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DEVELOPMENT ALTERNATIVES GLOBAL – DAG
LEARNING, THINKING AND ACTING GLOBALLY
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Where DAG is today
The process of setting up an office and raising sufficient funds to become operational is still underway. Nevertheless, in the period 2007-2008, some initial substantive work has been undertaken in two fields.
First, a proposal to hold a "Founex 2" meeting was prepared following consultations, including with some of those who took part in organizing the 1971 Founex Seminar. (Founex 2 draft proposal click) The 1971 Founex seminar report on Development and Environment played a critical role in paving the ground for the 1972 Stockholm Conference. The Founex report was the first to identify key environment-development objectives and relationships, and contributed to identifying and bridging the policy and conceptual differences that separated developed and developing countries at this early stage. This seminar demonstrated the importance of policy-oriented work, and indeed provided the foundations for subsequent environment-development efforts and deliberations. It is DAG's view that organizing a gathering patterned on Founex to examine the main issues regarding the present environment-development nexus would be highly beneficial, in particular from the perspective of North-South relations in the context of growing tensions regarding the respective responsibilities of developed and developing countries in trying to meet different internationally agreed objectives.
In view of DAG's limited capacity, it has been decided to start modestly, by first organizing a preliminary South-South meeting that brings together only participants from developing countries to view from their perspective today’s environment-development challenges. Such a meeting would facilitate the identification of the extent of shared views among developing countries and the differences before engaging in a wider debate with representatives from the North in a Founex 2 exercise. The initial proposal for this meeting has been prepared (South-South meeting draft proposal click), and efforts to mobiize funding and secure the venue, are underway.
DAG has also made its first public and formal appearance. Four of its founding members contributed to a joint paper “The Millennium Development Goals: A Costly Diversion from the Road to Sustainable Development – Critical Perspectives” (click here), which was prepared under the auspices of DAG and TRANSCEND for the 9th World Summit of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, Paris, 11-13 December 2008.
During 2009, DAG aims to make visible progress in relation to the following three objectives:
1. To begin using the website to make known and available DAG’s work and make progress towards establishing the website as an Internet address for communication and exchange between organizations and individuals, especially in the South, that work on similar issues and along similar policy lines as DAG;
2. To organize the envisaged South-South meeting and pursue preparations for Founex 2;
3. To make headway in obtaining office space, securing initial seed financing, and engaging the services of some qualified young people.
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