| Not displaying correctly? View in Browser Forward to a friend |  | Greetings Welcome to the December edition of the Building Global Democracy programme newsletter. You are receiving this mailing as someone who is known by one or more of the BGD programme conveners to have interests in this area. We hope that you will find these occasional short updates helpful in your research and/or activism on global issues. | | |  | | The Building Global Democracy programme brings together academics and practitioners from around the world to advance knowledge and action for greater public participation and control in global affairs. BGD explores how expanded 'rule by and for the people' can be achieved in respect of global issues such as climate change, financial crises, health concerns, internet links, migration flows, security problems, and trade. The premise is that more democratic governance can encourage more effective and more legitimate responses to vital global challenges. The thematic projects that make up the BGD programme cover issues such as: conceptualising global democracy; citizen learning for global democracy; including the excluded in global policymaking; resource redistribution for global democracy; and intercultural constructions of global democracy. The BGD programme is facilitated and coordinated through a convening group of ten persons based in ten world regions, with diverse academic backgrounds and political outlooks. Our administrative office is located in the Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation at the University of Warwick in Britain. Core funding is provided through a generous grant from the Ford Foundation, with co-funding from other sources. More details about BGD can be obtained on our website, http://www.buildingglobaldemocracy.org/ or email us at info@buildingglobaldemocracy.org |  | BGD Workshop in Cairo On 6-8 December 2009 the Building Global Democracy programme convened a major exploration of Conceptualising Global Democracy. Forty researchers and practitioners from 29 countries spread across all world regions met in Cairo, Egypt for three days of animated debates. The group was also richly diverse in age, culture, gender, ideology and race. In considering what it means to speak of 'global democracy' the workshop adopted the interregional, intercultural, interdisciplinary, action-oriented approach that is the BGD trademark. Read the summary findings and suggestions of the workshop Read more about the workshop proceedings Watch video testimonials from several workshop participants Send us your reactions to the workshop and its outcomes Abstracts of the rich workshop papers, including implications of their ideas for political action, will appear on the BGD website in early 2010. Public Meeting in Cairo To bring debates from the Conceptualising Global Democracy workshop to the local public in Egypt the BGD programme held an open meeting at Cairo University on the evening of 9 December 2009. Around 60 people met to discuss ideas of global democracy and different strategies to promote it. Read more BGD Hosts Egality Seminar On 12 November 2009 the BGD programme facilitated a discussion at the University of Warwick with Egality, a youth movement that explores alternative roads to global democracy. Read more BGD Welcomes Communications Officer BGD is very pleased to welcome back Ura Martin from parental leave. Ura takes on the communications portrfolio for the BGD office. Please feel free to contact Ura on matters such as website, newsletter and translations. Laura Downey continues as BGD Programme Officer responsible for the programme administration. Contact Ura |  | BGD Workshop in New Delhi 1-3 September 2010 The BGD programme will convene a workshop on Citizen Learning for Global Democracy in New Delhi, India on 1-3 September 2010. The meeting will discuss a set of commissioned papers that examine innovative approaches to raising public awareness of global issues and their governance. Particular attention will be given to learning that empowers the marginalised in global politics. Read more BGD Workshop in Rio de Janeiro 13-15 April 2011 BGD will hold a workshop on Including the Excluded in Global Policymaking in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 13-15 April 2011. The meeting will explore ways that constituencies who often lack participation and control in global affairs have gained voice and influence in decision-taking processes. As ever in BGD activities, the workshop will centre on practitioner-researcher exchange. Read more |  | | Among the objectives of the BGD programme is to raise awareness of efforts throughout the world to bring greater democracy to the governance of global concerns. To this end each BGD newsletter highlights an academic and/or practitioner initiative in this area. This time we look at ActionAid's Accountability, Learning and Planning System (Alps). Please feel free to send suggestions of other features for future newsletters. | Accountability, Learning and Planning System (Alps) ActionAid is an international NGO working in 50 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas on human rights and justice at local, national, and international levels. In 1999 ActionAid realised that its system of planning, monitoring, and reporting was taking up extraordinary amounts of staff and community time without adding sufficient value. Information was flowing up to managers, without helping communities and staff learn from and improve their work. This led to the creation of the Accountability, Learning, and Planning System (Alps). Alps is organised around the principles of downward accountability, transparency, power, women's rights, and learning. The basic system is similar - requiring annual plans and reports, and strategies and evaluations. The change is in the emphasis on principled process. Participatory planning and budgeting ensures that community members (rights holders) have a strong influence on decision making in ActionAid. In Guatemala, for example, detailed workshops are held each year with partners and communities to discuss budget allocations. Indeed, 30% of the budget is fully in the hands of community members, whilst the remainder of the budget, reserved for strategic interventions aimed at changing policies and systems, is finalised in close consultation with them. This helps community members analyse causes of poverty and strategies for change. By being actively involved in planning, budgeting, and reviewing, ActionAid inspires and equips community members to engage more actively with other duty bearers such as local government. To learn more about ActionAid and Alps read ActionAid's Annual Report 2008 and the Accountability and Transparency edition of ActionAid's Impact Assessment and Shared Learning newsletter Exchanges | | |  | | The Building Global Democracy Programme builds links with other institutions which also seek to develop ideas and practices of global democracy, identifying publications which may be of interest to our readership. Forum international de Montréal (FIM) has just released Democratizing Global Governance: Principles for the Engagement of CSOs with Multilateralism. These eight principles are based upon extensive consultation with global civil society activists working to democratize the policies and practices of the multilateral system. Premised upon the convictions that democratized multilateralism, at all levels from regional to sub global to global, is a necessary condition for attaining democratic global governance and, that active engagement of CSOs with multilateralism is essential to achieving this vision, the principles articulate the highest standards of conduct for CSO engagement with the multilateral system. Access the complete document Recent Publications by Cairo Participants Eva Erman (Cairo workshop author) is Chief Editior of Ethics & Global Politics, a new Open Access, peer reviewed international scholarly journal which looks to foster theoretical contributions to the study of global politics by providing a forum for presenting novel ways of understanding and conceptualizing the global political challenges the world faces today. Sylvia Borren (Cairo workshop discussant) has recently contributed to two publications on gender and diversity published by Worldconnectors. Read them here: Justice and Solutions for All: Through Gender and Diversity World Connectors Quick Scan: Gender and Diversity Patricia Mohammed (Cairo workshop author), has recently produced a documentary film called 'Coolie Pink and Green'. The film attempts to transform current perceptions of the Indian/ Asian aesthetic by projecting a new way of seeing and celebrating its form, patterns, beauty and meanings. Find out more about the film on facebook Gabrielle Hosein (Cairo Workshop discussant), produces a monthy blog entitled If I were the Prime Minster of Trinidad and Tobago , available on YouTube. Watch November's episode now Read more about the Cairo workshop participants |  | | The BGD website includes a Links area with connections to other projects concerned with building global democracy and a Library area with access to online publications on subjects related to building global democracy. Please send your suggested additions for these catalogues to info@buildingglobaldemocracy.org. |  | | Website: http://www.buildingglobaldemocracy.org/ | Email: info@buildingglobaldemocracy.org | Tel: +44 (0)24 7657 2532
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