Page 47 - Bulletin, Vol.78 No.3, October 2019

Canton and City of Geneva. Greycells was granted ECOSOC Special Consultative
Status in 2017.

Greycells members have accumulated a wealth of experience, knowledge and practice
that can be used by current and future development thinkers and practitioners to
improve the lives of future generations. They consider that it has been a privilege to be
able to accumulate such experience, which they believe they have a moral duty to
share. That is why Greycells is a not-for-profit NGO and the participation of its members
to all its activities is provided on a pro bono basis.

Through its 11 years of existence, Greycells has developed “bridges” between its mem-
bers and current and future civil servants, mainly students interested in pursuing an
international career, as well as bridges between the international community and the
Swiss and Geneva communities. This has taken the form of dialogues, round tables,
seminars, courses, workshops, interviews and mentoring activities. It has also
developed fruitful partnerships with several universities and a number of development
NGOs and associations.

With the support of the Swiss Permanent Mission in Geneva, Greycells has developed a
set of briefing materials for the permanent missions of Less Developed Countries
(LDCs). It has received most valuable support from the Geneva Welcome Center
(CAGI) and collaborates closely with the Eduki Foundation in promoting education and
awareness among children and young people about the work of international organ-
izations, through their flagship activities #Kidswannaknow and the annual Eduki
Competition on the SDGs.

On the occasion of its tenth anniversary, Greycells organized a « Dialogue : Seniors
and Millennials together for the SDGs”. An online questionnaire was disseminated for a
month through social media. Over 170 people of diverse age and nationality, including a
third of Swiss nationals) expressed their views on poverty, inequality, employment,
retirement and pensions, gender, environment and other issues related to the SDGs.
This intergenerational dialogue was continued on 10 October 2018 at the Palais des
Nations, where over 200 seniors and millennials, local and international, exchanged
views with two panels comprising all the partners involved in that initiative: the City of
Geneva (Department of social cohesion and solidarity), the United Nations Office at
Geneva, the Platform of Associations of senior people; the Youth Parliament; the
Geneva International Model United Nations; Young UN ; Rotaract Geneva International.

Following up on the successful methodology and format of the intergenerational
dialogue, Greycells is launching a new initiative : a Dialogue on the 100 years of the
international civil service (ICS), which will take place in November 2019. The Dialogue
aims at : (1) disseminating the origins, the evolution and the main features of the ICS –
neutrality, independence and impartiality - particularly among the young generation,
including through personal experiences of former staff members; (2) discussing the role
of the ICS at the core of multilateralism, and what needs to be done to support and
reinforce the ICS in the current international environment, with the view to defending the
importance of multilateralism. The target audiences will be deliberately mixed: former

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