On December 01, 2020, the umbrella organization of development and humanitarian non-governmental organizations (VENRO), in cooperation with other civil society associations, including the AGF, organized the online conference “smart but fair – how digitalization can bring everyone along”. Representatives from politics, civil society, business and the digital industry discussed the opportunities and risks of digital tools for sustainable development and social participation. A detailed report of the same name had already been published in advance.
The AGF has been working for several years in the Agenda 2030 network to bring the perspectives of families into the discussion on sustainable development.
This year’s annual conference focused on the topic of digitalization. It was supported by the AGF, the “Paritätischer”, the “Deutscher Bundesjugendring”, the “BAGSO”, the “Cora Network for Corporate Responsibility”, the “Deutscher Naturschutzring”, the “Forum Umwelt und Entwicklung”, the “Forum Menschenrechte”, the “Klimaallianz” and VENRO, which played the major role in organizing the conf
The AGF had published a discussion paper on the conference topic in November 2019 entitled “Digital transformation and its impact on families”.
The conference shed light on the question of how digitalization must be shaped in order to take place fairly in a national but also global context. In general, digitization offers a wide range of opportunities for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. It enables access to information, global communication and collaboration, can increase political transparency and bring greater efficiency to work and production processes. At the same time, however, the risks of digitization are becoming increasingly apparent. It is already pushes to exacerbate existing inequalities – for example, between the global North and South, the sexes, or the generations. Additionally digital tools can be misused to control or manipulate societies, both by states and corporations. It also leads to massive consumption of raw materials and energy.
The basis of the discussions at the event, the feasible report “smart, but fair. How digitalization can bring everyone along” by the Agenda 2030 network had been published prior to the event. The report examines in depth the opportunities and risks and of digitization to achieve the goals of the United Nations Agenda 2030. The editorship of the report corresponds to the sponsors of the event.