|
|
|
Article 3 The Significance of the Africa Social Forum for ACORD 1. ACORD has to decide whether it thinks there is any alternative to globalisation as it is currently structured and practiced The messages from the environment that we work in - especially from governments in both the North and in Africa - seems at times to be overwhelming in their assertion that there is no alternative. But then that's been said before - such as on structural adjustment - and it is now recognised, even by the World Bank, that Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) were wrongly applied. What we have to be clear about is that the current system is wrong: its wrong in that it is unfair on the worlds poor and weak and it doesn't work - it is not helping countries out of poverty and it is politically unsustainable because it undermines the legitimacy of nation states that are already fragile. 2. Do we therefore have any alternative? The message from the African and World Forums is that there is not one but rather many alternatives: that we should not be seeking to replace one global set of rules with another; that different societies should have, should be allowed, the space to develop their own solutions to the challenges that face them. In the meantime a useful change would be to insist that the criteria for all the rules concerning trade, debt, aid and national and international governance should be social justice not just more trade for the sake of it. 3. What should ACORD do to respond? ACORD's history lies in helping communities respond to their most urgent practical problems and doing research into some of the causes of those problems. What we have not always been able to do is to "join up the dots"; our programmes have been separate and we have not looked at them as a joined up whole within their larger context. What we are doing now therefore is gaining an understanding of the globalised context within which we work and seeking to join up the dots of our existing programmes to see the picture they present. In doing this we will find some dots are missing. One that is apparent already is a better understanding of how globalisation affects different groups within African societies and, therefore, the politics of globalisation within Africa: who gains and who loses and what does this mean for our programmes? Are there other practical issues (such as education?) that we should be addressing because of their links to the processes of globalisations? Are the areas that we are focusing on (conflict, gender and discrimination, HIV&AIDS, livelihoods and civil society) the most appropriate themes and how does each of them relate to the processes and structures of globalisation? 4. Next Steps Clarifying our analysis of the context we are working in, ie of globalisation, is something that we have been working on (slowly!) for almost a year at the same time as we have been developing Area and Thematic programmes. In May we will bring together senior programming and secretariat staff, as well as Board members, to join up the dots: to look at our analysis, the priorities that arise from that analysis and the shape of the emergent Area and Thematic programmes and to agree on the design of ACORD's overall programme. As preparation for that programming teams have been asked to put time aside to reflect on how they see the future of ACORD's programming. Some of this will be done with peer organisations as well as with ACORD's own staff. The details of what is expected will be provided separately. |
