Linking the global with local – ‘inclusive development’ for both North and South

Linking the global with local – ‘inclusive development’ for both North and South

13/09/2011

By Hans Zomer
This weekend I attended the CIVICUS World Assembly, to get a sense of current thinking among civil society actors from across the globe, and to help us strategise for the coming years.
Under the heading “Civil Society and Global Governance: Doing It Better“, the assembly focused on four overall themes – Development Effectiveness, Climate Justice, Connecting People through Technology and Civil Society and Democratic Space. Four themes that are directly relevant for NGOs in Ireland too.
We in Ireland need a national conversation on the shape and values of the new society we want to build on the ruins of the “Celtic Tiger”. A conversation that results in clear proposals for the type of “Development” we want: the type of economy, politics and values that “enhance people’s well-being and enlarge people’s choices” (= Dóchas’ working definition of what Development means).
This conversation, which is starting in Ireland through initiatives such as Claiming Our Future and the National Citizens’ Assembly and this week’s Sharing Responsibility in Shaping the Future, neatly mirrors similar discussions in many other countries – rich and poor.

(One speaker at the Civicus Assembly asked for sympathy for people in Europe as, he said, we have now woken up and realised that we are not living in a “developed” country, but that the process is on-going and that, as a