International Newsletter on Sustainable Local Development
Newsletter #54
December 1st, 2008
Summary
Message from the Editorial Team
Mondragon Cooperative Corporation
A critical analysis of the strengths, weaknesses and potentialities of the model
Bamako Declaration
Fair tourism as a vehicle for sustainable development of territories
International Conference of La Via Campesina, Maputo, Mozambique
The challenges of an international movement of peasants
Message from the Editorial Team
The Mondragon Cooperative Corporation (MCC) is known as one of the largest cooperatives in the industrial world. Judith Hitchman presents an article following her meeting with the Communications Manager of the MCC last September. This is not an exhaustive analysis of the challenges facing the MCC, but helps us to understand the key issues of governance and management of a large cooperative, on an international scale.
On the other hand, we bring to your attention the main results of meetings attended by Martine and Judith : the International Forum on Solidarity Tourism (Fair Tourism) in Bamako, Mali (FITS) and the fifth International Conference of La Via Campesina in Maputo, Mozambique.
As our next issue will appear in February 2009, we extend to you our best wishes and hopes for peace and prosperity in the New Year. We are also making collective wishes that the seriousness of the financial, economic, food and environmental crisis engages key leaders to initiate the radical transformation that the world needs. May 2009 bring positive outcomes is our utmost wish!
Editorial Team
Judith Hitchman
Yvon Poirier
Martine Theveniaut
Mondragon Cooperative Corporation
A critical analysis of the strengths, weaknesses and potentialities of the model
Many people are aware of Mondragon, often flaunted as the prototype of a successful industrial co-operative, in a world where the co-operative model is more generally identified with the agricultural or services sectors. We were recently the privileged visitors at the headquarters, and spent a long afternoon in the company of Mikel Lezamiz, the Communications Manager, who kindly devoted his time to us.
The history.
In 1941 Don José Arizmendiarrieta arrived in the small town of Mondragon, situated in the heart of the Spanish Basque country. In 1943 he founded the professional polytechnic school, followed some ten years later (1956) by the first co-op, ULGOR where the FAGOR brand of white goods is manufactured. Three years later, the Caja Laboral, a co-operative bank and Lagun Aro, the in-house welfare system, came into being. The first co-operative group (ULARCO-FAGOR) was born in 1964, followed two years later by one of the more innovative aspects, ALECOP, a plant where part-time jobs are reserved for students in order to enable them to earn a living while studying. It should remembered that Spain, and this region in particular, was still extremely poverty-stricken at the time, and still recovering from the Civil War. In 1974 a research centre was born, and progressively the vast empire of what is now the Mondragon Co-operative Corporation developed. The present form was designated by the Mondragon Congress of Co-ops in 1991.
What is Mondragon today and how does it operate?
Mondragon today is indeed an empire, comprising something over 103,000 people, 120 co-operatives, in the fields of products ranging from industrial, financial, consumer goods, agricultural, educational, research and welfare services. The 69 production plants are situated in many countries around the world, and are not all co-operatives for reasons explained below. In the co-operative Supermarket, EROSKI, the members include consumers. The representation in all the Co-ops also includes a health and safety Committee.
According to the mission statement:
Mondragón Co-operative Corporation (MCC) is an entrepreneurial socioeconomic entity with deep cultural roots in the Basque Country, created by and for the people, inspired by the Basic Principles of our Co-operative Experience, committed to the community, to the improvement of competitiveness and to the satisfaction of customers, to create wealth within society through entrepreneurial development and job creation, preferably membership-jobs in co-operatives.
MCC is based on a commitment to solidarity and uses democratic methods for its organisation and management
MCC encourages the participation and integration of people in management, profits and ownership of their companies, to develop a joint, harmonising project aimed at social, business and personal development.
The 10 Founding principles of co-operation:
1.Open Admission.
2.Democratic Organization.
3.Sovereignty of Labor.
4.Instrumental and Subordinate Nature of Capital.
5.Participatory Management.
6.Wage Solidarity.
7.Interco-operation.
8.Social Transformation.
9.Universality.
10.Education
The price of buying into the co-operative system is fixed at 14,000€, which is withheld from salary over a period of time. Being a member of one of the group’s co-ops entitles all members to an equal share in 20% of the corporation’s surplus. Other benefits include the automatic admission to the in-house welfare system (additional health-care and retirement benefits, preferential loan rates…), and relative job security. The level of life-long training and education is also high, following the 10% national requirement. Access to the technical university, management and language training centres is also guaranteed.
The first positive fact is that in spite of being a multi-national corporation, there have been no delocalisations in the various co-operatives in Spain and the Basque country (Industry, supermarkets, research centres, bank branches and provision of services, 90% of the staff are members of co-ops). The remaining staff (often less than 5%) also have some measure of flexicurity. In 2007, 10 co-ops made a loss. In 2008 this is expected to double, so this will be a key issue in the near future. Various for-profit companies are in the process of becoming co-ops.
What are the strengths and also the weaknesses of the model?
I tried to examine the way in which these principles were implemented in terms of the solidarity economy, which aims to create a more collective form of wealth and well-being, and to see how or whether a multinational corporation could serve the interests of local communities and people.
When faced with the tricky question on the sourcing of products, particularly in the EROSKI supermarkets, knowing how intensive agriculture in the south of Spain is often practiced in conditions that are the modern-day equivalent of slavery, I learned that the chain has had SA 8000 certification for the last two years. This technically means that human rights are thoroughly implemented, decent work respected (including by suppliers), and no child labour involved at any level. Not all products have been covered, but the process is on-going. The Fagor co-op, although not certified also works to SA 8000 standards.
Being a member of a co-operative also involves sharing the risks and accepting a cut in wages in periods of recession…And with the global recession, there will certainly be fewer jobs, be it in Spain or elsewhere. The social impacts are bound to be felt as much in co-operatives as elsewhere.
The many production plants world-wide are not however co-ops. Cultural differences in accepting the universal participative management style and co-operative principles would appear more than anything to be the reason. On the plus side however, they combine the Just-In-Time delivery of spare parts to clients with a minimal carbon footprint. Many are hardly beyond the start-up phase, and not yet profitable, but there is the same transparency of information, an attempt at the same management style and 30% worker-ownership (in the form of shares in the companies) as well as a dedicated sum of 5% profits being reinvested in sustainable local development projects. In many cultures where the corporation is present, there is no history of saving money, which also makes simple profit-sharing more difficult. The implementation of welfare or pension schemes have a greater social impact. It is also worth mentioning that the rate of pay is always at least 10% over the national minimum. Nevertheless the cultural limits of the model remain, even if the philosophy remains intact.
All of this means that there is an exceptionally high level of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). There is a stated will to ensure that Human Rights be fully respected at all times, as well as regulatory compliance, dignity and respect and transparency. The governance model is of a high standard, based on the principle of inter-co-operation and worker control.
An unanswered question: the non-existence of trade unions
Although the co-operative principle of one man, one vote means that there is clear democratic representation, the role of a union reaches far beyond the simple tenet of representation. Particularly when times are tough. Trade Unions also provide the means for workers to remain connected to those outside their own enterprise and sector.
At the end of the day, in a transnational corporation whose products are based on consumer society’s race to produce ever more, the question of the real intrinsic limits of the system is a fundamental issue. Can the co-operative model prevail, and transform society into a more reasoned approach to human beings use of all things? Or will the fact that the production of goods so intimately linked to the capitalist and neo-liberal model be the downfall of what is certainly a uniquely interesting attempt to provide a wider share of the cake at grass-roots level? As Mikel Lezamiz said “We are not angels”…
Author: Judith Hitchman
Original article in English and French
www.mcc.es
Bamako Declaration
Final statement for a fair tourism as a development vehicle of territories
The 3rd International Forum on Solidarity Tourism (Fair Tourism) held in Bamako, Mali from October 20th - 22nd, 2008 was preceded by 3 days of groundwork meetings. The Forum concluded with a declaration whose main points are listed below.
Workshops as round tables showed the significance of favouring, with a development purpose, a territorial approach within which tourism can have a decisive role.
The main issue of such a development is, on the one hand, to contribute to enhance populations’ quality of life who live on these territories and, on the other hand, to protect the natural resources of those territories.
Beyond the various expressions used to name « fair tourism », this one really must integrate the sustainable development objective.
Actors and partners for a fair tourism are invited to refer to the framework and values of what is called today “the social and fair economy”, considering particularities of world regions or countries.
Some operational main lines seem to have priority in order to reach the sustainable development objective through fair tourism:
• Getting public authorities to increase policy support towards fair tourism
• Creating and clarifying appropriate legislative and regulation frameworks to fair tourism
• Favouring local and regional government involvement
• Including fair tourism in an approach that encourages linkages with the whole activities of the territory
• Developing and strengthening means of support (training, financing, accompanying measures, etc.)
• Heightening the setting up and the networking of actors and territories favouring
• existing facilities in order to avoid activities breaking up
• Ensuring a quality-based fair tourism offer that is adapted to customers’ expectations
• Defining better conditions to enter the market.
We must now, all together, go from theory to action: this is our ambition at the end of this 3rd forum, as we are, from now on, aware of the deep duty to reach the objectives for which we are gathered.
Authors: Martine Théveniaut and Alain Laurent, participants at FITS and the workshop of Teriya Bugue.
See the report of this workshop on the site (under construction): www.pactes-locaux.org (French only)
See Base de fiches. Sphère : pactes ; Identifiant : INV ; mot de passe : pactes
International Conference of La Via Campesina, Maputo, Mozambique
The challenges of an international movement of peasants
The fifth International conference of La Via Campesina took place in Maputo, Mozambique from October 19th to 22nd, 2008. It was preceded by the International Youth Conference and the Women’s Assembly.
In the context of the current four-fold global crises – food, finance, energy and climate – these dimensions take on a significant new meaning for this movement which is already 15 years old. The logic of sustainable development that includes the possibility to reassert peoples’ rights to grow healthy, affordable local food is finding an echo like never before. A significant effort is still required to fight Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), which facilitate dumping of the overproduction of industrial agriculture, as well as advocating for a relocalised small scale model based on local empowerment, agrarian reform.
These issues were discussed in plenary and continental sessions by the 500 delegates from every continent present in Maputo. The conference was remarkably well organised and efficient, with a team of 50 interpreters co-ordinated by the collective Lyre.
« The Via Campesina is the international movement of peasants, small- and medium-sized producers, landless, rural women, indigenous people, rural youth and agricultural workers. It is a global, autonomous, pluralist and multicultural movement, independent of any political, economic, or other type of affiliation.
The movement is already some 15 years old. The Fourth International Conference took place in Maputo (Mozambique) from 19th – 22nd October. It was preceded by both the international Youth Conference and the Women’s Assembly.
The core objective of La Via Campesina is to develop solidarity and unity among small farmer organizations in order to promote gender parity and social justice in fair economic relations; the preservation of land, water, seeds and other natural resources; food sovereignty, as well as sustainable agricultural production based on small and medium-sized producers.
La Via Campesina promotes a model of peasant or family-farm agriculture based on sustainable production with local resources and in harmony with local culture and traditions. Peasants and farmers rely on a long experience with their locally available resources. This means producing the optimal quantity and quality of food with few external inputs. Production is mainly for family consumption and domestic markets.
Food sovereignty is the RIGHT of peoples, countries, and state unions to define their agricultural and food policy without the “dumping” of agricultural commodities into foreign countries. Food sovereignty organizes food production and consumption according to the needs of local communities, giving priority to production for local consumption. Food sovereignty includes the right to protect and regulate the national agricultural and livestock production and to shield the domestic market from the dumping of agricultural surpluses and low-price imports from other countries. Landless people, peasants, and small farmers must get access to land, water, and seed as well as productive resources and adequate public services. Food sovereignty and sustainability are a higher priority than trade policies.
The current industrialized agribusiness model has been deliberately planned for the complete vertical integration and to dominate all agriculture activities. This model exploits workers and concentrates economic and political power. La Via Campesina advocates a decentralized model where production, processing, distribution and consumption are controlled by the people the communities themselves and not by transnational corporations. »
Two of the decisions :
• The decision to create strategic alliances with other organisations to jointly take advantage of the international crises and move forward towards a more sustainable and equitable system
• The introduction of the campaign to end all violence against women (physical, mental and institutional). The latter campaign is in conjunction with the World March of Women, whose General Assembly took place at the same time in Galicia in Spain.
The final declaration can be found at : http://www.viacampesina.org/main_en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=623&Itemid=68
Judith Hitchman, interpreter and member of the Lyre collective
Original article in English and French
Our Newsletters are available on the WEB:
http://local-development.blogspot.com/
www.apreis.org/
Special thanks to:
Évéline Poirier from Canada for the English translation
Brunilda Rafael from France for the Spanish translation
Michel Colin from Brazil for the Portuguese translation
To contact us (for information, feedback, to subscribe or unsubscribe):
Yvon Poirier ypoirier@videotron.ca
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Monday, November 03, 2008
International Newsletter on Sustainable Local Development
Newsletter #53
November 1st, 2008
Summary
Message from the Editorial Team
The role of civil society in development
Parallel Forum of civil society organizations (CSOs) in Accra: August 31st and September 1st, 2008
European Social Forum, Malmö, September 18, 2008
Seminar: Building the Alternative Solidarity Economy
Message from the Editorial Team
In this issue, we present two different reports on international meetings; one focuses on a meeting of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Accra, Ghana and the other relates to a seminar on the construction of an alternative solidarity economy during the European Social Forum held in Sweden. They both show that the forms of organization of the civil society movement, unionism being a part, are built to meet the basic needs of populations. We are happy to be involved, even if only modestly.
We are pleased to announce that Judith Hitchman, who you've already read several contributions, has joined the editorial team. Her presence opens a broader intercultural scope to the English-speaking world because of her Irish origins, her professional background as an interpreter, her continuing participation in thematic, continental and global Social Forums. This gives her a great knowledge of the areas covered by this Newsletter and which are also hers.
Editorial Team
Yvon Poirier
Martine Théveniaut
The role of civil society in development
Parallel Forum of civil society organizations (CSOs) in Accra: August 31st and September 1st, 2008
The question of development aid, mainly from North to South, has been a major challenge for over half a century. The majority of donor countries are members of the OECD and have adopted various strategies since the 60s. However, the gap between the rich and the poor of our planet not only has not diminished, but worse, has increased in some parts of the world. Often the "help" was a disguised method to promote exports: the country receiving the aid being forced to buy from the donor country (referred to as "tied aid").
Historical process
With the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the United Nations in 2000, goals aimed at reducing by 50% the number of poor people on the planet within 15 years, donor countries questioned themselves as to the effectiveness of aid, especially since many countries have reduced their contributions as a percentage of GDP. Furthermore, very few countries meet the commitments made in 2000 to devote the equivalent of 0.7% of their GDP to international aid.
Thus, in 2003, donor countries agreed to harmonize their programs and in 2005 adopted the Paris Declaration, which established important rules on aid effectiveness. In particular, there is a willingness to make responsible the countries who receive public assistance regarding administration, transparency and management of aid.
Agreeing with the principle of accountability of countries receiving aid, civil society organizations, and particularly development NGOs, quickly realized that in the Paris Declaration there was no question of civil society. Both CSOs from North and South have been squeezed out of the actions for development aid. They quickly mobilized and decided during the World Social Forum 2007 in Nairobi to make every effort to have recognized the full-fledged role of civil society in the development process. At the same time, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) suggested to the donor countries, the set up of a working group to examine how civil society could play a role in development.
These two initiatives set the stage to prepare a meeting in Accra in September 2008 between donor countries and aid recipients, to take stock of the situation three years after the adoption of the Paris Declaration.
The CSOs who had been virtually absent from the meeting in Paris in 2005, carried out important preparatory work (documentation, Better Aid website) and organized a Parallel Forum which brought together nearly 700 people on the eve of the meeting of donor and recipient countries. The preparatory work and the Forum allowed civil society its rightful place and recognition as an actor in its own, regarding development and was supported by the majority of countries involved, donor countries and recipient countries.
Progress made
The Declaration of the civil society, adopted by consensus at the Forum, made useful proposals in the general sense of the alternate globalisation current (available on the Better Aid website - see below).
Also, the CSOs sought and gained accreditation in order to participate in the official forum. Thus, instead of 14 persons as in 2005, some 80 representatives of CSOs were present and well prepared. They were the spokespersons for all the CSOs and their political message. Similarly, the report of the working group led by CIDA filed specific recommendations for the inclusion of civil society in development aid.
Thus, progress has been made. The Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) approved by the participating countries, recognizes what follows:
Paragraph 20. “We will deepen our engagement with CSOs as independent development actors in their own right whose efforts complement those of governments and the private sector. We share an interest in ensuring that CSO contributions to development reach their full potential.”
Some countries, specifically the USA and Japan have prevented the inclusion in the AAA of commitments collectively requested that donor countries honour their obligations for longer periods and completely eliminate tied aid. " Nevertheless, it is a real breakthrough for CSOs. Obstacles, however, are considerable as they seek to transfer to the UN monitoring issues related to aid and development. For now, control belongs to the OECD. And as many stated during the Parallel Forum, the approach to "aid effectiveness" looks like a form of neo-colonialism. Rich countries impose their conditions while not respecting their commitments (0.7% of GDP). In other words, developing countries must be accountable for their use of aid, but rich countries do not account for non-compliance of their commitments.
Probably the most encouraging and rewarding aspect is to see a collective movement by civil society to assert and organize itself, globally, in order to obtain a genuine development policy based on "an explicit recognition of human rights, gender equality, decent work and environmental sustainability as the objectives of aid”.
Author : Yvon Poirier
Participant to the Parallel Forum
For further information:
CSO website : www.betteraid.org
Government site: www.accrahlf.net
European Social Forum, Malmö, September 18, 2008
Seminar: Building the Alternative Solidarity Economy
This seminar was organised by the GEAN (Global Economic Alternatives Network).
The network was founded by Pasqualino Colombaro, from Cambridge, Massachusetts in the USA. Pasqualino is a labor and community activist. For many years he was a representative of the Service Employees International Union. He is a native of the Abruzzi, Italy. He is also a founding member of Jobs with Justice, the Italian-American Labor Council, Working Massachusetts and the Center for International Social Studies in Rome. He was among the first in Massachusetts to organize events to promote debate locally, nationally and internationally on the role of organized labor and of independent worker initiative on issues of economic empowerment and social entitlements in the globalized economy.
The objectives of the seminar were to move towards the building of a new global network linking ‘best practices’ in the alternative economy and laying the foundations for a similar activity during the World Social Forum in Belém in January 2009.
To achieve these ends, the exchange took a critical look at significant examples in the fields of the social/solidarity economy, of cooperative and trade union initiated alternatives within the public and private sectors in the United States and Europe (Hungary, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and France) as well as Venezuela.
The general discussion attempted to link these experiences to an underlying theory, taking into account how social protections and economies of scale should be considered in forming a new, global economic vision, as new practices of production and work organization develop in the social/solidarity economy and in contrast to the current period, marked by deep social, economic, political and environmental crises which negatively invest the state, the corporations, the financial institutions and the trade unions.
Comments:
Approximately 80 people, most of whom expressed the wish to join the network currently under construction, attended the seminar. They represented experiences and organizations from the US, UK, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Italy, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Hungary, Latin America, South Africa. A wide range of perspectives, all based on economic approaches alternative to the prevailing capitalist model were presented. The common denominator was an egalitarian, bottom-up, worker empowering emphasis leading to broader social and economic impacts, irrespective of the sector in question.
The range covered both broad-based approaches (co-operatives in Latin America and Italy, global trade), and more specific (Pactes Locaux, URGENCI in France and the Cooperativa Puzon in Coro, Venezuela). Hilary Wainwright of TNI spoke about the Unison Trade Union successes in the City of Newcastle, UK, in addressing the currently key question of the defence of public services from privatization, through the institution of new forms of horizontal work organization and of delivery of high quality services to the public.
The financial alternatives were spoken about with reference to the Hungarian LETS system, born of economic necessity, as well as three banks: Ekobanken of Sweden, Merkur Bank of Denmark and Banca Etica of Italy, who despite their respective specificities have all been successful in providing positive and ethical alternatives to financing new economic initiatives.
The only negative aspects of the seminar were due to glitches of the ESF organising committee: the failure to include the seminar in the proper slot of the programme which cut on attendance, and the lack of working booths for interpretation due to insufficient technical support (which did not stop the interpreters from doing a valiant job).
All presentations and background documentation of the seminar can be found at: http://openesf.net/projects/alternative-economies/home
Judith Hitchman
Speaker at this seminar on the example of the Pactes Locaux and the URGENCI network (An Urban - Rural Network: Generating new forms of Exchange between CItizens.)
Our Newsletters are available on the WEB:
http://local-development.blogspot.com/
www.apreis.org/
Special thanks to:
Évéline Poirier from Canada for the English translation
Brunilda Rafael from France for the Spanish translation
Michel Colin from Brazil for the Portuguese translation
To contact us (for information, feedback, to subscribe or unsubscribe):
Yvon Poirier ypoirier@videotron.ca
November 1st, 2008
Summary
Message from the Editorial Team
The role of civil society in development
Parallel Forum of civil society organizations (CSOs) in Accra: August 31st and September 1st, 2008
European Social Forum, Malmö, September 18, 2008
Seminar: Building the Alternative Solidarity Economy
Message from the Editorial Team
In this issue, we present two different reports on international meetings; one focuses on a meeting of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Accra, Ghana and the other relates to a seminar on the construction of an alternative solidarity economy during the European Social Forum held in Sweden. They both show that the forms of organization of the civil society movement, unionism being a part, are built to meet the basic needs of populations. We are happy to be involved, even if only modestly.
We are pleased to announce that Judith Hitchman, who you've already read several contributions, has joined the editorial team. Her presence opens a broader intercultural scope to the English-speaking world because of her Irish origins, her professional background as an interpreter, her continuing participation in thematic, continental and global Social Forums. This gives her a great knowledge of the areas covered by this Newsletter and which are also hers.
Editorial Team
Yvon Poirier
Martine Théveniaut
The role of civil society in development
Parallel Forum of civil society organizations (CSOs) in Accra: August 31st and September 1st, 2008
The question of development aid, mainly from North to South, has been a major challenge for over half a century. The majority of donor countries are members of the OECD and have adopted various strategies since the 60s. However, the gap between the rich and the poor of our planet not only has not diminished, but worse, has increased in some parts of the world. Often the "help" was a disguised method to promote exports: the country receiving the aid being forced to buy from the donor country (referred to as "tied aid").
Historical process
With the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the United Nations in 2000, goals aimed at reducing by 50% the number of poor people on the planet within 15 years, donor countries questioned themselves as to the effectiveness of aid, especially since many countries have reduced their contributions as a percentage of GDP. Furthermore, very few countries meet the commitments made in 2000 to devote the equivalent of 0.7% of their GDP to international aid.
Thus, in 2003, donor countries agreed to harmonize their programs and in 2005 adopted the Paris Declaration, which established important rules on aid effectiveness. In particular, there is a willingness to make responsible the countries who receive public assistance regarding administration, transparency and management of aid.
Agreeing with the principle of accountability of countries receiving aid, civil society organizations, and particularly development NGOs, quickly realized that in the Paris Declaration there was no question of civil society. Both CSOs from North and South have been squeezed out of the actions for development aid. They quickly mobilized and decided during the World Social Forum 2007 in Nairobi to make every effort to have recognized the full-fledged role of civil society in the development process. At the same time, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) suggested to the donor countries, the set up of a working group to examine how civil society could play a role in development.
These two initiatives set the stage to prepare a meeting in Accra in September 2008 between donor countries and aid recipients, to take stock of the situation three years after the adoption of the Paris Declaration.
The CSOs who had been virtually absent from the meeting in Paris in 2005, carried out important preparatory work (documentation, Better Aid website) and organized a Parallel Forum which brought together nearly 700 people on the eve of the meeting of donor and recipient countries. The preparatory work and the Forum allowed civil society its rightful place and recognition as an actor in its own, regarding development and was supported by the majority of countries involved, donor countries and recipient countries.
Progress made
The Declaration of the civil society, adopted by consensus at the Forum, made useful proposals in the general sense of the alternate globalisation current (available on the Better Aid website - see below).
Also, the CSOs sought and gained accreditation in order to participate in the official forum. Thus, instead of 14 persons as in 2005, some 80 representatives of CSOs were present and well prepared. They were the spokespersons for all the CSOs and their political message. Similarly, the report of the working group led by CIDA filed specific recommendations for the inclusion of civil society in development aid.
Thus, progress has been made. The Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) approved by the participating countries, recognizes what follows:
Paragraph 20. “We will deepen our engagement with CSOs as independent development actors in their own right whose efforts complement those of governments and the private sector. We share an interest in ensuring that CSO contributions to development reach their full potential.”
Some countries, specifically the USA and Japan have prevented the inclusion in the AAA of commitments collectively requested that donor countries honour their obligations for longer periods and completely eliminate tied aid. " Nevertheless, it is a real breakthrough for CSOs. Obstacles, however, are considerable as they seek to transfer to the UN monitoring issues related to aid and development. For now, control belongs to the OECD. And as many stated during the Parallel Forum, the approach to "aid effectiveness" looks like a form of neo-colonialism. Rich countries impose their conditions while not respecting their commitments (0.7% of GDP). In other words, developing countries must be accountable for their use of aid, but rich countries do not account for non-compliance of their commitments.
Probably the most encouraging and rewarding aspect is to see a collective movement by civil society to assert and organize itself, globally, in order to obtain a genuine development policy based on "an explicit recognition of human rights, gender equality, decent work and environmental sustainability as the objectives of aid”.
Author : Yvon Poirier
Participant to the Parallel Forum
For further information:
CSO website : www.betteraid.org
Government site: www.accrahlf.net
European Social Forum, Malmö, September 18, 2008
Seminar: Building the Alternative Solidarity Economy
This seminar was organised by the GEAN (Global Economic Alternatives Network).
The network was founded by Pasqualino Colombaro, from Cambridge, Massachusetts in the USA. Pasqualino is a labor and community activist. For many years he was a representative of the Service Employees International Union. He is a native of the Abruzzi, Italy. He is also a founding member of Jobs with Justice, the Italian-American Labor Council, Working Massachusetts and the Center for International Social Studies in Rome. He was among the first in Massachusetts to organize events to promote debate locally, nationally and internationally on the role of organized labor and of independent worker initiative on issues of economic empowerment and social entitlements in the globalized economy.
The objectives of the seminar were to move towards the building of a new global network linking ‘best practices’ in the alternative economy and laying the foundations for a similar activity during the World Social Forum in Belém in January 2009.
To achieve these ends, the exchange took a critical look at significant examples in the fields of the social/solidarity economy, of cooperative and trade union initiated alternatives within the public and private sectors in the United States and Europe (Hungary, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and France) as well as Venezuela.
The general discussion attempted to link these experiences to an underlying theory, taking into account how social protections and economies of scale should be considered in forming a new, global economic vision, as new practices of production and work organization develop in the social/solidarity economy and in contrast to the current period, marked by deep social, economic, political and environmental crises which negatively invest the state, the corporations, the financial institutions and the trade unions.
Comments:
Approximately 80 people, most of whom expressed the wish to join the network currently under construction, attended the seminar. They represented experiences and organizations from the US, UK, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Italy, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Hungary, Latin America, South Africa. A wide range of perspectives, all based on economic approaches alternative to the prevailing capitalist model were presented. The common denominator was an egalitarian, bottom-up, worker empowering emphasis leading to broader social and economic impacts, irrespective of the sector in question.
The range covered both broad-based approaches (co-operatives in Latin America and Italy, global trade), and more specific (Pactes Locaux, URGENCI in France and the Cooperativa Puzon in Coro, Venezuela). Hilary Wainwright of TNI spoke about the Unison Trade Union successes in the City of Newcastle, UK, in addressing the currently key question of the defence of public services from privatization, through the institution of new forms of horizontal work organization and of delivery of high quality services to the public.
The financial alternatives were spoken about with reference to the Hungarian LETS system, born of economic necessity, as well as three banks: Ekobanken of Sweden, Merkur Bank of Denmark and Banca Etica of Italy, who despite their respective specificities have all been successful in providing positive and ethical alternatives to financing new economic initiatives.
The only negative aspects of the seminar were due to glitches of the ESF organising committee: the failure to include the seminar in the proper slot of the programme which cut on attendance, and the lack of working booths for interpretation due to insufficient technical support (which did not stop the interpreters from doing a valiant job).
All presentations and background documentation of the seminar can be found at: http://openesf.net/projects/alternative-economies/home
Judith Hitchman
Speaker at this seminar on the example of the Pactes Locaux and the URGENCI network (An Urban - Rural Network: Generating new forms of Exchange between CItizens.)
Our Newsletters are available on the WEB:
http://local-development.blogspot.com/
www.apreis.org/
Special thanks to:
Évéline Poirier from Canada for the English translation
Brunilda Rafael from France for the Spanish translation
Michel Colin from Brazil for the Portuguese translation
To contact us (for information, feedback, to subscribe or unsubscribe):
Yvon Poirier ypoirier@videotron.ca
Friday, September 05, 2008
International Newsletter on Sustainable Local Development
Newsletter #51
September 1st, 2008
Summary
Message from the Editorial Team
15th Santa Maria Fair - Brazil
Another economy exits!
World Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi, May 26th-27th 2008
Reflections on different notions of enterpreneurship
Message from the Editorial Team
In this issue we are presenting two articles. Yvon’s participation at the Santa Maria Fair in Brazil enabled him to see the vitality of the solidarity economy in this region of the world. Also, he saw how the city of Santa Maria has been revitalized like his hometown of Quebec City, by mobilizing its citizens and social movements. For her part, Judith Hitchman was able to observe in a meeting in Kenya that various notions of entrepreneurship exist. We wish to share these reflections with you.
Editorial Team
Yvon Poirier
Martine Théveniaut
15th Santa Maria Fair - Brazil
Another economy exists!
Under this theme, the 15th Santa Maria Fair was held from July 11th – 13th, 2008. Santa Maria, a city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, located 300 km from Porto Alegre. Beyond the "fair" itself, which had 150,000 visitors, the fair was also the opportunity for an annual meeting of a growing number of networks and organizations.
Therefore, during the fair, the following meetings were held which are related to the topics of concern regularly presented in our newsletter:
• 4th Solidarity Economy Fair of Mercosur
• 15th Cooperative Education Fair
• 7th National Fair on Solidarity Economy
• 8th Mostra on Biodiversity and Family Farming Fair
• 4th Latin American Seminar on Solidarity Economy and Fair Trade
• A mini-Forum on Social Solidarity Economy (preparation of the 2009 WSF in Belem in the Amazon)
The products from the fair itself demonstrate the ability to live by consuming healthy and natural foods. In its documentation, the Fair organizers state their conviction that "you have to say no to the marketing of products which contain chemicals, agro-toxic, products developped to avoid refrigeration, the industrial production of beer, tobacco products and to motivate consumers to find environmental and natural products, such as sugar cane juice, drinking water, healthy and natural food supply - for the quality of life and health of consumers". The goal is to show that it is possible to consume otherwise by buying local products, which are natural or of good quality.
The 4th Latin American Seminar on Solidarity Economy and Fair Trade was held on July 12th. In the presence of over 150 people, representatives from Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, France, Mexico, Spain, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina exchanged with their colleagues from Brazil.
The following themes were discussed:
• Solidarity Economy as a regional development strategy - the vision of civil society across borders
• Public policies in support of the solidarity economy - dialogue with governments
• Construction of an agenda for the inclusion of solidarity economy in regional integration - dialogue between social networks and governments
After fruitful exchanges on these topics, the participants met to prepare their participation in the World Social Forum in January 2009 which will be held at Belem in the Amazon.
The municipality of Santa Maria is very involved in the Fair, especially since Valdeci Oliveira was elected mayor in 2001. A brief tour of the city helped to understand how citizens’ mobilization made it possible to revitalize the municipality. For example, the municipality transformed an abandoned train station into a municipal library, and built public parks in several places. Employees of the municipality showed us with pride a new popular restaurant that will serve 13,000 meals a day at a cost of one Real (about half of a US dollar). Solidarity Economy is one of the important pillars of the revitalization of the municipality. In her opening speech, the project coordinator of the Fair since its inception, Irmã Lourdes Dill, was proud to say that Santa Maria is the "international capital of solidarity economy".
Author: Yvon Poirier
Fair participant
Representative from North American Solidarity Economy Networks
World Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi, May 26th-27th 2008
Reflections on different notions of entrepreneurship
SACOMA (Sahara Communities Abroad) was established in 2000 to support Kiswahili speaking communities from Sub-Saharan Africa living in the UK, many of whom are experiencing disadvantage, such as poverty, social isolation and discrimination. It aims to empower, inform and educate members of the Kiswahili community to enable them to overcome disadvantage and social exclusion and effectively participate in the social and economic regeneration of marginalized communities in the UK. The main purpose was stabling an enterprise that would serve the education and welfare needs of people from Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere, particularly Kiswahili speaking communities living as immigrants in the UK.
SACOMA’s mission is working in a world where people are economically and socially independent and have good quality of life. We aim to increase the economic and social development of the community through broadened horizons and also add value to community development initiatives by introducing a new dimension through social entrepreneurship. (From website)
The conference brought together a wide range of speakers from various countries and sectors, and participants from many different walks of life. As a member of the European steering committee for Lux’09, and speaker in a workshop on social entrepreneurship, the conference, dynamic though it was, caused me to reflect deeply on the different meanings attached to the term social entrepreneurship, and the ambiguity the term can cause.
The conference was built on the concept of developing networks as the social cement of society, on building confidence and capacities through micro-projects, aimed at economic development, with special attention to women, youth, the disabled, those with special needs, immigrants, refugees and ethnic minorities. The levers identified were personal development and employability and social development as well as economic development. The aim was to develop the non-tangibles of intellectual and social capital and achieve social cohesion.
The European Commission defines social enterprise in the following manner: « Social enterprises devote their activities and reinvest their surpluses to achieving a wider social or community objective either in their members’ or a wider interest.
This involves the social dimension of the initiatives being :
• An initiative launched by a group of citizens
• A decision-making power not based on capital ownership
• A participatory nature, which involves the persons affected by the activity
• Limited profit distribution
• An explicit aim to benefit the community »
Which is all fine and good, and subjected to many cultural variables, even within Europe. Sadly I had the impression that very few of the speakers seemed to share all the above criteria. Many quite openly favoured the capitalist model of venture capital and profit-making with dividends being redistributed to share-holders, and relegated the social approach to the creation of new jobs. What did however emerge as an important dimension in the WES conference, was the clear importance attached to including the value added stages of production at local rather than European level. This in itself is an important aspect.
All of which really got me thinking about the (often legitimate) way in which corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the social objectives of local job-creation are at odds with the more fundamental approach of the social and solidarity economy which is an attempt to actually review and change the fundamental economic approach to society. The former are market driven by the forces of civil society at a global level, in a collective push to achieve greater equity and control of their lives. The latter is what is emerging as leading the market towards a new and more sustainable model. There seems to be something of a global trend at present whereby the paternalistic approach developed in the 19th century economic model, and which includes a strong faith-based approach to charity, has been transformed into an extension of CSR, without re-examining the fundamental causes of social or economic exclusion, as is the case with the solidarity economy model, which is anchored in self-help and empowerment as pillars of the endogeneous model of local development. This in no way detracts from the genuinely positive impacts of many actions resulting from CSR.
At a time when the issues in developed and developing countries alike are increasingly those of not just job creation, but access to fundamental human rights and well-being in general, the kind of wealth created and the collective approach to endogeneous territorial development that truly benefits the local community as a whole needs to be carefully approached.
Author: Judith Hitchman
Original article in English and in French
For information: www.sacoma.org.uk/
Our Newsletters are available on the WEB:
http://local-development.blogspot.com/
www.apreis.org/
Special thanks to:
Évéline Poirier from Canada for the English translation
Brunilda Rafael from France for the Spanish translation
Michel Colin from Brazil for the Portuguese translation
To contact us (for information, feedback, to subscribe or unsubscribe):
Yvon Poirier ypoirier@videotron.ca
Newsletter #51
September 1st, 2008
Summary
Message from the Editorial Team
15th Santa Maria Fair - Brazil
Another economy exits!
World Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi, May 26th-27th 2008
Reflections on different notions of enterpreneurship
Message from the Editorial Team
In this issue we are presenting two articles. Yvon’s participation at the Santa Maria Fair in Brazil enabled him to see the vitality of the solidarity economy in this region of the world. Also, he saw how the city of Santa Maria has been revitalized like his hometown of Quebec City, by mobilizing its citizens and social movements. For her part, Judith Hitchman was able to observe in a meeting in Kenya that various notions of entrepreneurship exist. We wish to share these reflections with you.
Editorial Team
Yvon Poirier
Martine Théveniaut
15th Santa Maria Fair - Brazil
Another economy exists!
Under this theme, the 15th Santa Maria Fair was held from July 11th – 13th, 2008. Santa Maria, a city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, located 300 km from Porto Alegre. Beyond the "fair" itself, which had 150,000 visitors, the fair was also the opportunity for an annual meeting of a growing number of networks and organizations.
Therefore, during the fair, the following meetings were held which are related to the topics of concern regularly presented in our newsletter:
• 4th Solidarity Economy Fair of Mercosur
• 15th Cooperative Education Fair
• 7th National Fair on Solidarity Economy
• 8th Mostra on Biodiversity and Family Farming Fair
• 4th Latin American Seminar on Solidarity Economy and Fair Trade
• A mini-Forum on Social Solidarity Economy (preparation of the 2009 WSF in Belem in the Amazon)
The products from the fair itself demonstrate the ability to live by consuming healthy and natural foods. In its documentation, the Fair organizers state their conviction that "you have to say no to the marketing of products which contain chemicals, agro-toxic, products developped to avoid refrigeration, the industrial production of beer, tobacco products and to motivate consumers to find environmental and natural products, such as sugar cane juice, drinking water, healthy and natural food supply - for the quality of life and health of consumers". The goal is to show that it is possible to consume otherwise by buying local products, which are natural or of good quality.
The 4th Latin American Seminar on Solidarity Economy and Fair Trade was held on July 12th. In the presence of over 150 people, representatives from Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, France, Mexico, Spain, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina exchanged with their colleagues from Brazil.
The following themes were discussed:
• Solidarity Economy as a regional development strategy - the vision of civil society across borders
• Public policies in support of the solidarity economy - dialogue with governments
• Construction of an agenda for the inclusion of solidarity economy in regional integration - dialogue between social networks and governments
After fruitful exchanges on these topics, the participants met to prepare their participation in the World Social Forum in January 2009 which will be held at Belem in the Amazon.
The municipality of Santa Maria is very involved in the Fair, especially since Valdeci Oliveira was elected mayor in 2001. A brief tour of the city helped to understand how citizens’ mobilization made it possible to revitalize the municipality. For example, the municipality transformed an abandoned train station into a municipal library, and built public parks in several places. Employees of the municipality showed us with pride a new popular restaurant that will serve 13,000 meals a day at a cost of one Real (about half of a US dollar). Solidarity Economy is one of the important pillars of the revitalization of the municipality. In her opening speech, the project coordinator of the Fair since its inception, Irmã Lourdes Dill, was proud to say that Santa Maria is the "international capital of solidarity economy".
Author: Yvon Poirier
Fair participant
Representative from North American Solidarity Economy Networks
World Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi, May 26th-27th 2008
Reflections on different notions of entrepreneurship
SACOMA (Sahara Communities Abroad) was established in 2000 to support Kiswahili speaking communities from Sub-Saharan Africa living in the UK, many of whom are experiencing disadvantage, such as poverty, social isolation and discrimination. It aims to empower, inform and educate members of the Kiswahili community to enable them to overcome disadvantage and social exclusion and effectively participate in the social and economic regeneration of marginalized communities in the UK. The main purpose was stabling an enterprise that would serve the education and welfare needs of people from Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere, particularly Kiswahili speaking communities living as immigrants in the UK.
SACOMA’s mission is working in a world where people are economically and socially independent and have good quality of life. We aim to increase the economic and social development of the community through broadened horizons and also add value to community development initiatives by introducing a new dimension through social entrepreneurship. (From website)
The conference brought together a wide range of speakers from various countries and sectors, and participants from many different walks of life. As a member of the European steering committee for Lux’09, and speaker in a workshop on social entrepreneurship, the conference, dynamic though it was, caused me to reflect deeply on the different meanings attached to the term social entrepreneurship, and the ambiguity the term can cause.
The conference was built on the concept of developing networks as the social cement of society, on building confidence and capacities through micro-projects, aimed at economic development, with special attention to women, youth, the disabled, those with special needs, immigrants, refugees and ethnic minorities. The levers identified were personal development and employability and social development as well as economic development. The aim was to develop the non-tangibles of intellectual and social capital and achieve social cohesion.
The European Commission defines social enterprise in the following manner: « Social enterprises devote their activities and reinvest their surpluses to achieving a wider social or community objective either in their members’ or a wider interest.
This involves the social dimension of the initiatives being :
• An initiative launched by a group of citizens
• A decision-making power not based on capital ownership
• A participatory nature, which involves the persons affected by the activity
• Limited profit distribution
• An explicit aim to benefit the community »
Which is all fine and good, and subjected to many cultural variables, even within Europe. Sadly I had the impression that very few of the speakers seemed to share all the above criteria. Many quite openly favoured the capitalist model of venture capital and profit-making with dividends being redistributed to share-holders, and relegated the social approach to the creation of new jobs. What did however emerge as an important dimension in the WES conference, was the clear importance attached to including the value added stages of production at local rather than European level. This in itself is an important aspect.
All of which really got me thinking about the (often legitimate) way in which corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the social objectives of local job-creation are at odds with the more fundamental approach of the social and solidarity economy which is an attempt to actually review and change the fundamental economic approach to society. The former are market driven by the forces of civil society at a global level, in a collective push to achieve greater equity and control of their lives. The latter is what is emerging as leading the market towards a new and more sustainable model. There seems to be something of a global trend at present whereby the paternalistic approach developed in the 19th century economic model, and which includes a strong faith-based approach to charity, has been transformed into an extension of CSR, without re-examining the fundamental causes of social or economic exclusion, as is the case with the solidarity economy model, which is anchored in self-help and empowerment as pillars of the endogeneous model of local development. This in no way detracts from the genuinely positive impacts of many actions resulting from CSR.
At a time when the issues in developed and developing countries alike are increasingly those of not just job creation, but access to fundamental human rights and well-being in general, the kind of wealth created and the collective approach to endogeneous territorial development that truly benefits the local community as a whole needs to be carefully approached.
Author: Judith Hitchman
Original article in English and in French
For information: www.sacoma.org.uk/
Our Newsletters are available on the WEB:
http://local-development.blogspot.com/
www.apreis.org/
Special thanks to:
Évéline Poirier from Canada for the English translation
Brunilda Rafael from France for the Spanish translation
Michel Colin from Brazil for the Portuguese translation
To contact us (for information, feedback, to subscribe or unsubscribe):
Yvon Poirier ypoirier@videotron.ca
Thursday, July 03, 2008
International Newsletter on Sustainable Local Development
Newsletter #50
July 1st, 2008
Summary
Message from the Editorial Team
RTA 2008 : Responsible tourism debated at Territorial Meeting of Auvergne
Responsible tourism - a laboratory for a more cohesive, cooperative and cultural territorial economy
A case of successful cooperation in Italy
An initiative for responsible and environmental consumption
Announcement
International Forum - Globalization of Solidarity
Message from the Editorial Team
As we have many readers who were not subscribers during the first publications of our newsletter in 2003, we wish to clarify that our bulletin is strictly a personal initiative. It is not linked, either directly or indirectly, to an organization or a network, although we are actors of change committed to the life of our time. As we mentioned in the past, we are pursuing an effort of information sharing in order to better understand the challenges of the future and find how to bring about our contribution. Our 50th newsletter is an extension of the global meeting on local development held in Quebec in 1998. We shall return to this topic in a future issue.
In addition, we reiterate the invitation to send us short articles (1-2 pages) that we could distribute. Also, we are always looking for volunteers for translation into English, Spanish or Portuguese.
We wish to clarify that the complete document that Martine summarized in the last issue under the heading The responsibilities of a civil society under construction: a contribution to the debate is available on the site Foundation for Future Generations, in English and French.
www.fgf.be/index.php
http://www.fgf.be/index2.php?section=publication&ID=28&golang=FR
http://www.foundationfuturegenerations.org/index2.php?section=publication&ID=28
Next issue – September 1st
Editorial Team
Yvon Poirier
Martine Théveniaut
Responsible tourism - a laboratory for a more cohesive, cooperative and cultural territorial economy: The Territorial Meeting of Auvergne (RTA) , May 27th –May 28th, 2008, hosted by the Region of Auvergne (France)
It was the 2nd regional step in the approach of the Plate Forme pour l’élargissement du local vers l’Europe (Platform to extend the Local level towards Europe), hosted by “Pactes Locaux” (Local Covenants), within the preparations of the LUX'09 Forum. From a realistic point of view, the same questions were addressed to the guests, some 50 people (not just from France, but also from Bosnia, Mali, Madagascar and Cameroon), from a wide range of stakeholders. The prospect is twofold: "do less harm" with mass tourism and make advances in responsible tourism. This path of progress has been considered by the territorial approach. How can it be the vector of quality human relations and develop balanced economic relations between hosts and guests?
In line with the RTA, a book is forthcoming this summer, with the prospect of introducing the main teachings of the International Forum of Solidarity Tourism, in Bamako, next October 2008.
Background information: Tourism holds the first position in world trade - before the automobile and oil industry. Its average growth is between 4% and 5% and the UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organisation) predicts that 1 billion "will arrive at borders as tourists" in 2010. In 2020, it will be 1.6 billion (WTO 2006). International tourism will double in the next 15 years, having quadrupled in the last thirty. Europe and North America, major emitters of vacationers (70% of the world total), also record the bulk of arrivals (76% in 1990, 66% in 2005). Tourism expenditures in 2003 amounted to approximately 6% of world exports of goods and services and almost 30% of services alone.
By increasing its flow, its marketing techniques and remote management, this multifunctional, comprehensive and reticular industry, with the mobility of its customers and its capital, tourism presents itself as the champion of liberalization of markets.
As an aggregate of liberalized services, tourism has a very special economic signature:
The product marketed is intangible: human warmth, ambiance, exoticism ...;
The consumption of a good or service by a tourist makes it a “tourist product";
Highly seasonal conditions influence production, supply and consumption;
Simultaneity of production / consumption implies strong reactions, in particular because of possible developments between the two aspects;
The consumer goes to and in the product;
The product is sold by description, via internet or by brochure. This means immateriality and inability to test. These risks make the customer demand more information and a personalized response;
The products range from very standard (tourism with no local specificity - same hotels, cuisines and swimming pools) to very specific (unique to each country, customer segment, and niche).
The trade relationship in the industry is moving towards the co-production of personalized service. The contribution of tourism to GDP, employment, economic diversification, the revitalization of the territories is known. But the negative externalities of conventional tourism are also known and more and more contested.
These include:
Host regions have no control in tourism flows; they are controlled by international groups whose shareholders require double-digit growth rates.
Abuses and failure to comply with the commitments and the right of customers increase;
External debt for investment and a currency loss of 40 to 90% decrease the amount of foreign exchange generated;
Single activity tourism is dangerous because the territory is subject to sudden and unpredictable fluctuations (example: SARS in Asia);
The right to holidays and leisure are very unequal and therefore create inequality of consumption, social and personal development;
Tourism jobs are often poorly paid, seasonal and offer poor possibilities to develop qualifications;
Violations of the rights of workers and exploitation, including sexual abuse of women and children are commonplace;
Tourism weakens the social fabric and shakes the cultural foundations by strengthening social disparities;
Air transportation tourism contributes to global climate imbalance. It has impacts on land; it pollutes exploits and creates «artificial» landscapes, monopolizes the land and creates conflicts of use of scarce resources such as water or energy.
Aware of these realities, actors in the tourism industry engage ... and develop or bring to light forms of solidarity, which are more equitable, sustainable, alternative, ethical, pro-poor, gentle, community-based, slow ... which are as such progress in corporate social responsibility, equity, income distribution, environmental concerns, environment friendly purchases, fairer business partnerships.
What do these new practices really involve? How are their added values articulated? How can they be brought in line to strengthen and enhance their impact? Can they answer to stakeholder concerns?
These new approaches face many difficulties to come in synergy with other actors in the sector. The tourism industry, a vertical market - crosses at different levels and times, other sectors and cross logics: those of territory such as suppliers, service providers, business fabric (goods and services), but also tangible and intangible aspects such as heritage, social organizations, infrastructure, public policy, legal and regulatory frameworks and international trade flows. How do all these logics fit together? How can the contact points be dynamic, catalytic, generate effects derived from diversification, development and strengthening? What are the methods?
Alain Laurent - Pactes Locaux
In charge of the Auvergne regional meeting and of synthesizing the 5 activities leading up to the LUX’09 Forum.
For information: BEIRA-CFP beira.cfp@wanadoo.fr
Projet TER_RES (Territoires Responsables/BEIRA-CFP/Interstices www.beira-cfp.org )
A case of successful cooperation in Italy
An initiative for responsible and environmental consumption
Carrara, a city of Tuscany with 65,000 inhabitants is well known for its white marble. The old "Place for herbs" was renewed. Its traditional function has been restored through a market exclusively devoted to products which are organic and typical of the local agriculture.
Initially simple, the initiative promoted by the Deputy to Productive Activities of the Municipality, Andrea Zanetti, has become complex - but also richer - as new actors have joined in.
Each of 14 new counters provided by the administration to 40 vendors chosen to come to offer their products, each illustrate on a panel, the small business of the vendor and its history. So visitors may receive information and advice on responsible consumption, a counter is assigned to the co-leader association of the project ACU, Associazione Consumatori Utenti, and any other association of consumers wishing to participate.
Next to the open market, a hall in the rehabilitated former Moulin Forti hosts conferences on the subject of healthy nutrition, lifestyles, labelling of products, but also all issues that must be associated with consumption: climate change, water, energy, agriculture, waste, world hunger and global justice, rights and responsibilities, solidarity… The annual programme has been set.
To complete the cultural programme around the new market, the Assistant to Public Instruction, Giovanna Bernardini, includes educational initiatives for children, aimed at sustainable consumption in the School Plan. The ACU will lead the activities in schools and elsewhere, which will involve young people. A contest with prizes will be launched.
For now, events are held monthly, every first Saturday, but the market will soon become a biweekly rendezvous and its magnitude will expand further next year. This intention has been repeatedly expressed by the directors. They notably included the market in the Local Plan for Trade in public spaces, which guarantees it a spot through a permanent decision.
The market is indeed an integral part of the strategy of the municipality, which aims to renovate and revitalize the old downtown of Carrara, its old buildings and public places. In doing so, the municipality adds value to its historical heritage and encourages its maintenance.
Special attention for products which are local, organic and typical is characteristic to all directors of Tuscany, following the recommendations of Law No 18/2002 which implements organic/typical/traditional food supply via public tender and supports programs for food education. In a few days, the agglomeration of Carrara will award a contract to public canteens, schools and hospitals, with a call to tender which provides that all food is typical or organic.
The small traditional producers have little or no structured relationships, even in the same territory. The new market has given them the opportunity to begin to network, establish more rigorous contacts with agricultural associations such as Coldiretti, C.I.A.,and CTPB. The latter, for their part, have supported the program by using regional funds under Law 34/2001 for rural agricultural development. The cooperation around the market may well become an additional and important opportunity for improving technology (other than commercial) in agriculture.
The sale of products of small producers / niche market is a challenge in general. It is difficult to get consumers to know products of limited production, and conventional markets barely recognize a price differential sufficient for producers. However, the nature of the work and the expenses are proportionally higher and the bureaucracy is a barrier for them. The role of direct sales and particularly the commitment of GAS (Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale) are essential in their case.
The GAS are an original innovation that builds on the passion of Italians for food. They traditionally lead many individuals/families to visit the peninsula in search of authentic products. The GAS adds the objective of promoting purchases based on solidarity and responsible consumption. These local groups are very independent. People organize themselves, select and purchase collectively and then share products of all kinds, but especially food.
Saving money is one reason to act, perhaps the first one, but not the most important. The key is to discover the best products and often excellent niche products, to help small producers and maintain direct relationships with them, create new friendly relations, support short circuit deliveries, and employ in a useful way one’s free time. In short, the quality of life and satisfaction translate one’s feelings of solidarity; these are the main motivations of these groups, which are extremely varied, which number 500 - 1000 units. The current financial law takes them into consideration for the first time and gives them tax advantages.
When the market opened on May 24th, sales proved to be such a great success that many vendors liquidated all their goods before the market closed. "They were all very satisfied and willing to extend the initiative" said Clara Gonnelli, President of ACU-TOSCANA who worked hard over six months to unite and achieve consensus among many various actors who had never worked together in beforehand.
Pia Valota
Coordinator: ASECO-Alliance of Social and Ecological Consumer Organisations
Announcement
IV International Forum - Globalization of Solidarity
The Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of Social Solidarity Economy (RIPESS) and the European Institute for Solidarity based Economy (INEES) officially announced their next meeting, after those of Lima in 1997, Quebec in 2001 and Dakar in 2005.
The theme for the meeting is: Another economy exists- the innovations of the social solidarity economy.
This meeting will take place from April 22nd – 25th, 2009 at Esch-sur-Alzette in Luxembourg.
You are invited to register on the website in order to participate in the preparatory exchanges and regularly receive information.
www.lux09.lu
For further information :
Catherine Van Ouystel
E-mail: vanouytsel@inees.org
Our Newsletters are available on the WEB:
http://local-development.blogspot.com/
www.apreis.org/
Special thanks to:
Évéline Poirier from Canada for the English translation
Brunilda Rafael from France for the Spanish translation
Michel Colin from Brazil for the Portuguese translation
To contact us (for information, feedback, to subscribe or unsubscribe):
Yvon Poirier ypoirier@videotron.ca
Newsletter #50
July 1st, 2008
Summary
Message from the Editorial Team
RTA 2008 : Responsible tourism debated at Territorial Meeting of Auvergne
Responsible tourism - a laboratory for a more cohesive, cooperative and cultural territorial economy
A case of successful cooperation in Italy
An initiative for responsible and environmental consumption
Announcement
International Forum - Globalization of Solidarity
Message from the Editorial Team
As we have many readers who were not subscribers during the first publications of our newsletter in 2003, we wish to clarify that our bulletin is strictly a personal initiative. It is not linked, either directly or indirectly, to an organization or a network, although we are actors of change committed to the life of our time. As we mentioned in the past, we are pursuing an effort of information sharing in order to better understand the challenges of the future and find how to bring about our contribution. Our 50th newsletter is an extension of the global meeting on local development held in Quebec in 1998. We shall return to this topic in a future issue.
In addition, we reiterate the invitation to send us short articles (1-2 pages) that we could distribute. Also, we are always looking for volunteers for translation into English, Spanish or Portuguese.
We wish to clarify that the complete document that Martine summarized in the last issue under the heading The responsibilities of a civil society under construction: a contribution to the debate is available on the site Foundation for Future Generations, in English and French.
www.fgf.be/index.php
http://www.fgf.be/index2.php?section=publication&ID=28&golang=FR
http://www.foundationfuturegenerations.org/index2.php?section=publication&ID=28
Next issue – September 1st
Editorial Team
Yvon Poirier
Martine Théveniaut
Responsible tourism - a laboratory for a more cohesive, cooperative and cultural territorial economy: The Territorial Meeting of Auvergne (RTA) , May 27th –May 28th, 2008, hosted by the Region of Auvergne (France)
It was the 2nd regional step in the approach of the Plate Forme pour l’élargissement du local vers l’Europe (Platform to extend the Local level towards Europe), hosted by “Pactes Locaux” (Local Covenants), within the preparations of the LUX'09 Forum. From a realistic point of view, the same questions were addressed to the guests, some 50 people (not just from France, but also from Bosnia, Mali, Madagascar and Cameroon), from a wide range of stakeholders. The prospect is twofold: "do less harm" with mass tourism and make advances in responsible tourism. This path of progress has been considered by the territorial approach. How can it be the vector of quality human relations and develop balanced economic relations between hosts and guests?
In line with the RTA, a book is forthcoming this summer, with the prospect of introducing the main teachings of the International Forum of Solidarity Tourism, in Bamako, next October 2008.
Background information: Tourism holds the first position in world trade - before the automobile and oil industry. Its average growth is between 4% and 5% and the UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organisation) predicts that 1 billion "will arrive at borders as tourists" in 2010. In 2020, it will be 1.6 billion (WTO 2006). International tourism will double in the next 15 years, having quadrupled in the last thirty. Europe and North America, major emitters of vacationers (70% of the world total), also record the bulk of arrivals (76% in 1990, 66% in 2005). Tourism expenditures in 2003 amounted to approximately 6% of world exports of goods and services and almost 30% of services alone.
By increasing its flow, its marketing techniques and remote management, this multifunctional, comprehensive and reticular industry, with the mobility of its customers and its capital, tourism presents itself as the champion of liberalization of markets.
As an aggregate of liberalized services, tourism has a very special economic signature:
The product marketed is intangible: human warmth, ambiance, exoticism ...;
The consumption of a good or service by a tourist makes it a “tourist product";
Highly seasonal conditions influence production, supply and consumption;
Simultaneity of production / consumption implies strong reactions, in particular because of possible developments between the two aspects;
The consumer goes to and in the product;
The product is sold by description, via internet or by brochure. This means immateriality and inability to test. These risks make the customer demand more information and a personalized response;
The products range from very standard (tourism with no local specificity - same hotels, cuisines and swimming pools) to very specific (unique to each country, customer segment, and niche).
The trade relationship in the industry is moving towards the co-production of personalized service. The contribution of tourism to GDP, employment, economic diversification, the revitalization of the territories is known. But the negative externalities of conventional tourism are also known and more and more contested.
These include:
Host regions have no control in tourism flows; they are controlled by international groups whose shareholders require double-digit growth rates.
Abuses and failure to comply with the commitments and the right of customers increase;
External debt for investment and a currency loss of 40 to 90% decrease the amount of foreign exchange generated;
Single activity tourism is dangerous because the territory is subject to sudden and unpredictable fluctuations (example: SARS in Asia);
The right to holidays and leisure are very unequal and therefore create inequality of consumption, social and personal development;
Tourism jobs are often poorly paid, seasonal and offer poor possibilities to develop qualifications;
Violations of the rights of workers and exploitation, including sexual abuse of women and children are commonplace;
Tourism weakens the social fabric and shakes the cultural foundations by strengthening social disparities;
Air transportation tourism contributes to global climate imbalance. It has impacts on land; it pollutes exploits and creates «artificial» landscapes, monopolizes the land and creates conflicts of use of scarce resources such as water or energy.
Aware of these realities, actors in the tourism industry engage ... and develop or bring to light forms of solidarity, which are more equitable, sustainable, alternative, ethical, pro-poor, gentle, community-based, slow ... which are as such progress in corporate social responsibility, equity, income distribution, environmental concerns, environment friendly purchases, fairer business partnerships.
What do these new practices really involve? How are their added values articulated? How can they be brought in line to strengthen and enhance their impact? Can they answer to stakeholder concerns?
These new approaches face many difficulties to come in synergy with other actors in the sector. The tourism industry, a vertical market - crosses at different levels and times, other sectors and cross logics: those of territory such as suppliers, service providers, business fabric (goods and services), but also tangible and intangible aspects such as heritage, social organizations, infrastructure, public policy, legal and regulatory frameworks and international trade flows. How do all these logics fit together? How can the contact points be dynamic, catalytic, generate effects derived from diversification, development and strengthening? What are the methods?
Alain Laurent - Pactes Locaux
In charge of the Auvergne regional meeting and of synthesizing the 5 activities leading up to the LUX’09 Forum.
For information: BEIRA-CFP beira.cfp@wanadoo.fr
Projet TER_RES (Territoires Responsables/BEIRA-CFP/Interstices www.beira-cfp.org )
A case of successful cooperation in Italy
An initiative for responsible and environmental consumption
Carrara, a city of Tuscany with 65,000 inhabitants is well known for its white marble. The old "Place for herbs" was renewed. Its traditional function has been restored through a market exclusively devoted to products which are organic and typical of the local agriculture.
Initially simple, the initiative promoted by the Deputy to Productive Activities of the Municipality, Andrea Zanetti, has become complex - but also richer - as new actors have joined in.
Each of 14 new counters provided by the administration to 40 vendors chosen to come to offer their products, each illustrate on a panel, the small business of the vendor and its history. So visitors may receive information and advice on responsible consumption, a counter is assigned to the co-leader association of the project ACU, Associazione Consumatori Utenti, and any other association of consumers wishing to participate.
Next to the open market, a hall in the rehabilitated former Moulin Forti hosts conferences on the subject of healthy nutrition, lifestyles, labelling of products, but also all issues that must be associated with consumption: climate change, water, energy, agriculture, waste, world hunger and global justice, rights and responsibilities, solidarity… The annual programme has been set.
To complete the cultural programme around the new market, the Assistant to Public Instruction, Giovanna Bernardini, includes educational initiatives for children, aimed at sustainable consumption in the School Plan. The ACU will lead the activities in schools and elsewhere, which will involve young people. A contest with prizes will be launched.
For now, events are held monthly, every first Saturday, but the market will soon become a biweekly rendezvous and its magnitude will expand further next year. This intention has been repeatedly expressed by the directors. They notably included the market in the Local Plan for Trade in public spaces, which guarantees it a spot through a permanent decision.
The market is indeed an integral part of the strategy of the municipality, which aims to renovate and revitalize the old downtown of Carrara, its old buildings and public places. In doing so, the municipality adds value to its historical heritage and encourages its maintenance.
Special attention for products which are local, organic and typical is characteristic to all directors of Tuscany, following the recommendations of Law No 18/2002 which implements organic/typical/traditional food supply via public tender and supports programs for food education. In a few days, the agglomeration of Carrara will award a contract to public canteens, schools and hospitals, with a call to tender which provides that all food is typical or organic.
The small traditional producers have little or no structured relationships, even in the same territory. The new market has given them the opportunity to begin to network, establish more rigorous contacts with agricultural associations such as Coldiretti, C.I.A.,and CTPB. The latter, for their part, have supported the program by using regional funds under Law 34/2001 for rural agricultural development. The cooperation around the market may well become an additional and important opportunity for improving technology (other than commercial) in agriculture.
The sale of products of small producers / niche market is a challenge in general. It is difficult to get consumers to know products of limited production, and conventional markets barely recognize a price differential sufficient for producers. However, the nature of the work and the expenses are proportionally higher and the bureaucracy is a barrier for them. The role of direct sales and particularly the commitment of GAS (Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale) are essential in their case.
The GAS are an original innovation that builds on the passion of Italians for food. They traditionally lead many individuals/families to visit the peninsula in search of authentic products. The GAS adds the objective of promoting purchases based on solidarity and responsible consumption. These local groups are very independent. People organize themselves, select and purchase collectively and then share products of all kinds, but especially food.
Saving money is one reason to act, perhaps the first one, but not the most important. The key is to discover the best products and often excellent niche products, to help small producers and maintain direct relationships with them, create new friendly relations, support short circuit deliveries, and employ in a useful way one’s free time. In short, the quality of life and satisfaction translate one’s feelings of solidarity; these are the main motivations of these groups, which are extremely varied, which number 500 - 1000 units. The current financial law takes them into consideration for the first time and gives them tax advantages.
When the market opened on May 24th, sales proved to be such a great success that many vendors liquidated all their goods before the market closed. "They were all very satisfied and willing to extend the initiative" said Clara Gonnelli, President of ACU-TOSCANA who worked hard over six months to unite and achieve consensus among many various actors who had never worked together in beforehand.
Pia Valota
Coordinator: ASECO-Alliance of Social and Ecological Consumer Organisations
Announcement
IV International Forum - Globalization of Solidarity
The Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of Social Solidarity Economy (RIPESS) and the European Institute for Solidarity based Economy (INEES) officially announced their next meeting, after those of Lima in 1997, Quebec in 2001 and Dakar in 2005.
The theme for the meeting is: Another economy exists- the innovations of the social solidarity economy.
This meeting will take place from April 22nd – 25th, 2009 at Esch-sur-Alzette in Luxembourg.
You are invited to register on the website in order to participate in the preparatory exchanges and regularly receive information.
www.lux09.lu
For further information :
Catherine Van Ouystel
E-mail: vanouytsel@inees.org
Our Newsletters are available on the WEB:
http://local-development.blogspot.com/
www.apreis.org/
Special thanks to:
Évéline Poirier from Canada for the English translation
Brunilda Rafael from France for the Spanish translation
Michel Colin from Brazil for the Portuguese translation
To contact us (for information, feedback, to subscribe or unsubscribe):
Yvon Poirier ypoirier@videotron.ca
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
International Newsletter on Sustainable Local Development
Newsletter #48
May 1, 2008
Summary
Message from the Editorial Team
The crisis of the current agricultural model
Another agriculture is possible: a proximity agriculture
European Centre for Resources for Employer Groups
Innovative territorial initiatives in the labour market
Message from the Editorial Team
The increasingly globalized agricultural crisis strikes hardest the most vulnerable populations and countries. This issue of our Newsletter is devoted to emphasizing the adverse effects of the excessive «marketization» practiced today on the most basic and fundamental need, that of being able to feed oneself. We could summarize the current situation by a sentence heard over the radio: The obsession with profit is starving the poorest.
The bad news are now a daily occurrence in the media; the UN organisation FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) and WFP (World Food Programme) are sending alarm signals.
As for us, we firmly believe that another agriculture is possible, even essential for the survival of the planet and its inhabitants.
Just as the local territory will be the site for harmonisation of consumers’ and farmers’ expectations, the example of Employer Groups (GE) shows that it is at the local territory level that the expectations of employers and employees can be best harmonized.
Editorial Team
Yvon Poirier
Martine Théveniaut
The crisis of the current agricultural model
Another agriculture is possible: a proximity agriculture
Until 1940, even in the most developed countries of Europe or North America, over 95% of the consumption of food came from local or regional production. Therefore, even a metropolis like New York lived on products from neighbouring states like New Jersey (a 100 to 200 km radius).
Less than 75 years later, the situation is exactly the opposite. The arrival of major food chains totally changed the picture. In the province of Quebec (8 million inhabitants) in Canada, the market is dominated up to 95% by four distribution networks. Thus, agricultural production is directed to large centralized storage facilities and thereafter towards grocery stores in each city and region. Although approximately 50% of the production consumed comes from farmers in Quebec, this model has resulted in serious consequences:
As the big chains are looking for suppliers who can supply all their stores, small farms, often family farms disappear;
As the big chains choose the best price, there is a double effect, a downward pressure on prices paid to farmers, and the choice of a producer does not take into account the distances.
In all industrialized countries, the mileage each product travels becomes enormous. Thus, a carrot producer can be 500 km from Montreal. Therefore, carrots are sent to a central warehouse and travel back to the large surface-producing region. The carrot will have travelled 1,000 km before being consumed in its own production region. It would be possible to illustrate this phenomenon for the entire production. These facts are well known.
The industrialization of agriculture, accompanied by a general use of farm machinery, chemical fertilizers and pesticides has led to a significant increase in agricultural productivity. Thus, in North America, households spend no more than 11% of their purchases for food, compared to over 20% in 1960.
Although the success of this type of agriculture is undeniable, it has drawbacks; it depends on low-cost energy (oil) and the petrochemical industry products. To illustrate: the production of corn in the USA increased by 346% between 1910 and 1983, but energy consumption for all agriculture increased by 810%. Two other examples: a head of lettuce produced in California and consumed in New York costs 36 times more calories of energy than the lettuce itself contains, a kilogram of grapes from Chile transported to North America emits 6 kilos of CO2.
Meanwhile, structural adjustment policies (SAP) of the IMF to liberalize markets have forced many countries, particularly in Africa, to abandon their agricultural food policies, while rich countries continue to subsidize their own productions. Thus, in Senegal, a kilogram of onions from the Netherlands is cheaper than a kilogram produced in its own country.
And more recently, the logic of free market means that large agricultural production, as is the case for 20% of the corn grown in USA is diverted for ethanol production, further exacerbating the current situation.
Can we act otherwise?
In his book, Deep Economy: the wealth of communities and the durable future, author Bill McKibben describes the alternative. And this alternative already exists, and it is growing. As described in our previous issue (the URGENCI network), agriculture supported by the community, public markets of local producers and organic farming are expanding.
For example, let’s mention that in 1970 in the USA, there were only 340 public farmers’ markets, but in 2004 there were 3,700. The phenomenon is identified in other countries. In the case of Cuba, the collapse of the Soviet Union eliminated the supply of cheap oil. Thus overnight, Cuban agriculture, built on the Soviet model of large farms was radically transformed into community and urban production. Therefore, Havana produces most of its food locally, with an essentially organic agriculture, without fertilizers and pesticides.
The British agronomist, Jules Pretty studied over 200 cases of sustainable agriculture in 52 countries. The results show that sustainable agriculture has the ability to produce more food per hectare than industrialized agriculture, and at lower cost. Industrialized agriculture still dominates because it is the one that gives greater financial returns per hectare.
The reconstruction of local communities
The capitalist agricultural model, particularly in its neo-liberal form, contributes to the disappearance of small farms, resulting in an exodus of people from rural areas to large urban centres. But, even more destructive is the total disconnection which has occurred between producers and consumers.
However, the number of consumers and producers who are building this new approach to agriculture has increased to the point where trends have reversed. In the state of Oregon in the American west, the number of full-time farmers has risen from 13,384 in 1974 to 21,580 in 2002.
In light of the current crisis and with the knowledge and techniques already known, this article shows that close proximity agriculture will be the only one that will allow a major shift towards a sustainable agriculture; capable of feeding the population of each country, capable of reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, and capable of rebuilding the social fabric between producers and consumers, between the cities and their surrounding territories.
Author : Yvon Poirier
European Centre for Resources for Employer Groups
Innovative territorial initiatives in the labour market
Time-sharing hiring practises: an organizational innovation that meets the economic and social needs of employers and workers from the same basin of life.
Social invention is part of the Poitou-Charentes region, since the 1985 law creating Employer Groups (GE) was enacted in France. The GE is an innovation to organize time-sharing workers: part-time sharing of skilled employees, seasonal work, increased activity, anticipation of recruitment, stabilization of employment. First largely approved by the farming community, this tool spread through a multi-sectorial approach. Regional results in 2007: 1700 employees, 2100 adhering structures to a GE and a total financial operations of 35 million €. By focusing on a win-win relationship, GE are adapting and anticipating changes in the global market for the benefit of sustainable employment for citizens.
This type of innovation is spreading and is adopted in several regions of France and European countries: In 2001 in Belgium, a first employers group in Brussels, Jobiris, in the agri-food sector, now has some twenty employees. Similarly, in Germany in 2004, the first employers group was in the Land of Brandenburg. There are now four groups in Germany and many projects in the states of Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, especially in the agricultural environment.
To federate is to gather and not standardize: the principle of subsidiarity is vital.
The Employer Groups have organized their 2nd European Convention around a participatory debate in Brussels on February 22, 2008 in the presence of the European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Vladimir Špidla, and the president of the Committee of Regions, Luc Van den Branden. The meeting helped to initiate the creation of the European Centre for Resources for Employer Groups, the CERGE. France Joubert, who initiated the movement, will be the first president. The aim of CERGE is to promote the GE tool and to spread in all regions of the greater Europe. The launch adopts the model of the Resource Centre, as practised for almost ten years in Poitou-Charentes. This form of joint organization brings together employers and employees, as well as representatives of the social solidarity economy, with a rotating presidency. It has shown its ability to stand the test of territory to address the problems of labour, employment, but also those of the creation of activities, housing or services, which are interdependent problems. The answers are more inventive, and support that everyone brings a share of success.
Martine Theveniaut, meeting participant
For further information (French only): http://www.crge.com/
Our Newsletters are available on the WEB:
http://local-development.blogspot.com/
www.apreis.org/
Special thanks to:
Évéline Poirier from Canada for the English translation
Brunilda Rafael from France for the Spanish translation
Michel Colin from Brazil for the Portuguese translation
To contact us (for information, feedback, to subscribe or unsubscribe):
Yvon Poirier ypoirier@videotron.ca
Newsletter #48
May 1, 2008
Summary
Message from the Editorial Team
The crisis of the current agricultural model
Another agriculture is possible: a proximity agriculture
European Centre for Resources for Employer Groups
Innovative territorial initiatives in the labour market
Message from the Editorial Team
The increasingly globalized agricultural crisis strikes hardest the most vulnerable populations and countries. This issue of our Newsletter is devoted to emphasizing the adverse effects of the excessive «marketization» practiced today on the most basic and fundamental need, that of being able to feed oneself. We could summarize the current situation by a sentence heard over the radio: The obsession with profit is starving the poorest.
The bad news are now a daily occurrence in the media; the UN organisation FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) and WFP (World Food Programme) are sending alarm signals.
As for us, we firmly believe that another agriculture is possible, even essential for the survival of the planet and its inhabitants.
Just as the local territory will be the site for harmonisation of consumers’ and farmers’ expectations, the example of Employer Groups (GE) shows that it is at the local territory level that the expectations of employers and employees can be best harmonized.
Editorial Team
Yvon Poirier
Martine Théveniaut
The crisis of the current agricultural model
Another agriculture is possible: a proximity agriculture
Until 1940, even in the most developed countries of Europe or North America, over 95% of the consumption of food came from local or regional production. Therefore, even a metropolis like New York lived on products from neighbouring states like New Jersey (a 100 to 200 km radius).
Less than 75 years later, the situation is exactly the opposite. The arrival of major food chains totally changed the picture. In the province of Quebec (8 million inhabitants) in Canada, the market is dominated up to 95% by four distribution networks. Thus, agricultural production is directed to large centralized storage facilities and thereafter towards grocery stores in each city and region. Although approximately 50% of the production consumed comes from farmers in Quebec, this model has resulted in serious consequences:
As the big chains are looking for suppliers who can supply all their stores, small farms, often family farms disappear;
As the big chains choose the best price, there is a double effect, a downward pressure on prices paid to farmers, and the choice of a producer does not take into account the distances.
In all industrialized countries, the mileage each product travels becomes enormous. Thus, a carrot producer can be 500 km from Montreal. Therefore, carrots are sent to a central warehouse and travel back to the large surface-producing region. The carrot will have travelled 1,000 km before being consumed in its own production region. It would be possible to illustrate this phenomenon for the entire production. These facts are well known.
The industrialization of agriculture, accompanied by a general use of farm machinery, chemical fertilizers and pesticides has led to a significant increase in agricultural productivity. Thus, in North America, households spend no more than 11% of their purchases for food, compared to over 20% in 1960.
Although the success of this type of agriculture is undeniable, it has drawbacks; it depends on low-cost energy (oil) and the petrochemical industry products. To illustrate: the production of corn in the USA increased by 346% between 1910 and 1983, but energy consumption for all agriculture increased by 810%. Two other examples: a head of lettuce produced in California and consumed in New York costs 36 times more calories of energy than the lettuce itself contains, a kilogram of grapes from Chile transported to North America emits 6 kilos of CO2.
Meanwhile, structural adjustment policies (SAP) of the IMF to liberalize markets have forced many countries, particularly in Africa, to abandon their agricultural food policies, while rich countries continue to subsidize their own productions. Thus, in Senegal, a kilogram of onions from the Netherlands is cheaper than a kilogram produced in its own country.
And more recently, the logic of free market means that large agricultural production, as is the case for 20% of the corn grown in USA is diverted for ethanol production, further exacerbating the current situation.
Can we act otherwise?
In his book, Deep Economy: the wealth of communities and the durable future, author Bill McKibben describes the alternative. And this alternative already exists, and it is growing. As described in our previous issue (the URGENCI network), agriculture supported by the community, public markets of local producers and organic farming are expanding.
For example, let’s mention that in 1970 in the USA, there were only 340 public farmers’ markets, but in 2004 there were 3,700. The phenomenon is identified in other countries. In the case of Cuba, the collapse of the Soviet Union eliminated the supply of cheap oil. Thus overnight, Cuban agriculture, built on the Soviet model of large farms was radically transformed into community and urban production. Therefore, Havana produces most of its food locally, with an essentially organic agriculture, without fertilizers and pesticides.
The British agronomist, Jules Pretty studied over 200 cases of sustainable agriculture in 52 countries. The results show that sustainable agriculture has the ability to produce more food per hectare than industrialized agriculture, and at lower cost. Industrialized agriculture still dominates because it is the one that gives greater financial returns per hectare.
The reconstruction of local communities
The capitalist agricultural model, particularly in its neo-liberal form, contributes to the disappearance of small farms, resulting in an exodus of people from rural areas to large urban centres. But, even more destructive is the total disconnection which has occurred between producers and consumers.
However, the number of consumers and producers who are building this new approach to agriculture has increased to the point where trends have reversed. In the state of Oregon in the American west, the number of full-time farmers has risen from 13,384 in 1974 to 21,580 in 2002.
In light of the current crisis and with the knowledge and techniques already known, this article shows that close proximity agriculture will be the only one that will allow a major shift towards a sustainable agriculture; capable of feeding the population of each country, capable of reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, and capable of rebuilding the social fabric between producers and consumers, between the cities and their surrounding territories.
Author : Yvon Poirier
European Centre for Resources for Employer Groups
Innovative territorial initiatives in the labour market
Time-sharing hiring practises: an organizational innovation that meets the economic and social needs of employers and workers from the same basin of life.
Social invention is part of the Poitou-Charentes region, since the 1985 law creating Employer Groups (GE) was enacted in France. The GE is an innovation to organize time-sharing workers: part-time sharing of skilled employees, seasonal work, increased activity, anticipation of recruitment, stabilization of employment. First largely approved by the farming community, this tool spread through a multi-sectorial approach. Regional results in 2007: 1700 employees, 2100 adhering structures to a GE and a total financial operations of 35 million €. By focusing on a win-win relationship, GE are adapting and anticipating changes in the global market for the benefit of sustainable employment for citizens.
This type of innovation is spreading and is adopted in several regions of France and European countries: In 2001 in Belgium, a first employers group in Brussels, Jobiris, in the agri-food sector, now has some twenty employees. Similarly, in Germany in 2004, the first employers group was in the Land of Brandenburg. There are now four groups in Germany and many projects in the states of Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, especially in the agricultural environment.
To federate is to gather and not standardize: the principle of subsidiarity is vital.
The Employer Groups have organized their 2nd European Convention around a participatory debate in Brussels on February 22, 2008 in the presence of the European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Vladimir Špidla, and the president of the Committee of Regions, Luc Van den Branden. The meeting helped to initiate the creation of the European Centre for Resources for Employer Groups, the CERGE. France Joubert, who initiated the movement, will be the first president. The aim of CERGE is to promote the GE tool and to spread in all regions of the greater Europe. The launch adopts the model of the Resource Centre, as practised for almost ten years in Poitou-Charentes. This form of joint organization brings together employers and employees, as well as representatives of the social solidarity economy, with a rotating presidency. It has shown its ability to stand the test of territory to address the problems of labour, employment, but also those of the creation of activities, housing or services, which are interdependent problems. The answers are more inventive, and support that everyone brings a share of success.
Martine Theveniaut, meeting participant
For further information (French only): http://www.crge.com/
Our Newsletters are available on the WEB:
http://local-development.blogspot.com/
www.apreis.org/
Special thanks to:
Évéline Poirier from Canada for the English translation
Brunilda Rafael from France for the Spanish translation
Michel Colin from Brazil for the Portuguese translation
To contact us (for information, feedback, to subscribe or unsubscribe):
Yvon Poirier ypoirier@videotron.ca
Thursday, March 06, 2008
International Newsletter on Sustainable Local Development
Newsletter #46
March 1, 2008
Summary
Message from the Editorial Team
Why does endogenous development remain the poor relation of development strategies in Europe?
People’s Summit: an invitation
Lima, May 2008
Our friend and colleague, Francisco Botelho passed away on February 3rd, 2008. Knowing that he was ill, in 2006 he wrote the following text which was read at his funeral.
Plenitude
Silence ...
It is true that in this slow sunset, one hears silence more forcefully. But it is not silence.
Tranquility ...
Under the violent light, nature rests. Some bats flutter above the courtyard. Water runs into the reservoir, almost imperceptibly. Everything in nature seems to occupy its own place. But it is not tranquility.
Peace ...
Suddenly, inside and outside me, everything is harmony. At this moment, everything sounds just right. Everything is right. But, nothing needs to be right, because the heart feels the plenitude. But this is not peace.
I do not know what this place has. This place where everything makes sense. This place where I am able to unite all that is in me. Without drama, without anxieties. Plenitude, maybe this is it, which fills me in the old courtyard of the ancestral home of my ancestors. Here I live, here live all my ghosts, here live the souls of Santa Marinha.
Perhaps one day may I be lead here to die. Maybe one day my ashes may be spread on these few meters that I overlook. Because more than any place in the world, I belong here.
Francisco Bothelo
Message from the Editorial Team
It is with great regret that we learned of the passing of our friend. We wish to offer our sincere sympathies to his family and all those who were close to him. We shall miss you, Francisco, but rest assured that you will continue to inspire us.
In this issue we are presenting a reflection on the place of endogenous development, in conjunction with exogenous development. Too often considered minor, this place could well be rediscovered in the current context as quite decisive. This article reflects a European perspective, but the stakes are fairly similar in other continents. Thus, we hope that you find the text as stimulating as we do.
In addition, we wish to share information from Latin America. The People’s Summit next May in Lima will be an opportunity for social movements to present alternatives to globalization policies currently prevailing in our societies.
Editorial Team
Yvon Poirier
Martine Théveniaut
---
Why does endogenous development remain the poor relation of development strategies in Europe?
In December 2007, the Circle of entrepreneurs for the future awarded a Grand Prize on pertinent and impertinent reflection to Marjorie Jouen from the Our Europe Association, for her contribution to the debate on this emerging and controversial theme.
Local resources are encouraged to follow behind exogenous development!
There is competition between territories, in the race for foreign investment. Bottom-up development retains a palliative and marginal character. Today, most means remain assigned to the attractiveness of foreign investments, ignoring the negative externalities of this model. Yet, the industrial strategies of conversion during the 70’s and 80’s in Europe have not fulfilled their promises. Other more modest strategies have been tried in the 90’s: either anticipating closures by creating a myriad of small and medium enterprises, mostly tertiary, or by gently redirecting the local economy by encouraging people’s initiatives, by cultivating a climate to generate activities, horizontal cooperation in the context of decentralization.
Local development, victim of its own success?
Even international organizations got involved. Local development is presented as an instrument suited for countries, regions and disadvantaged populations. The exogenous neo-liberal vision takes over: cumulative phenomena of concentration-agglomeration, specialization and acceleration of competition between regions, discontinuous polarization of territorial development around densely populated areas, new inequalities. Some less developed European countries were able to promote their comparative advantages and take profit of this external shock (Ireland, Finland), while others were unable for various reasons relating to their unique history and/or institutional weaknesses. The current craze for centres of training, whether rural or urban, simply reflects the general policy direction which mobilizes local resources for the benefit ... of exogenous development!
In political discourse, this movement distinguished itself by the progressive tightening of the Lisbon Strategy launched in 2000. Over the years, under the guise of streamlining, most of the recommendations relating to local development have been removed. In France, while the triennial public budget for the support of poles of competitiveness reached 1.5 billion euros, an approximate amount of 400€ million was allocated under the European Social Fund for local endogenous development, for seven years! "Ultimately, it could be said that local development has been the victim of its own success and it has been "hi-jacked" by the dominant economic model. By introducing the concept of competitiveness, the latter has been able to take over for competitive purposes intangible factors like territorial dynamism, or force neighborhood social relations into the market sphere."
Internal weaknesses and significant obstacles
It remains a matter of practice and conceptual tools are lacking. The transposition of uncommon experiments to draw conclusions is difficult, personal abilities playing a decisive role. The concept is vague: socio-political, it means autonomy and capacity for self-organization of local groups, at the socio-economic level, it attempts to provide an alternative to the dominant economy. This ambivalence nurtures diverse and sometimes contradictory expectations. The close ties that unite it to public authorities, making it vulnerable to budget cuts as well as political shifts. Between the private and public sectors, it does not always succeed to free itself from a client-centred approach. For some, it embodies the nostalgic dream of the yesterday’s world without a realistic understanding of the new globalized economic system.
The economic obstacles are considerable. On the one hand, foreign direct investment (FDI) brings new technologies, new knowledge and managerial skills. In France, one out of four new jobs is created thanks to international investment, while one job seven is linked to the existing FDI. Meanwhile, local endogenous development is characterized by a slow return on investment and a low capacity to generate profits. Five to ten years are needed to produce results, the time required to evolve mentalities and structural change in the community. It does not create economies of scale and generates little added value, hence the constant need for outside funding. Finally, it is a development based largely on short circuits and auto-consumption, which is therefore diametrically opposed to the dominant economic interests. The political obstacles stem from the social representations. Globalization can be fascinating. The easy road predominates the "greater public good". It continues to legitimize the nation states as the economic development actors, in defiance of the facts.
Revival avenues to reopen the field of possibilities
In the longer term, however, the state of the natural environment, the fragility of the financial system or the potential for conflicts induced by growing disparities of development suggest that local endogenous development has not had its last word. Do European regions and cities have no other roles than the race to “the best knowledge economy in the world "within the spatial division of labour? This is debatable. In fact, the problem comes from the exclusivity of exogenous development and its propensity to absorb all the rest. However, to function well our economies need some diversity to enable them to absorb any external shocks but also to reduce negative externalities. Nonetheless, local development plays a vital role in eco-diversity. Several avenues are suggested:
A deliberate action so exogenous and endogenous development could coexist: from regulation to financial support, through governing direction and contracting. It may be public, but also private, or rely on the wishes of civil society. In any case, it must be based on the emerging dynamics;
A logic of specification in order not to give free rein to other logic (concentration, specialization, or set of comparative advantages on the competitive model). It produces strong externalities and offers a reduced vulnerability to the exogenous impact, because it works around a set of specific accumulated resources in the territory and strengthens itself through the capacity of individuals and enterprises to redeploy.
The new consumer opportunities related to information technology and communication can aggregate at the global level very marginal applications, achieve profitable sales and production of items which had been neglected over time.
The relocation of the economy though often invoked remains at the level of a slogan. To give it political legitimacy, we must enrich and develop a coherent argument offensive, further the analysis of the negative externalities of agglomerations and establish a statistical system which goes beyond the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) indicators.
Another possibility is to accompany the "residential dynamic" which indicates the existence of motivations for mobility other than employment, notably in connection with the advent of a service-based society and an ageing population. This new situation justifies economically local or regional public policies which would not only be geared towards attracting businesses, but also for the improvement of living conditions (housing, environment, public services, etc.)
If one pushes the argument even further, one can find the basis for a new theory of local development. Other than a palliative[E1] industrial crisis, open to the world as it is, this local dynamic reflects the desire to live together, of the place of residence and the proximity of services. The road is narrow because the toppling over towards consumerism would be a poor relief and the call for civic responsibility, although most promising. remains risky. "Finally, behind the place left by exogenous development to local endogenous development looms the question of the ability of our development model to become more sustainable, in the sense of not wasting natural or human resources and the conservation of the environment as well as the reduction of tensions and conflicts of all kinds. The next twenty years will be a test for all mankind ".
Martine Theveniaut: Abstract of the paper produced under the Grand Prize (Category: Development of territories), 20 pages.
People’s Summit: an invitation
Lima, May 2008
European and Latin American social movements are convening a People’s Summit in Lima in May, in response to the Summit of Heads of State and Governments of Europe and Latin America.
All social movements in Latin America and Europe are invited to mobilize for this meeting, and to sign a call to this effect.
The website http://peoplesdialogue.org/en/node/187 provides all pertinent information regarding the Summit.
Note. This information has been sent to us by Nedda Angulo of the Grupo de Economía Red Solidaria del Perú (GRESP and RIPESS Latin America).
---
Our Newsletters are available on the WEB:
http://local-development.blogspot.com/
www.apreis.org/
Special thanks to:
Évéline Poirier from Canada for the English translation
Brunilda Rafael from France for the Spanish translation
Michel Colin from Brazil for the Portuguese translation
To contact us (for information, feedback, to subscribe or unsubscribe):
Yvon Poirier ypoirier@videotron.ca
[E1]« Palliative »est un adjectif. On va dire « palliative care » pour les soins de fin de vie aux malades.
March 1, 2008
Summary
Message from the Editorial Team
Why does endogenous development remain the poor relation of development strategies in Europe?
People’s Summit: an invitation
Lima, May 2008
Our friend and colleague, Francisco Botelho passed away on February 3rd, 2008. Knowing that he was ill, in 2006 he wrote the following text which was read at his funeral.
Plenitude
Silence ...
It is true that in this slow sunset, one hears silence more forcefully. But it is not silence.
Tranquility ...
Under the violent light, nature rests. Some bats flutter above the courtyard. Water runs into the reservoir, almost imperceptibly. Everything in nature seems to occupy its own place. But it is not tranquility.
Peace ...
Suddenly, inside and outside me, everything is harmony. At this moment, everything sounds just right. Everything is right. But, nothing needs to be right, because the heart feels the plenitude. But this is not peace.
I do not know what this place has. This place where everything makes sense. This place where I am able to unite all that is in me. Without drama, without anxieties. Plenitude, maybe this is it, which fills me in the old courtyard of the ancestral home of my ancestors. Here I live, here live all my ghosts, here live the souls of Santa Marinha.
Perhaps one day may I be lead here to die. Maybe one day my ashes may be spread on these few meters that I overlook. Because more than any place in the world, I belong here.
Francisco Bothelo
Message from the Editorial Team
It is with great regret that we learned of the passing of our friend. We wish to offer our sincere sympathies to his family and all those who were close to him. We shall miss you, Francisco, but rest assured that you will continue to inspire us.
In this issue we are presenting a reflection on the place of endogenous development, in conjunction with exogenous development. Too often considered minor, this place could well be rediscovered in the current context as quite decisive. This article reflects a European perspective, but the stakes are fairly similar in other continents. Thus, we hope that you find the text as stimulating as we do.
In addition, we wish to share information from Latin America. The People’s Summit next May in Lima will be an opportunity for social movements to present alternatives to globalization policies currently prevailing in our societies.
Editorial Team
Yvon Poirier
Martine Théveniaut
---
Why does endogenous development remain the poor relation of development strategies in Europe?
In December 2007, the Circle of entrepreneurs for the future awarded a Grand Prize on pertinent and impertinent reflection to Marjorie Jouen from the Our Europe Association, for her contribution to the debate on this emerging and controversial theme.
Local resources are encouraged to follow behind exogenous development!
There is competition between territories, in the race for foreign investment. Bottom-up development retains a palliative and marginal character. Today, most means remain assigned to the attractiveness of foreign investments, ignoring the negative externalities of this model. Yet, the industrial strategies of conversion during the 70’s and 80’s in Europe have not fulfilled their promises. Other more modest strategies have been tried in the 90’s: either anticipating closures by creating a myriad of small and medium enterprises, mostly tertiary, or by gently redirecting the local economy by encouraging people’s initiatives, by cultivating a climate to generate activities, horizontal cooperation in the context of decentralization.
Local development, victim of its own success?
Even international organizations got involved. Local development is presented as an instrument suited for countries, regions and disadvantaged populations. The exogenous neo-liberal vision takes over: cumulative phenomena of concentration-agglomeration, specialization and acceleration of competition between regions, discontinuous polarization of territorial development around densely populated areas, new inequalities. Some less developed European countries were able to promote their comparative advantages and take profit of this external shock (Ireland, Finland), while others were unable for various reasons relating to their unique history and/or institutional weaknesses. The current craze for centres of training, whether rural or urban, simply reflects the general policy direction which mobilizes local resources for the benefit ... of exogenous development!
In political discourse, this movement distinguished itself by the progressive tightening of the Lisbon Strategy launched in 2000. Over the years, under the guise of streamlining, most of the recommendations relating to local development have been removed. In France, while the triennial public budget for the support of poles of competitiveness reached 1.5 billion euros, an approximate amount of 400€ million was allocated under the European Social Fund for local endogenous development, for seven years! "Ultimately, it could be said that local development has been the victim of its own success and it has been "hi-jacked" by the dominant economic model. By introducing the concept of competitiveness, the latter has been able to take over for competitive purposes intangible factors like territorial dynamism, or force neighborhood social relations into the market sphere."
Internal weaknesses and significant obstacles
It remains a matter of practice and conceptual tools are lacking. The transposition of uncommon experiments to draw conclusions is difficult, personal abilities playing a decisive role. The concept is vague: socio-political, it means autonomy and capacity for self-organization of local groups, at the socio-economic level, it attempts to provide an alternative to the dominant economy. This ambivalence nurtures diverse and sometimes contradictory expectations. The close ties that unite it to public authorities, making it vulnerable to budget cuts as well as political shifts. Between the private and public sectors, it does not always succeed to free itself from a client-centred approach. For some, it embodies the nostalgic dream of the yesterday’s world without a realistic understanding of the new globalized economic system.
The economic obstacles are considerable. On the one hand, foreign direct investment (FDI) brings new technologies, new knowledge and managerial skills. In France, one out of four new jobs is created thanks to international investment, while one job seven is linked to the existing FDI. Meanwhile, local endogenous development is characterized by a slow return on investment and a low capacity to generate profits. Five to ten years are needed to produce results, the time required to evolve mentalities and structural change in the community. It does not create economies of scale and generates little added value, hence the constant need for outside funding. Finally, it is a development based largely on short circuits and auto-consumption, which is therefore diametrically opposed to the dominant economic interests. The political obstacles stem from the social representations. Globalization can be fascinating. The easy road predominates the "greater public good". It continues to legitimize the nation states as the economic development actors, in defiance of the facts.
Revival avenues to reopen the field of possibilities
In the longer term, however, the state of the natural environment, the fragility of the financial system or the potential for conflicts induced by growing disparities of development suggest that local endogenous development has not had its last word. Do European regions and cities have no other roles than the race to “the best knowledge economy in the world "within the spatial division of labour? This is debatable. In fact, the problem comes from the exclusivity of exogenous development and its propensity to absorb all the rest. However, to function well our economies need some diversity to enable them to absorb any external shocks but also to reduce negative externalities. Nonetheless, local development plays a vital role in eco-diversity. Several avenues are suggested:
A deliberate action so exogenous and endogenous development could coexist: from regulation to financial support, through governing direction and contracting. It may be public, but also private, or rely on the wishes of civil society. In any case, it must be based on the emerging dynamics;
A logic of specification in order not to give free rein to other logic (concentration, specialization, or set of comparative advantages on the competitive model). It produces strong externalities and offers a reduced vulnerability to the exogenous impact, because it works around a set of specific accumulated resources in the territory and strengthens itself through the capacity of individuals and enterprises to redeploy.
The new consumer opportunities related to information technology and communication can aggregate at the global level very marginal applications, achieve profitable sales and production of items which had been neglected over time.
The relocation of the economy though often invoked remains at the level of a slogan. To give it political legitimacy, we must enrich and develop a coherent argument offensive, further the analysis of the negative externalities of agglomerations and establish a statistical system which goes beyond the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) indicators.
Another possibility is to accompany the "residential dynamic" which indicates the existence of motivations for mobility other than employment, notably in connection with the advent of a service-based society and an ageing population. This new situation justifies economically local or regional public policies which would not only be geared towards attracting businesses, but also for the improvement of living conditions (housing, environment, public services, etc.)
If one pushes the argument even further, one can find the basis for a new theory of local development. Other than a palliative[E1] industrial crisis, open to the world as it is, this local dynamic reflects the desire to live together, of the place of residence and the proximity of services. The road is narrow because the toppling over towards consumerism would be a poor relief and the call for civic responsibility, although most promising. remains risky. "Finally, behind the place left by exogenous development to local endogenous development looms the question of the ability of our development model to become more sustainable, in the sense of not wasting natural or human resources and the conservation of the environment as well as the reduction of tensions and conflicts of all kinds. The next twenty years will be a test for all mankind ".
Martine Theveniaut: Abstract of the paper produced under the Grand Prize (Category: Development of territories), 20 pages.
People’s Summit: an invitation
Lima, May 2008
European and Latin American social movements are convening a People’s Summit in Lima in May, in response to the Summit of Heads of State and Governments of Europe and Latin America.
All social movements in Latin America and Europe are invited to mobilize for this meeting, and to sign a call to this effect.
The website http://peoplesdialogue.org/en/node/187 provides all pertinent information regarding the Summit.
Note. This information has been sent to us by Nedda Angulo of the Grupo de Economía Red Solidaria del Perú (GRESP and RIPESS Latin America).
---
Our Newsletters are available on the WEB:
http://local-development.blogspot.com/
www.apreis.org/
Special thanks to:
Évéline Poirier from Canada for the English translation
Brunilda Rafael from France for the Spanish translation
Michel Colin from Brazil for the Portuguese translation
To contact us (for information, feedback, to subscribe or unsubscribe):
Yvon Poirier ypoirier@videotron.ca
[E1]« Palliative »est un adjectif. On va dire « palliative care » pour les soins de fin de vie aux malades.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
International Newsletter on Sustainable Local Development
Newsletter #45
February 1st, 2008
Summary
Message from the Editorial Team
Co-responsibility for the well-being of all
Social Cohesion and Territory meeting, Trento, Italy, November 29th and 30th, 2007
Renewable energies and sustainable local development
Interesting prospects
*****
Message from the Editorial Team
As 2008 begins, we wish an excellent year to everyone. The challenges remain numerous. The two articles in this issue take this into account. But at the same time we are encouraged by the many initiatives that local people around the globe undertake, in order to not only defend their rights, but also to build concretely tomorrow’s world.
As we welcome new subscribers regularly (you now number 225), we thought we would like to share with you some information about the current activities of members of the editorial team. We think it is useful to keep you informed (the team is presented in alphabetical order).
In addition to his various activities concerning local development in Portugal, Francisco Botelho is also involved with «Cooperar em português» (cooperation in the Portuguese speaking cultural sphere). This cooperation is between local development actors in Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde and East Timor. It was initiated in the framework of Expo Brazil meetings.
www.cooperaremportugues.org/
Yvon Poirier is mandated by the Groupe d’économie solidaire du Québec (GESQ) (Group for solidarity economy in Quebec) in order to develop international networking in the field of solidarity economy, and he is also president of the International Committee of the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet). He is equally involved in the North American Network for the Solidarity Economy (NANSE).
Martine Théveniaut is president of an associative Platform BASE in Sud Audois which “brings together expertise and resources to improve the impact of a more solidarity economy and a model of development that respects people and natural resources". She is co-responsible for the dynamics Pactes Locaux (local pacts) and is vice president of the European network Euronetz for solidarity economy and local development. She is also a member of the European Steering Committee for the 4th International Meeting of Globalization of Solidarity. In December, Martine received her doctorate in sociology. Her thesis topic was Social inventors for liveable territories: Evaluation and perspective of thirty years of practice of research to serve Action (a summary in French and English is available upon request).
Francisco has been combating leukemia for over two years. The medical advances have made it possible to stabilize his condition and our friend is coping well. Yvon and Martine salute the energy he brings to remain active and militant and would like to acknowledge a collaboration that enriches them.
Editorial Team
Francisco Botelho
Yvon Poirier
Martine Théveniaut
***********
Co-responsibility for the well-being of all
Social Cohesion and Territory meeting, Trento, Italy, November 29th and 30th, 2007.
This meeting was organized by the Social Cohesion Development Division (CDCS) of the Council of Europe. Its theme was "Developing the potential of ethical and solidarity-based initiatives for an inclusive society", in cooperation with the Platform IRIS (Inter European Network of Ethical and Solidarity Initiatives).
Recent years have led to an awareness that economic development cannot succeed if it is at the expense of social cohesion, the fundamental condition of democratic security, sustainability, but also the well-being of our societies. This article summarizes the round table which I attended, devoted to socially responsible territories.
The road to regaining our freedom
The autonomous province of Trento has become a district of solidarity economy. "It's not only a matter of law. The problem is to tackle the whole to change mentalities," said Marta Dalmaso, an elected official, during the opening of the meeting. Gilda Farrell, from CDCS, and the initiator of the meeting, quoted in her introduction the novel by Italo Calvino, The Invisible City: Marco Polo, upon arrival at this invisible city is very astonished to note that the project to make people happy leads to a pile of waste (environmental … and human!). Gilda states that in personal accomplishment and well-being nothing is said about consumption choices. We must now reintegrate these to our social functions. "This will not be easy ... It is a long road to recover our freedom: no freedom of choice (products), but "the freedom to give meaning to our choices."
Socially Responsible Territories
The round table presented the result of a territorial application of the methodology developed under the auspices of Samuel Thirion, also from CDSC. The indicators for a "co-responsibility for the well-being of all" were tested in 4 cities: Rovereto (Trento), Timisoara (Romania), Mulhouse and Paris (which is now just starting) in France.
The method keeps its distances from statistics. It is qualitative and participatory. Meetings bring together different classes of citizens according to their ages, situations, genders, issues. The "monochrome" group meetings (e.g. the elderly, migrants, ...) are followed by "rainbow" meetings (crossing of groups). The production is considerable. Then it must be organized and validated with groups of citizens.
Some tentative conclusions resulted. Topics concerning well-being were found to be recurring: employment, income, purchasing power, housing, health, education, training, culture, with specific patterns in each city. Regarding citizenship, exchanges demonstrated the importance of dealing with situations in their context. Thus, security is viewed from the angle of what compromises it in Rovereto (fear of going out, violence, rigidity of the police), while in Timisoara it was what fosters security that was put forward (better public order, protection, control of public measures as tools). Mulhouse insisted putting the emphasis on the respect for the dignity of persons. Without a good knowledge of the context and the existing citizens' initiatives, we cannot expect to improve public policy.
Mulhouse, who had to leave earlier, is in the evaluation stage. It highlighted the differences between the initiatives of communities and people's expectations. They are sometimes trenches (social diversity, fairness in education, income or access to culture, gender equality). To have a direct impact on ongoing actions (shortcomings, mistakes, consolidation, pursuit,...), meetings were conducted between the project promoters and local authorities, following interviews with recipients on the global impact of their situation, etc. Experimentation is also a tool for dialogue.
The issues of social cohesion in the territories: from the experimental to real life?
The assessment currently underway opens the door to the following general questions:
What are the impacts of training? Means, time, strength in the long term ... Ways to communicate, to make known to others?
Are governments convinced of the role of the territories in all this? Or are they looking for more social peace "by putting a lid from above"? Which is completely different from social cohesion ... which comes from the bottom.
Are citizens prepared for this resistance?
Will companies want to play the game?
We must now leave the rewarding phase of co-construction between participants from 4 cities to move towards answers.
How can we reach groups, unintentionally or resolutely excluded from the social game or out of reach?
What to we do with everything that is not said? The suffering, the impact of the religious phenomenon positively and negatively? From the non-utterable such as racism whose display is prohibited by law, but present nonetheless?
For further information on the Directorate General of Social Cohesion:
http://www.coe.int/T/E/Social_cohesion/
Author: Martine Theveniaut
Renewable energy and sustainable local development
Encouraging prospects
The theme of the 3rd Mont Blanc Meetings summit held November 9th – 10th, 2007 was the following: The sustainable consumption, production and distribution of energy - the response of the social economy. Several speakers in plenary sessions or in workshops presented concrete examples of approaches in the social solidarity economy, mostly at the local level.
The organization of Mont Blanc Meetings (RMB) is run by mutual groups and cooperatives from France and Quebec, with a view of opening up to organizations in other continents. The aim of the RMB is to unite operators of the social economy with an outlook leading to partnerships in regards to concrete projects. For example, let us mention a decision made in 2005 having an objective to produce open source software for the financial management of social economy enterprises. It will bear fruition within the next two years.
The summit also served to launch the Call of Mont Blanc (available in 3 languages on the website).
http://www.rencontres-montblanc.coop/487-Third_Mont_Blanc_Meetings_9_10_November_2007&l=en
The meeting was very rich in various kinds of learning. An outstanding conference was given by Ralph Sims of New Zealand, one of the authors of the latest report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). The awareness of the urgent need to act, and the potential of the social solidarity economy to bring about concrete answers, will have marked this meeting.
Some striking examples were presented: a region of 44,000 inhabitants in Denmark produces 100% of its energy (except for transportation) with renewable energies; solar dryers in Guinea allow fruits to be dried in order to ensure their long-term preservation; photovoltaic panels on buildings in Freiburg, Germany, the modernization of watermills in Nepal, biogas production, and so on.
What was very interesting in most, if not all of the examples, was the link with the local community. These technologies can be locally implemented and managed by the community.
This article does not allow further elaboration. Let’s simply mention that one part of the answer, or even a large part, to renewable energy production will come from local territories, which also reduces the costs and the waste of energy transportation. On the whole, as in agriculture, production and consumption must move as close as possible to one another. Is this not the only feasible path for the survival of the planet?
Author: Yvon Poirier
Our Newsletters are available on the WEB:
http://local-development.blogspot.com/
www.apreis.org/
Special thanks to:
Évéline Poirier from Canada for the English translation
Brunilda Rafael from France for the Spanish translation
Michel Colin from Brazil for the Portuguese translation
To contact us (for information, feedback, to subscribe or unsubscribe):
Yvon Poirier ypoirier@videotron.ca
February 1st, 2008
Summary
Message from the Editorial Team
Co-responsibility for the well-being of all
Social Cohesion and Territory meeting, Trento, Italy, November 29th and 30th, 2007
Renewable energies and sustainable local development
Interesting prospects
*****
Message from the Editorial Team
As 2008 begins, we wish an excellent year to everyone. The challenges remain numerous. The two articles in this issue take this into account. But at the same time we are encouraged by the many initiatives that local people around the globe undertake, in order to not only defend their rights, but also to build concretely tomorrow’s world.
As we welcome new subscribers regularly (you now number 225), we thought we would like to share with you some information about the current activities of members of the editorial team. We think it is useful to keep you informed (the team is presented in alphabetical order).
In addition to his various activities concerning local development in Portugal, Francisco Botelho is also involved with «Cooperar em português» (cooperation in the Portuguese speaking cultural sphere). This cooperation is between local development actors in Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde and East Timor. It was initiated in the framework of Expo Brazil meetings.
www.cooperaremportugues.org/
Yvon Poirier is mandated by the Groupe d’économie solidaire du Québec (GESQ) (Group for solidarity economy in Quebec) in order to develop international networking in the field of solidarity economy, and he is also president of the International Committee of the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet). He is equally involved in the North American Network for the Solidarity Economy (NANSE).
Martine Théveniaut is president of an associative Platform BASE in Sud Audois which “brings together expertise and resources to improve the impact of a more solidarity economy and a model of development that respects people and natural resources". She is co-responsible for the dynamics Pactes Locaux (local pacts) and is vice president of the European network Euronetz for solidarity economy and local development. She is also a member of the European Steering Committee for the 4th International Meeting of Globalization of Solidarity. In December, Martine received her doctorate in sociology. Her thesis topic was Social inventors for liveable territories: Evaluation and perspective of thirty years of practice of research to serve Action (a summary in French and English is available upon request).
Francisco has been combating leukemia for over two years. The medical advances have made it possible to stabilize his condition and our friend is coping well. Yvon and Martine salute the energy he brings to remain active and militant and would like to acknowledge a collaboration that enriches them.
Editorial Team
Francisco Botelho
Yvon Poirier
Martine Théveniaut
***********
Co-responsibility for the well-being of all
Social Cohesion and Territory meeting, Trento, Italy, November 29th and 30th, 2007.
This meeting was organized by the Social Cohesion Development Division (CDCS) of the Council of Europe. Its theme was "Developing the potential of ethical and solidarity-based initiatives for an inclusive society", in cooperation with the Platform IRIS (Inter European Network of Ethical and Solidarity Initiatives).
Recent years have led to an awareness that economic development cannot succeed if it is at the expense of social cohesion, the fundamental condition of democratic security, sustainability, but also the well-being of our societies. This article summarizes the round table which I attended, devoted to socially responsible territories.
The road to regaining our freedom
The autonomous province of Trento has become a district of solidarity economy. "It's not only a matter of law. The problem is to tackle the whole to change mentalities," said Marta Dalmaso, an elected official, during the opening of the meeting. Gilda Farrell, from CDCS, and the initiator of the meeting, quoted in her introduction the novel by Italo Calvino, The Invisible City: Marco Polo, upon arrival at this invisible city is very astonished to note that the project to make people happy leads to a pile of waste (environmental … and human!). Gilda states that in personal accomplishment and well-being nothing is said about consumption choices. We must now reintegrate these to our social functions. "This will not be easy ... It is a long road to recover our freedom: no freedom of choice (products), but "the freedom to give meaning to our choices."
Socially Responsible Territories
The round table presented the result of a territorial application of the methodology developed under the auspices of Samuel Thirion, also from CDSC. The indicators for a "co-responsibility for the well-being of all" were tested in 4 cities: Rovereto (Trento), Timisoara (Romania), Mulhouse and Paris (which is now just starting) in France.
The method keeps its distances from statistics. It is qualitative and participatory. Meetings bring together different classes of citizens according to their ages, situations, genders, issues. The "monochrome" group meetings (e.g. the elderly, migrants, ...) are followed by "rainbow" meetings (crossing of groups). The production is considerable. Then it must be organized and validated with groups of citizens.
Some tentative conclusions resulted. Topics concerning well-being were found to be recurring: employment, income, purchasing power, housing, health, education, training, culture, with specific patterns in each city. Regarding citizenship, exchanges demonstrated the importance of dealing with situations in their context. Thus, security is viewed from the angle of what compromises it in Rovereto (fear of going out, violence, rigidity of the police), while in Timisoara it was what fosters security that was put forward (better public order, protection, control of public measures as tools). Mulhouse insisted putting the emphasis on the respect for the dignity of persons. Without a good knowledge of the context and the existing citizens' initiatives, we cannot expect to improve public policy.
Mulhouse, who had to leave earlier, is in the evaluation stage. It highlighted the differences between the initiatives of communities and people's expectations. They are sometimes trenches (social diversity, fairness in education, income or access to culture, gender equality). To have a direct impact on ongoing actions (shortcomings, mistakes, consolidation, pursuit,...), meetings were conducted between the project promoters and local authorities, following interviews with recipients on the global impact of their situation, etc. Experimentation is also a tool for dialogue.
The issues of social cohesion in the territories: from the experimental to real life?
The assessment currently underway opens the door to the following general questions:
What are the impacts of training? Means, time, strength in the long term ... Ways to communicate, to make known to others?
Are governments convinced of the role of the territories in all this? Or are they looking for more social peace "by putting a lid from above"? Which is completely different from social cohesion ... which comes from the bottom.
Are citizens prepared for this resistance?
Will companies want to play the game?
We must now leave the rewarding phase of co-construction between participants from 4 cities to move towards answers.
How can we reach groups, unintentionally or resolutely excluded from the social game or out of reach?
What to we do with everything that is not said? The suffering, the impact of the religious phenomenon positively and negatively? From the non-utterable such as racism whose display is prohibited by law, but present nonetheless?
For further information on the Directorate General of Social Cohesion:
http://www.coe.int/T/E/Social_cohesion/
Author: Martine Theveniaut
Renewable energy and sustainable local development
Encouraging prospects
The theme of the 3rd Mont Blanc Meetings summit held November 9th – 10th, 2007 was the following: The sustainable consumption, production and distribution of energy - the response of the social economy. Several speakers in plenary sessions or in workshops presented concrete examples of approaches in the social solidarity economy, mostly at the local level.
The organization of Mont Blanc Meetings (RMB) is run by mutual groups and cooperatives from France and Quebec, with a view of opening up to organizations in other continents. The aim of the RMB is to unite operators of the social economy with an outlook leading to partnerships in regards to concrete projects. For example, let us mention a decision made in 2005 having an objective to produce open source software for the financial management of social economy enterprises. It will bear fruition within the next two years.
The summit also served to launch the Call of Mont Blanc (available in 3 languages on the website).
http://www.rencontres-montblanc.coop/487-Third_Mont_Blanc_Meetings_9_10_November_2007&l=en
The meeting was very rich in various kinds of learning. An outstanding conference was given by Ralph Sims of New Zealand, one of the authors of the latest report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). The awareness of the urgent need to act, and the potential of the social solidarity economy to bring about concrete answers, will have marked this meeting.
Some striking examples were presented: a region of 44,000 inhabitants in Denmark produces 100% of its energy (except for transportation) with renewable energies; solar dryers in Guinea allow fruits to be dried in order to ensure their long-term preservation; photovoltaic panels on buildings in Freiburg, Germany, the modernization of watermills in Nepal, biogas production, and so on.
What was very interesting in most, if not all of the examples, was the link with the local community. These technologies can be locally implemented and managed by the community.
This article does not allow further elaboration. Let’s simply mention that one part of the answer, or even a large part, to renewable energy production will come from local territories, which also reduces the costs and the waste of energy transportation. On the whole, as in agriculture, production and consumption must move as close as possible to one another. Is this not the only feasible path for the survival of the planet?
Author: Yvon Poirier
Our Newsletters are available on the WEB:
http://local-development.blogspot.com/
www.apreis.org/
Special thanks to:
Évéline Poirier from Canada for the English translation
Brunilda Rafael from France for the Spanish translation
Michel Colin from Brazil for the Portuguese translation
To contact us (for information, feedback, to subscribe or unsubscribe):
Yvon Poirier ypoirier@videotron.ca
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