Description: | Even as the wealthy and some sections of the middle-class around the world have progressed economically, the oppressed and poor, especially women and indigenous peoples, have over the last 15 years suffered a major setback in their quest for economic development, social equality and real independence. There has also been a significant and steady erosion of a large portion of the population's economic base. This trend is taking firmer root as the globalization process accelerates and becomes all-pervasive.
The mainstream paradigms of development are in serious crisis. In the post-Cold War period most people have little desire to return to the state-assisted protectionist, communist or socialist regimes, whose promotion of growth and attainment of economic sovereignty were accompanied, in most cases, by economic inequalities, inefficiency, corruption and ecological degradation. Yet, radical "free-market" economic policies and experimentation with structural adjustment lending by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have crippled the state as an agent of development and protector of the community from the vagapoverty-reducing, equitable and sustainable paradigm alternatives that advance the interests of poor and marginalized peoples around the world, but especially in the Asia-Pacific.
Focus aims to consciously and consistently articulate, link and develop greater coherence between local community-based and national, regional and global paradigms of change. Focus on the Global South strives to create a distinct and cogent link between development at the grassroots and the "macro" levels.
While accepting the changing definition of South and North and reflecting it in its name, network and staff, Focus on the Global South will prioritize South issues in developing countries, given their particular urgency. Similarly, while Focus will primarily address issues affecting the whole South, being in the Asia-Pacific region, a major portion of its work will be devoted to this part of the world. Nevertheless, it will endeavor to both involve and closely network with those working on South issues in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and in industrialized countries, in order to share experiences, exchange ideas, and articulate sustainable alternatives and more just forms of regional and global governance.
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