HUYE - Tackling today’s global challenges requires combined efforts of leaders of government, business, academia and non-profit organisations, to tackle common problems in society, the vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton, a global consultancy firm has said.

Reginald Van Lee, made the call while delivering a public lecture on ‘tackling today’s global challenges through global communities’ at the National University of Rwanda on Wednesday.

He noted that the challenges faced today call for the involvement of stakeholders with over lapping vital shared interests to find a common solution.

Lee appealed for the ‘mega-community’, approach of solving problems which span business, government and the communities.

These include; global climate change, rebuilding urban infrastructure, water scarcity, health and education issues that have become key challenges to decision makers in the public sector, private, and civil society.

"Such problems cannot be solved by government, business, or civil society alone, the problems are interdependent across various sectors, they require stake holders to come together and solve the problems together in a ‘megacommunity,” said Lee.

Expounding the ‘Megacommunity Thinking’ in addressing today’s global challenges, Lee who is also a co-author of a book: MEGACOMMUNITIES, said that the approach is a response to the growing need for people at every level of society to move to a new approach to managing complexity.

Lee said that the approach recognises the necessity of business, government, and civil society working together on global issues.

He explained that in a megacommunity leaders interact according to their common interests, while maintaining their unique priorities. Complex problems are addressed in a tri-sector (public, private and civil society) engagement and an overlap in common interest.

"The objective for each organisation operating in a megacommunity is achieved by optimising its interests instead of maximising,” Lee said.

According to Lee Rwanda provides an enabling environment for the approach to succeed because of the support from the country’s top leadership.

Booz Allen Hamilton and Tulane University, which runs the Kigali based National University of Rwanda School of Health, recently signed an MOU to investigate possible collaborations in health, management and technology on a global scale.

Ends