Workshops & Events
Skat Foundation organises and facilitates different type of knowledge sharing workshops and events either online or face-to-face.
Panel Discussion
Human rights to water – From St. Gallen to New York
On January 18th, 2023, Skat Foundation, in cooperation with the City of St.Gallen, the University of St.Gallen (HSG), the Blue Communities, HEKS/EPER and the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences, held a public event entitled “Human Right to Water – from St.Gallen to New York: Local Action for Global Challenges”
The event featured a keynote speech from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, and an insightful input from the City Council St.Gallen, Peter Jans. Following these presentations, the attendees were engaged in a thought-provoking panel discussion that delved into the various challenges and opportunities related to the promotion of human rights to water.
The panel, moderated by Bertha Camacho of Skat Foundation, featured representatives from government, academia, and civil society.
- Peter Jans (City Council St.Gallen);
- Dorothee Spuler (Eawag-Sandec);
- Simon Zbinden (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation – SDC);
- Jeanne Käser (Swiss Junior Water Prize 2021);
- Gaston Jehle (Drink & Donate).
You can read the short biographies of all speakers and panelists here.
Knowledge Cafe
Knowledge Café Master Class
The Knowledge Café consists of a simple but flexible group conversational process that almost anyone can host. Most frequently it is used to gather a group of people together to have a conversation to better understand a topic of mutual interest but can be adapted for a variety of other purposes. These include the surfacing of the group’s collective knowledge; learning from each other; sharing ideas and insights; gaining a deeper understanding of a topic and the issues involved and exploring possibilities. The outcomes are what people take away in their heads and the relationships that are developed.
On 18 June 2015, Skat Foundation invited people interested in this tool to participate in a Master Class. The event was facilitated by David Gurteen, a UK-based international consultant who helped developing and popularizing the tool over the past 12 years. 25 people from diverse professional and institutional backgrounds participated in this full-day event. Based on first-hand experience with this tool, they were able to learn about its potential, to know how to design and run it and to adapt the tool for different purposes.
For further information, contact Bertha Camacho
Threads-Forum
‘Threads’, a forum for improving management practice
The rationale behind the initiative was that the possibilities of mutual learning and cross-fertilisation range from exchange between the North to the South and the East, with researchers analysing case studies and developing innovative concepts based on them, or tapping the experience of private international companies. Knowledge is a basic precondition for the development of countries in the East and the South. Although bilateral and multilateral donors invest heavily in knowledge transfer and sharing to alleviate poverty in developing countries, improvements in the living conditions remain scant.
This forum included workshops and events which were organised by Skat in partnership with bilateral and multilateral donors, NGOs, international companies, the University of St. Gallen, and other partners. Expertise from various fields was brought together to explore new efficient management and business approaches.
Development education and awareness raising events
Skat Foundation raises awareness, informs and educates citizens in Switzerland about global challenges and the importance of development cooperation. Our activities foster awareness, understanding, recognition of interdependence, new ideas and change attitudes. We give people tools to engage critically with development issues and inform about our programmes in the South aiming to share knowledge for action against poverty. One objective is to engage swiss citizens to think critically about global development and raise awareness about the interdependent world and of their role.
