The project objectives
The objective of EUGAD is to create, collect and distribute knowledge resources for improving communication and dialogue on the International Cooperation for Development.
This objective was conceived as a response to the declining level of public support in Europe for policies in favour of developing nations. We believe that one of the problems is that opinion leaders generally know little about the real issues of the Global Partnership for Development. We want to help out in understanding what are the challenges. And why, in any case, everybody is involved.
The project vision
The partners of Eugad network have in common a vision of the “Earth as a Common Home”, where we all—citizens of the world—share the same desire for a healthy and dignified life and the same responsibility for peace, justice and reciprocal understanding. This is a vision that leads to a Global agenda for development, i.e. an “overall framework for action” where the prosperity of each community is seen as contributory to the prosperity of the others.
The Global agenda for development is not, and never will be, a single “policy”; it is rather a plan that visualizes how inter-dependent we all are in tackling the problems of the world. It is an intention to write, as in a global wiki, a cooperation programme for integrating our efforts to increase knowledge, reduce conflicts and care for this World we live in together.
In defining the scope and methods of the “Global agenda for development” a virtual global workshop is created, where different institutions—global and local, public and non-governamental—find the possibility for expressing their specific identities in dialogue with the identities of the others; and where all institutions pursue their specific missions integrating and supporting the missions of the others.
The project focus
First we are going to focus on the Milllenium development goals, an important initiative taken by the International Community for orienting itself towards commonly agreed objectives; then we will see what different institutions (and in and in particularly the developed nations and the European Commission) are doing that contributes to the achievement of these goals. Have Governments put into practice their official statements of commitment? Is there a difference in the way different cultures see “development”? Do developed and developing nations agree on the road map for global development? Who is “on board” (and why)? And who is not participating (and why not)? What role can smaller institutions (like Local Authorities and Non-State-Actors) play for the achievement of such global goals? And what is the relationship between “Global” and “Local” agendas and responsibilities? Following this thread, we will try to understand how Eugad partners can contribute to better enable opinion makers to inform their public about the scope and challenges for actions against poverty and for building fairer relations between developed and developing countries.
Who is on board? And for whom is the work done?
Eugad partners are development actors, educators, media professionals and policy makers at the level of Local Administrations.
The communication activities at EUGAD are not oriented directly to the general public, but to the opinion makers: educationists, journalists and policy actors at non-State level governments (LAs). The intention is to enable opinion makers to better communicate to their specific audiences, trusting that if they can understand how fascinating and challenging is the path towards the Global Development, they would pass this enthusiasm over to their audiences. And so the awareness would spread that an important work is in now in progress for improving dialogue amongst the World communities. And that so many different people are now networking and cooperating for caring together for this World we share.
What are we making?
This is the action plan at Eugad:
- Networking, i.e. forming a partnership with persons and organizations that agree with Eugad mission and would like to share with others a line of vision and action.
- Creating: at EUGAD we are making video documentaries, manuals, animate this web site, organize events and deliver other media products to animate the network created and deepen the dialogue. We want to stay away from the usual rethorics that overflows around the politically correct good intentions. We aim at making media products that are sincere and reflect the culture of the countries we visit. We do not want to aim at hitting a target public: we want to share with different audiences a vocation for dialogue, a curisiosity for culture, a search for the poetic element of international cooperation. We intend to make products that help young people to trust in their hopes.
- Communicating: along with all Eugad partners we want to invite others to this process of dialogue and share the knowledge we collected and produced.
What shall we do next
EUGAD work started in MArch 2009. The inistial two years (the period for which the project receives a grant from the European Commission) we will focus on the creation of the network, the creation and the distribution of the media products .Then we intend to reinforce the partnership created and expand EUGAD into other actions, projects, programmes directe to the same desire to contribute to make open space for many in the work space of the Global Development Agenda.