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THE HEINRICH
BÖLL FOUNDATION'S NEW GLOBALISATION PROGRAMME:
Global, Equitable and Sustainable Democracy
Barbara Unmüßig
A democratic, social and ecological configuration of globalisation is one of the most urgent political challenges. In spite of all the declarations of intent, so far the responsible politicians have neglected to mark guidelines in order to struggle against the financial crisis and to achieve greater justice in north-south relations. Neither was the UN able to give an impulse towards an ecological transformation of the north at the Conference for Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg. So far, no possibilities exist for the implantation of the UN's social principles and strategies to counterbalance the liberal doctrine of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
There are various proposals for social and ecological reforms in the financial, trade, competitive and investment order, promoted by some UN organisations, parliamentary, trade union, churches and social movements. The Heinrich Böll Foundation, with its new IDEE globalisation programme - "Initiatives for global Democracy, Ecology and Equity" - wants to become involved in the international debate, together with all its cooperating partners, to promote a debate on alternatives to the neo-liberal practice. Our interest centres on the strengthening of civil society's capacities. We cooperate in all the continents with social organisations and parliamentarians involved in the effects of globalisation on the life of the population and democratic development. Presently we are cooperating in nearly 130 projects in 60 countries in all the continents. Most of the projects participate actively in the debate on the possibility of transforming globalisation.
The quantity and variety of organisations with which it cooperates, enables the Heinrich Böll Foundation to facilitate dialogue and contacts among them. The promotion of North-South and South-Southeast is a central aim; we want to encourage debate among governments, international organisations, parliamentarians, trade unions, churches, NGOs and social movements. In this, the main tasks are the creation and enhancing of local, regional and international problem-solving capacities. We want to support trans-national and regional networks to enable them to participate to a greater degree in the international regulation structure processes (UN, Bretton Woods, and WTO). We consider it crucial to support dialogue among women's and gender democracy networks with the ecologist and sustainable development movement and the anti-globalisation movement and we want to make the results of these dialogues reach a wider audience.
Main points of the programme:
For the Foundation, two questions are singularly important: What type of development are we aspiring to achieve? What role and what function should the public sector take on and what role and function should the private one take on, regarding the provision of public goods, such as education, health and water?
In the international debate, the millennium objectives have prevailed as a framework for reference for national and international development strategies, without any qualitative definition. Reduction of the number of poor people by 50% sounds good, but does not say with what kind of development poverty is going to be reduced. Merely aiming at the Northern development model, which is historically obsolete, as if biological and atmospheric resources were unlimited, would imply a regression to the time before the Rio Conference results in 1992. In this way, the South is not being helped out, because justice can no longer be separate from ecology. The excessive consumption of the global environment by the rich, deprives the excluded majority of its vital resources. More rights for the poor of the world is an obligatory requisite in eradicating poverty.
Again, the question has been brought up of the relationship between "public" and "private" tasks and responsibilities. An example is the on-going discussion on drinking water supply, going from "water as a human right" to "water as a product." The Heinrich Böll Foundation would like to promote the debate on which services can and must be supplied by a public entity and which by a private entity, in order to guarantee the best performance possible, and up to what point can they and must they be audited to avoid depletion of non-renewable resources. The debate on Global Public Goods and Global Commons also comes within this context.
We want
to concentrate the contact points and activities developed by the Foundation
and the organizations with which it cooperates and make them more visible
at home and abroad. We have also taken up new proposals. The central thematic
fields will be:
- Justice and ecology in globalisation
- A social and ecological order for world trade and agricultural and financial
markets
- The cultural dimensions of globalization
We would like to take advantage of official and non-officials occasions,
such as the WTO ministerial conference in Cancun (September 2003), the IMF/World
Bank meeting, United Nations world conferences, etc., and the regional and
global (social) fora of the movement criticising globalisation, in order
to participate together with cooperating partners.
The need for a "gender outlook"
Many women can take advantage of the opportunities and possibilities of globalisation, but most are still affected in a disproportionate way by its negative effects. However, the specific commitments with local supply and home economy (care economy), are those most damaged by erroneous economic development. Women suffer more from the impact of unemployment, low income, precarious labour conditions and long hours. The privatisation of public goods and services carried out in the framework of structural adjustment measures are borne by women. At the same time, they continue to be under-represented within international decision structures. This is valid for international organisations and state structures. So far, both the analysis of the social effect of the neo-liberal economic development model and the political initiatives for its solutions exclude the gender dimension and the specific impact on women.
With the International Women's Programme "Globalisation, development funding and gender," the Foundation would like to make a contribution to strengthening women. It is an integral part of the Foundation's IDEE programme. So far very few women's networks work in this field of economic globalisation. However, here too, women have started taking their position. Through qualification in various workshops and the preparation of studies in different Regions (Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe) women's economic condition are sought to be enhanced.
The central components for the women's programme are capacity building and support for women's participation in the different decision-making processes on a national and international level. For this purpose, the strengthening and extension of women's international networks are important.
We are planning a Summer School on "Engendering Macroeconomics" and we want it to be a forum for new research and political definition within the thematic fields of globalisation. Debates should also take place between science and policy, interdisciplinary research in the North and South and in the evolving countries.
Justice between men and women in world economy must be rooted in political and economic structures as a human right. With our international women's programme, we want to make our input.
Barbara
Unmüßig is director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation,
Berlin, Germany
Translation from Spanish to English by Victoria Swarbrick