Milestone 2 Set: The Future of Evoke!

This journey is just beginning. As we look up to Season 2. We have to set the Ultimate Milestone. Because in season 1 we have mainly worked on gathering information, ideas and solutions, now is the time to start going practical in all that we have achieve so far.

We have talked about Food Security, Water Crisis, Power Shift extra; and believe it or not we have gathered very decent solutions and ideas. Now we have to get our hands dirty. Lets try to apply [Y]OUR ideas.

Previously we Acted and Envisioned the future. Now we are seeking to get down to earth and start weaving and engineering the mechanisms that we think will best bring about sustainable development.

Evoke has helped to build some of the most important values in the lives of the Urgent Evoke Agents. These include; collaboration, courage, knowledge sharing, innovation and entrepreneurship. Evoke should continue to promote those values in the best way they could. To the Agents, I appeal that you continue the great work you have done and what you are yet to do.

Of course the Grand Challenges still stand and always threaten to deter development all around in the world.

• Food Insecurity is a very big problem in developing countries around the world
• Access to safe water remains a very big challenge to over 80% of the worlds population
• Environmental issues - Climate Change
• Women Empowerment - with the increasing gender based violence and gender inequality
• Disease - virus like HIV/AIDs, Malaria, Killer Flu and Ebola which have increased the mortality rate both in children and adults.

Because of this and many other natural factors, Evoke should continue supporting the platforms that facilitate discussions like the ones we took in season 1.

These challenges cannot be solved by one person, country or organisation, but only through joint efforts. Because these challenges affect people, we can only trust and count on those same people to solve them. Therefore I appeal to Evoke to continue working closely with the wider communities to identify new grand challenges and also solve those that are existing already.

Because Evoke has been mainly English, many people who donot speak English have not had a chance to share the knowledge and contribute. If feasible [through I believe it is], we would like to see Evoke translated into many other local and international languages. For a start, we could have a few international languages like French, Spanish and Arabic added to the portal and later we count on Evoke Agents as volunteers to translate the content they find useful to their local communities into other languages. This will help increase on the spread of the missions around the world.

Generally the Evoke networks are needed everywhere in the world. Both in developing and developed countries. The building of Evoke Networks in developing countries however should be given special priority, often these are poor countries where people dont even have access to information and the internet at large. In such countries, Evoke should support the few active Agents to spread to raise awareness of such challenges in both rural and urban communities. The online network should also be mentored and encouraged to ensure active and positive participation.

One thing I have learned about season 1 is that even though some Agents have been less active, they have always made incredible contributions to the network to the best of their ability. I have always admired the power and spirit of almost each and every Agent. Some people are not practical but very good at ideas, others are not good at ideas but very good at implementing.

So, I think with Season 2, it would be nice if every one who can continues. Of course everyone who is willing to continue should understand the challenger ahead: - "Putting their Knowledge acquired from Season 1 to work". Which shouldnt be such a task.

It will take encouragement, collaboration and sharing ideas as we go practical, so I am sure each and everyone's input would be of great help.

Personally I dont have any special demands for a tool(s) but, in this era of new media, it would be nice to make internet access for the Agents who have a problem of connectivity, also special training in social media and use of the available technologies for advocacy would probably be very useful to the Agents.

If possible, it would also be nice to compile a small manual or handbook for the Agent to share with their communities. In the manual we could have featured stories or even links to stories and evidence from season 1. This would help Agents stay more focused and also as a means of information sharing.

The end of Season 1 is just the Beginning, Season 1 was just the theory - or at least thats how I see it. This time round, I want to borrow ideas from the book (Season 1 photos, videos and blogs). I want to reach the communities and confront these challenges together with other activists.

I would also like to continue contributing to and learning from the network.

I cant wait to see YOU all in Season 2. Well done on season 1.