasing intensity and frequency of hurricanes, cyclones, and flooding. Climate finance offers small and vulnerable states protection and mitigation from these threats—if they can access it.

With limited resources of their own, small and vulnerable states are naturally dependent on larger ones for the financial support they need. The great irony, and tragedy, is that they are dependent on the very nations who have benefited from decades of high energy use and carbon pollution.

Despite the urgency of the situation, compensation for loss and damage remains a contentious issue in multilateral forums and funding has not been forthcoming. All the while the citizens of small and vulnerable states remain at risk.

As carbon emissions continue at alarming rates, the movement for holding polluters financially accountable for the damage they have caused is growing. But without significant political or economic leverage, small and vulnerable states have struggled to make climate reparations a reality. So, what options do small and vulnerable states have?

This Critical Conversation will bring together a panel of climate negotiators, climate justice activists, small island decision-makers, climate policy thought leaders and legal experts to answer this question and more:

• Can multilateralism deliver the necessary compensation owed to the people bearing the brunt of the climate crisis?  
• What approaches must leaders and activists now utilise to build their power? 
• Can initiatives such as debt cancellation or debt-for-climate swaps yield just results? 
• Could the recent establishment of a Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law, with the power to make legal claims against ‘polluters’, be the answer?

Read: The Agreement for the Establishment of The Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law

This event has now taken place. You can watch the recording here:

Watch the recording of this event with three dramatic monologues on 19th-century indenture in Guyana, Mauritius and South Africa.

We explore what it means to be a 'citizen' of the Commonwealth. This event has been broadcast and you can watch it now.

We interrogate the role the Commonwealth plays, and should play, in the big issues that really matter to its people. This event has been broadcast and you can watch it now.

We ask whether the institutions of the Commonwealth are fit for the future. This event has been broadcast and you can watch it now.

The Foundation is partnering with Commonwealth organisations to deliver a symposium on climate change policy and the Commonwealth. Held three days before the start of COP26 in Glasgow, the symposium will address pressing Commonwealth climate change issues.

As the world enters a critical decade for our climate, Commonwealth Member States and institutions must come together: demonstrating a united front and decisive leadership at the forthcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November (COP26).

The Commonwealth has an irreplaceable role to play. Small Island Developing States (SIDS) make up almost half of its total membership. Citizens of these vulnerable countries are literally on the frontlines of the fight against global warming. Nowhere else does the climate crisis feel more urgent or more real: rising sea levels and shifting weather patterns are already posing serious threats to the livelihoods of small island populations throughout the Commonwealth.

The small island experience serves as a demonstration, and a warning, for what lies in store for the world—unless we act now.

The political and technical challenges ahead are formidable. To turn the tide on spiralling global temperatures States must loudly affirm commitments already made under the Paris Agreement. Collaboration on both adaptation and mitigation must be accelerated. And the international community must rally to deliver urgent support to the small island states that are being forced to carry a disproportionate, unfair burden. This group of countries has played a leading role in raising awareness of the climate emergency on the international stage and advocating for strong climate action. They have succeeded in building a common diplomatic discourse and influencing strategy. They need and deserve whole-of-Commonwealth support.

This Critical Conversation is a call to arms. It will bring together activists, thought leaders and policymakers to confront the challenges—and take advantage of the opportunities—that lie ahead, most especially in relation to small islands states. It will interrogate the role that the Commonwealth could play – should play – in placing the needs of this group of States front and centre in international negotiations.

This event has taken place. You can watch it here:

Global problems require global solutions. If countries cannot cooperate on the big issues of our time—on everything from carbon emissions to tax havens—then we risk accelerating a global race to the bottom, with the burden of crises being shouldered by the poorest and least powerful among us.

Global solidarity has been put to the test during Covid-19. We’ve seen some great success stories, but the failures are many: from the unequal distribution of vaccines and medicines to the crushing debt burden that less developed countries now face. The world can—and must—do better.

Our ability and willingness to work together will determine the future. Without greater global solidarity, we are unlikely to rise to the challenges of climate change, poverty and global inequality.

This Critical Conversation session will bring together policy experts and activists to explore how the Commonwealth and its Member States can work together to deliver economic solutions for people and the planet.

Join us and together we’ll ask: can the Commonwealth bring strong and visionary leadership to advance solidarity within and between nation-states?

This event has taken place. You can watch it here:

This Critical Conversation—an Open Forum—will bring together leading voices from academia, policy, and civil society to contribute to the debate on the Future of Commonwealth Studies.

The Commonwealth Foundation is inviting you to join this online capacity development programme that will deepen Caribbean practitioners’ understanding on the intersection of gender and climate change.

International treaties stipulate that every human being is entitled to the highest attainable standard of health—yet Covid-19 has exposed stark gaps between commitment and reality; as the young in wealthy countries wait in line for vaccines, the old in poorer nations have hardly begun to queue.

This pandemic has forced us to consider what the status of the right to health is today; how it applies when the whole world is swept by disease at once; and how it can be used to judge the actions of governments and the international community. It has also magnified health’s relationship with wider social factors. Medical infrastructure, state capacity, and social protection policies have all influenced the pandemic.

So, what has Covid-19 taught us about the link between the right to health and other human rights? Have our human rights been properly respected during this crisis? And could the international community do more to protect the world’s most vulnerable?

During this Critical Conversation, health practitioners and advocates from across the Commonwealth will attempt to chart a better path forward through Covid-19 and beyond.

This event has taken place. You can watch it here:

Don’t miss this opportunity to pose questions to a panel of some of Africa’s—and the world’s—leading LGBTQ+ activists and writers.

Drawing from their wide knowledge and experience of LGBTQ+ rights and activism on the African continent and further afield, the panellists will explore:

• the importance of writers and gay icons in shifting the narrative around queerness
• the gains and losses of the past decade; and the impact of colonialism and globalisation
• the ‘awkward dance’ between legal reform and social change
• the role of the Church in the debate around issues of gender identity and sexuality in Africa

Central to this conversation is Mark Gevisser’s new book, The Pink Line: The World’s Queer Frontiers—one of Time Magazine’s Top 100 Reads of 2020.

Six years in the making, The Pink Line follows protagonists from nine countries across four continents to tell the story of how LGBTQ+ rights became one of the world’s central human rights frontiers in the second decade of the twenty-first century. The Pink Line folds intimate and deeply affecting stories of individuals, families and communities into a definitive account of how the world has changed for LGBTQ+ people, so dramatically, in such a short space of time.

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed weaknesses in governance throughout the world—from health service provision to international aid.

Lessons from past epidemics confirm the importance of incorporating a gendered analysis to mount an effective and inclusive response. For example, during the 2014–16 West African Ebola outbreak, gendered norms meant that women were more likely to be infected by the virus, given their predominant roles as caregivers within families and as front-line health-care workers. And, as they were less likely than men to have decision-making power regarding the response, their needs remained largely unmet.

The Covid-19 pandemic appears to be playing out in a similar way with clear indications emerging that women are experiencing the pandemic differently to men—despite a relatively lower mortality rate. Overall, the vulnerabilities that reflect women’s gender roles and unequal social status are exacerbated. We see the results in higher rates of violence, faster economic decline and continued exclusion from decision making and policy development.

The issue of differentiated needs arises between as well as within countries. Responses to Covid-19 have largely been ‘boilerplate’—a one-size-fits-all approach that reflects both the urgency and the novelty of our situation. But it is becoming clear that policies and approaches which might work well in one part of the world will not necessarily work well elsewhere. For example, support to the informal economy may be a minor policy issue in a developed country but is a critical question of human survival—one with special resonance for women—in many developing countries. How do we make sure that these differences are recognised and taken account of?

This Critical Conversation will bring together a range of stakeholders to discuss responses to the pandemic so far, the challenges these reveal, and the ways in which we can ensure more just and equal responses to Covid-19 and future crises.

This event has taken place. You can watch it here:

A special event to sensitise Cameroon civil society organisations on the grants and other programmes of the Commonwealth Foundation.

The decline of media freedom in the Commonwealth has been identified by Commonwealth Member States, institutions and civil society as an issue of growing concern. Threats to media freedom are contributing to an erosion of democratic culture and diminished government accountability at a time when such accountability has never been more important—or more urgent.

All Commonwealth Member States have publicly committed themselves to upholding ‘peaceful, open dialogue and the free flow of information, including through a free and responsible media’. But across the Commonwealth, assaults on media freedom are becoming more commonplace and more severe.

While there are many events looking at these issues, this event will focus on issues unique to the Commonwealth’s position: asking what can be done by and with Commonwealth institutions, what can civil society do to work against the multiple forces that are seeking to close down the free flow of accurate and truthful information and the role the Commonwealth needs to play if it is to remain true to its own principles.

This event has taken place. You can watch it here:

How can the Commonwealth be a positive force for change? Join young leaders from across the Commonwealth as they share their vision for the Commonwealth and use examples from their own lives and work to inspire advocacy and action for change.

The destiny of the Commonwealth is in the hands of the next generation. Of the 2.4 billion Commonwealth citizens, over 60% are under 30. Not only are young people the majority, they are taking action on the most pressing issues of our time—from gender equality to racial justice and climate change.

We will explore young people’s perspectives on the Commonwealth’s complex past. What big lessons have been learned, especially from recent activism around racial justice and climate change? How can Commonwealth institutions support youth movements that are pushing for change and help them to do and deliver more?

In collaboration with the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust and the Commonwealth Youth Council, the third event in the Commonwealth Foundation’s Critical Conversations event series puts young leaders’ views and desires at the heart of discussions about the Commonwealth’s legacy, and more importantly its future.

We’re asking young people to come to this conversation with their ideas about what is important, what must change and what support they need to lead the Commonwealth into the future.

This event has taken place. You can watch it here:

Join leading women peace advocates from across the Commonwealth as they reimagine what ‘women, peace and security’ might mean for our future.

Twenty years ago, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, part of a global effort to highlight the impact of conflict on women and the need to bring the voice of women into peace processes.

After two decades, it is clear that much remains to be done. In this second event in the Commonwealth Foundation’s Critical Conversations series, peace advocates will ask how Resolution 1325 can be reimagined to better serve the needs and aspirations of women and communities across the Commonwealth. Are mainstream approaches to women’s leadership in conflict resolution actually working? How can women’s participation in peace processes be made more meaningful? How can women peace advocates secure better access to the forums and institutions where decisions are being made?

Speakers will draw on their front-line experience to tackle these questions; sharing concrete examples of what has worked well and their perspectives on what needs to be done differently.

This event has taken place. You can watch it here:

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought pre-existing inequalities within and between our societies into sharp relief. But now is also a chance for us to pause, converse and build a collective will for change.

In our first-ever conversation we will aim to openly address the reality of the Commonwealth’s legacy; the impacts of that legacy; and, critically, to challenge the Commonwealth to realise its potential to contribute to a more positive and just future.

This event has taken place. You can watch it here:

Participants from three Commonwealth regions are meeting in India to discuss strategies for advancing disability rights.

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning workshop 2019.

Every three years, Commonwealth Ministers responsible for women’s affairs meet to discuss progress and challenges relating to gender equality in the Commonwealth. Civil society play an important role in monitoring and assessing governments' progress to achieve gender equality.

A panel discussion by experts on translation and the publishing of Arabic Literatures in collaboration with KfW Stiftung.

The overall winner of the Commonwealth Short Prize 2019 will be announced at the Maison de littérature in Quebec City, Canada.

Jamaican artists are joined by Pacific poet Karlo Mila for a unique event, debuting a performance responding to the themes of climate change and gender.

The Foundation, in partnership with the Small Grants Programme of the Global Environmental Facility at United Nations Development Programme, and the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies is hosting a dialogue with 23 representatives from Caribbean civil society and other key stakeholders, which aims to enhance the region’s capacity to apply gender intersectionality to its climate change programming.

In partnership with Bocas Lit Fest, Commonwealth Writers will be presenting the latest Peekash Press anthology, collecting new writing from around the Commonwealth reflecting on the experience of Indian indentureship. With readings by Patti-Anne Ali, Stella Chong Sing, Gabrielle Hosein, and Kevin Jared Hosein, and a performance by Sharda Patasar.

Event is free and open to all, find out more information here.

Our work both on translation and in original languages strives to increase the visibility and spread of literatures. English as a global phenomenon creates opportunities; nonetheless, South and Southeast Asian creative works are rarely translated, either between regional (indigenous, or longstanding) languages, or into bridge languages.

On Saturday 9 March, Commonwealth Writers will host a Conversation on the legacy of indenture in contemporary times in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Conversation will feature two writers from We Mark Your Memory: Writing from the Descendants of Indenture, a collection of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Aneeta Sundararaj from Kuala Lumpur and Gitan Djeli from Mauritius, will read from their pieces. Dr Michael Jeyakumar, a former MP and an expert on the history of the Tamil community in Malaysia, will also sit on the panel and the conversation will be chaired by Chee Yoke Ling, lawyer and Director of Third World Network in Malaysia.

The conversation will finish with performance poetry by Melizarani T. Selva who has been commissioned to write a new poem especially for the event, around the themes discussed.

In March 2019, Commonwealth Writers is convening a Translation Symposium in Penang, Malaysia, exploring literary translation in South and Southeast Asia. On Thursday 7 March, there will be a Commonwealth Writers Conversation on the themes discussed in the Symposium.

Penang-based writers, translators and others interested in translation and the literatures from South and Southeast Asia are invited to join this Conversation.

The speakers will discuss the barriers to literary translation in the region and the imbalances arising from the relative lack of such translation; the global dominance of English and its implications; and the moral and ethical responsibilities of translators. The evening will also feature poetry readings in various languages.

In quick succession Hurricanes Irma and Maria wrought unprecedented devastation in the Caribbean last year. It has been acknowledged that women and indigenous communities are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. An exploratory civil society discussion hosted by the Commonwealth Foundation and the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme aims to map the intersection between gender and climate change in the Caribbean.