Prague Conference discussed development paradigms and alternatives

Do we follow the logic of economic growth or the logic of development? Do we want to have more or do we want to live happier? Is democracy a pre-condition for development? Are the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) a shame? What role do China, India, Brazil play globally? Do we fight the causes or symptoms of poverty?

These and many other questions where raised at the conference „Are we on the right track? Paradigm review by civil society organisations (CSOs) as development actors“ which took place in Prague from May 14-16, 2008 and was organised by TRIALOG and CONCORD in cooperation with the Ecumenical Academy Prague and the Czech NGDO platform FoRS.

The conference offered the possibility for an open dialogue between CSOs from „West“, „East“ and „South“ and for reflecting together upon the principles which underlie the development work of civil society. Many of the 140 participants, coming from more than 50 different countries, stated that it was for the first time that CSO representatives from Africa, Asia, Latin America had the chance to talk in debth with their colleagues from the new EU member states and to get to know more about these relatively new donor countries. It was generally felt that there is a lot of experience which the „East“ and „South“ can share and that this dialogue should be intensified.

In his introduction, Justin Kilcullen, president of CONCORD board, successfully kicked off the conference by raising several provocative questions about the „tyranny of MDGs“, the division of civil society in different blocs, the failure to mainstream gender in development work etc. The key speakers from Brazil (Chico Whitaker, World Social Forum), Kenya (Rebecca Tanui, BEACON), Malaysia (T. Rajamoorthy, Third World Network) and Russia (Olga Ponizova, Eco-Accord) challenged development paradigms from the perspective of „South“ and „East“ and laid the ground for a lot of further discussions during the conference. In response, CSO representatives from new and old EU member states reflected on the challenges which were identified by the colleagues from developing countries. In 6 thematic workshops a number of development approaches was tackled and alternatives to the prevailing models were presented and discussed.

Several outcomes were collected on the last conference day and personal commitments taken by the participants how to work further in their organisations on certain topics. There was a lot of agreement on the need to be political: work for change, deal with power and tackle structural causes of poverty! The MDGs are a shame since they took politics out and replaced it by numbers and targets which leave half of the world’s poor in poverty. The need for common advocacy work between CSOs in the „South“ and „North“ was stressed several times as well as the need for global education promoting well-being and active citizenship. Burning issues such as climate change and the limits of growth need to be dealt with more actively; and many other issues...

The results of the conference feed into the strategic plan of CONCORD and into the strategy for TRIALOG’s future work. This year’s conference was the basis for a second conference in 2009 which will focus on practical steps and the resources civil society needs in order to reach development aims. The 2009 conference will actively engage donors, government officials, multinational agencies and others, responsible for shaping EU and global development policies. In the meanwhile, CSO cooperation and the debate on development principles has to go on...

Find the conference documentation (incl. presentations, video messages of the main speakers etc. ) at: http://www.trialog.or.at/start.asp?ID=155.

Information provided by Anita Bister, TRIALOG, a.bister@trialog.or.at