As part of the Managing Global Governance (MGG) Academy 2024 at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), with participants from Brazil, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Poland and South Africa, as well as diplomats from the 21st edition of International Futures (IF), we are grateful for the efforts of Andrea Christ, Head of Diplomacy by Networking at the Federal Foreign Office, Ambassador (ret.) Eugen Wollfarth and the entire IF team, who made this programme possible.

Throughout history, humans have had the ability to create tools and technologies that have driven the development of our civilisations and fostered peace. However, we have also created tools that can deepen the inequality gap and spark armed conflict. Technology is not our master and can be harnessed for our collective and common good and for that of the planet.

Today’s globalised world increasingly relies on technology and digitalisation. Reliance on these tools is neither accidental nor without consequence. It is therefore crucial to remember the history that has shaped us and to place ethics at the centre of our approach.

One of the primary objectives of Feminist Foreign Policy is to question the structures that have promoted inequality, but its greatest challenge lies above all in contesting and transforming policies, and proposing new ways of executing them and new approaches to global governance. From a feminist perspective, it is not only necessary to train more women as negotiators to actively participate in high-level dialogue within global governance, but it is also essential to focus on ethics in guiding the development of technology and digitalisation. To achieve the objectives set by the 2030 Agenda, this must be done using strategies that amplify efforts to tackle inequality and truly contribute to eradicating poverty.

Through the sessions during International Futures we were able to understand that the success of global governance in the digital age depends on achieving an ethical dialogue; one that can be translated into a legal framework, strong state institutions, and the rule of law, and one that regulates and mediates the private sector and its effects on society's well-being.

In that sense, placing ethics at the centre is the most effective way to ensure that digitalisation serves sustainable development and combats the climate crisis. In global diplomatic dialogue, we must ensure that digital tools are used to reduce polarisation, misinformation, inequalities and violence. It is essential to focus our resources on reflective dialogue, but above all on the construction of political tools that allow us to have greater historical awareness and the ability to make public policy commensurate with our circumstances.

Let us continue to build bridges through active listening and training. To achieve sustainable development, we need solid, sensitive and effective diplomacy. Today, thanks to International Futures, we can gain valuable insights into the main challenges of the digital age, and, most importantly, now we have tools to address these obstacles through reflection, humanism, and ethical dialogue.

Lizeth Mejorada Barrios