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Building an Asian People's Agenda on Aid: A Regional
Conference on ODA
25-27 July 2007, Quezon City, Philippines
A Conference on Official Development Assistance (ODA) organized by Global
Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) was participated in by representatives
from various organizations in the Asian region that are involved in advocacy
for human rights advocacy, agriculture and rural development, debt relief,
among others. The meeting resulted in the drafting of the "Quezon City
Declaration", which tackled such issues as shortfalls in ODA giving by donor
countries, tied aid and other conditionalities, the continuing indebtedness
of poorer countries, the use of debt relief as aid, the changing priorities
of aid allocations, including for military purposes, and the entry of
private foundations in aid-giving.
Read more....
Regional Policy Dialogue on ‘Agrarian Reform and Rural Development: The Case
of the Philippines’
30 May 2007, Manila, Philippines
ANGOC
Board member Antonio Quizon presented a paper titled “Bridging Issues on
Access to Land through Land Partnerships in the Philippines”. The paper
presented the broad, enabling policy environment in which GO-CSO cooperation
and partnership have taken place on issues of access to land. The study
pointed out how the numerous legislations have often brought about policy
conflicts, questions about land use classification, overlapping functions of
government agencies, and competing interests among the various sectors
affected. The various forums and institutional mechanisms of engagement that
have been instituted between government and CSOs on land-related issues over
the past 16 years were highlighted.
Read
more...
ANGOC participates in
the International Land Coalition (ILC) Global Assembly of Members
24-27 March 2007,
Entebbe, Uganda
The
ILC Global Assembly of Members held in Entebbe, Uganda carried the theme
“Land, Dignity and Development: Putting a Pro-Poor Land Agenda into
Practice”. It aimed to: (i) increase awareness and understanding among ILC
members of the plan of action for institutional change [ILC is seeking to
become a stronger membership-led institution based on internal monitoring of
ILC’s performance, reports by members and a recent independent external
evaluation. These processes have identified ways by which ILC can improve
its future performance.]; (ii) derive a clear direction and decisions from
ILC members to guide the Coalition Council and Secretariat on policy and
management issues for the coming biennium. These include revisions to the
constitution, establishing the 2007 to 2010 strategic framework, resource
mobilization, expanding membership, and restructuring the secretariat; and
(iii) increase understanding of critical land issues from a global and
regional perspective, including a particular understanding of African
issues.
World Bank
Spring Meeting
11-18 April
2007, Washington D.C., USA
Among
the highlights of the World Bank Spring Meeting was the release of the
recommendations made by a High Level Panel to improve accountability among
the Board of the International Monetary Fund.
In
light of the many calls for the reform of the IMF, the New Rules for Global
Finance Coalition convened a panel with diverse backgrounds to assess how
the governance and performance of the IMF could be improved.
The
Panel focused its recommendations on steps that were both feasible in the
short-term and promised to contribute to significant change in the
accountability of the IMF over the long-term.
Land Watch Asia Planning Meeting
28-30 March 2007, Tagaytay City, Philippines
To commence the Land Watch Project, ANGOC held a planning meeting from 28 to
30 March. Land Watch Asia is a regional campaign to ensure that issues of
access to land, agrarian reform, and equitable and sustainable development
in rural areas are addressed in the national and regional development
agendas.
The Land Watch meeting in Tagaytay City, Philippines was participated in
participants from NGOs in six Asian countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India,
Indonesia, Nepal and the Philippines. Organizations from Peru and Burkina
Faso that are engaged in regional network activities also participated, to
exchange lessons and experiences from a comparative perspective with Asian
colleagues.
Specifically, the meeting aimed to: (i) identify and come to an agreement on
campaign outputs; (ii) discuss and revise the framework and process for
mapping campaign activities; and (iii) formulate country action plans and
build a regional Land Watch platform.
The key outputs of the meeting are as follows:
•Approval on the
Land Watch Campaign framework;
•Revision and
finalization of the content of and process for the
formulation of
country- and regional-level campaign mapping studies;
•Identification of
focal points for the campaign in six Asian countries;
•Commitment to
complete country studies within first quarter of 2008 ;
•Agreement to share
quarterly updates on campaign activities,
land policies, case studies
and other relevant materials via an
electronic platform;
•Decision to focus
on the Asian Development Bank (ADB) by
conducting a mapping of
institutional policies and programs related
to land access and agrarian
reform, and drafting case studies of
specific projects in relation to
access to land; and
•Agreement to
conduct a regional dialogue on these themes by 2008.
ANGOC emphasizes the need
for a sustainable and equitable development model to end conflict in Asia at
Integrated Peace Missions Meeting
26-27 March, Beijing,
China
ANGOC Executive Director Nathaniel Don Marquez represented the network at
the Integrated Peace Missions Meeting from 26-27 March in Beijing, China
sponsored by the Norwegian Government to help develop integrated approaches
to peace building in the Asian region. In the paper presented by Mr.
Marquez, he argued that neither socialism nor capitalism has provided an
answer to the Region’s conflicts, and that globalization has made matters
worse. Unless another model for development emerges and takes hold in these
countries, he added, one that is just, inclusive, and prioritizes people
over profit; one that aspires to redistribute political and economic power;
one that is sustainable and does not entail the decimation of the natural
environment, there can be no end to conflict in the Region.
Mr. Marquez put forward the following framework for peace-building: Peace
and development are two parts of the same cycle. One leads to the other; and
the absence of one closes off all roads to the other. There can be no peace
without development. Development cannot be sustained in the absence of
peace. Therefore, the task of building peace and keeping it should be part
of the daily task of bringing development to the poor. It involves a variety
of strategies and techniques that may not be perceived as part of
peace-building but whose cumulative effects create the enabling environment
for achieving peace.
Regional Consultation
towards the Formation of an Asian Information Network on Sustainable
Agriculture
25-27 March 2007,
Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines
The
Asia-Japan Partnership Network for Poverty Reduction (AJPN) Regional
Consultation held in Cagayan de Oro provided an opportunity for participants
to exchange ideas on the framework for reducing poverty through sustainable
agriculture (SA) and ideas on how to promote SA policies and programs. Among
the principles agreed by the participants in achieving such goals were:
•There should be bias for marginalized and
vulnerable sectors and owner
operated family farms should be encouraged
through agrarian reform
and other similar schemes applicable to other
countries; •Farmers should be empowered economically by
creating local
enterprises to enhance local economy and ensure food and
nutritional security;
•Diversified and integrated farming system should
be encouraged,
including the use of local and renewable inputs to
promote
biodiversity and local culture and indigenous knowledge systems;
•Alliances, multi-stakeholder partnerships and
participatory processes
for policy advocacy anchored on field
experiences must be well
established; and
•There should be information and knowledge
sharing through
documentation. Four
key strategies have been identified to attain the
goal: a) improvement and
promotion of farming methods and
local technologies, b) empowerment of local
farmer groups/
organizations, c) institutionalization of support systems,
and
d) enhancement and diversification of economic activities.
ANGOC
was represented at this consultation by AVARD, Bina Desa, SARRA and
PhilDHRRA.
26 February 2007 to 16 April 2007
ANGOC convened an e-discussion on RPO sustainability from 26 February to 16
April. The e-discussion was supported by the International Fund for
Agricultural Development through its Knowledge Networking for Rural
Development for Asia/Pacific Region (ENRAP) Program. Over 300 participants
of ENRAP, representing a variety of IFAD partners and institutions involved
in IFAD projects, along with international and local government and
non-government organizations, participated in this activity.
Read more...
ANGOC organizes “Strengthening Capacities of Organizations of the Poor:
Experiences in Asia” (SCOPE) Meeting
Manila, Philippines
On February 19-20, 2007 a meeting was held in Manila, Philippines among the
Project Directors (PDs) of the Sunamganj Community-Based Resource Management
Project (SCBRMP) in Bangladesh; the Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihood
Project (OTELP) in India; the Participatory Integrated Development for
Rainfed Areas Project (PIDRA) in Indonesia; the Rural Poverty Reduction
Project (RPRP) in Mongolia; and the Northern Mindanao Community Initiatives
and Resource Management Project (NMCIREMP) in the Philippines. These are
the five projects being supported by the International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD) and which are covered by the SCOPE Project.
The
February meeting in Manila follows on the heels of a SCOPE meeting held on
June 24, 2006 among IFAD Country Program Managers (CPMs) and the five
Project Directors (PDs), at which the latter presented their respective
sustainability plans. A provisional set of sustainability indicators was
thereafter drawn up, based largely on recommendations contained in the
Review of IFAD Project Experiences in Asia, which was conducted in 2005.
Read more...
SCOPE Regional Workshop
17-18 September 2007,
Bangkok, Thailand
The
SCOPE regional workshop on 17-18 September in Bangkok, Thailand was
participated in by the Project Directors (PDs) of the five SCOPE assisted
IFAD projects, as well as by representatives from IFAD: Dr. Ghanesh Thapa,
Carla de Gregorio, and Thomas Rath; Dr. Durga Paudyal (CIRDAP);
Rowshan Jahan (ALRD); Nara Yansanjav (NZNI-IPECON); Oscar Castillo (CARRD);
San San Hla; (CIRDAP); Thanksy Thekkekara (MAVIM); Saleela Patkar (MYRADA);
Rimun Wibowo (CRESCENT); Julian Gonsalves; Jaybee Garganera (PHILDHRRA);
Trupti Upadhyaya (SEWA); and ANGOC representatives: Fr. Francis Lucas,
Antonio Quizon, Raul Gonzalez, Cristina Liamzon, Rachel Polestico, Nathaniel
Don Marquez, among others.
Initially, the participants identified a number of issues and challenges
that have constrained efforts to promote the sustainability of RPOs. These
issues manifest themselves at three major stages in the project cycle: (1)
Project design; (2) Capacity building and Project implementation; and (3)
Project monitoring and evaluation.
Read more...
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