Be the change you want to see

Our honorable guest speakers, distinguished Dean and faculty members, fellow students and prospective graduates; distinguished ladies and gentlemen.

I am honored and humbled to be chosen among my fellow graduates and comrade scholars as a student representative to deliver a speech on behalf of the all-powerful 2014-2016 cohort at the School of Social Development and Public Policy’s Contemporary Development of China (CDC-SSDPP) international program.

Firstly, I would like to extend my warmest thanks and appreciation to the Chinese government and management team at SSDPP for given us the opportunity to pursue higher education in China and at one of the prestigious universities in Beijing. I know through Chinese government continuous provisions of scholarship to students from Africa will not only further strengthen the Sino-Africa relations, but it will enhance better cross-cultural and political understanding of both sides which may promote Sino-African common development agenda.

The discipline, ‘Social development or development study’ in general is as old as mankind and the mitochondrion for the transformation of every society. As we walk out of the walls of the School of Social Development and Public Policy, we may take different career pathways. Some of us will likely go into academia and become professors too, while others may choose to become professional practitioners in diverse capacities. But I urge you to be “change you opt to be” or be agents of change in our quest to transform the world and improve the livelihoods of the millions of people that are trapped in extreme poverty and socio-economic unfreedoms. We can help transform our plundered planet and transform the lives of people for better through strategic and appropriate actions and targeted interventions. I say to you that the kind of policies that we would craft and implement in our respective capacities will not only relief people from their socio-economic and political slavery and devastations, however, it will also elevate the kind of university or school you graduated from and on other hand make you an important stakeholder in creating a harmonious world free of extreme poverty, and economic hardship. For example, according to the World Bank, approximately 702 million were living in extreme poverty by 2015, which is 9.6% of the global population and most of these people reside in Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and the Pacific regions. To reduce extreme as per UN Sustainable Development Goals Agenda (SDGs) by 2030, requires holistic and sustainable policies formulation and quality implementation. We don’t need to wait for 2030 to reach this goal. We need 15 years to do so, what can be achieved by this set deadline can be achieved now, provided resources are carefully planned, distributed and sustainably implemented for the intended purpose considering to save our environment and reducing the large global inequities.

I believe most of us here today may have also come from some devastating backgrounds and societies where millions of people continuous to live under extreme circumstances, therefore, I say to you my fellow graduates, we can only change these circumstances through positive and moral actions. Let’s use our professional characteristics and qualities obtained here to bring about socio-economic reliefs and political freedoms to the poor and promote world peace.

To the Dean and management team of SSDPP, we hope that you will introduce more specialized English-taught development-oriented international programs as to allow students the opportunity to continue if they so desires.

Thank you and I wish you all the best.

By: Samuel Goteh

June 15, 2016