issue 021 12/9/08 17:05 Page 1 interact The magazine of

The future for development

Also in this issue: behind the headlines Speaking out for East Timor Water rights in

ISSN 1816-045X Autumn 2008 issue 021 12/9/08 17:06 Page 2

interact Autumn 2008 Contents

editorial 4 3 first person: rising to the challenge

The future for 4 agenda: foundation stones development

Words don’t have fixed meanings. Like travellers, insight: the future for development they pick up baggage on their journeys, and are changed by what they see and experience in the places they visit. The courage of our convictions Development is one such word. Packed into 6 The world needs a new vision of development this one word is a continent of meanings that even a full issue of Interact magazine can only Ending poverty in a carbon-constrained world begin to explore. 8 Development must be in the name of social justice The word ‘development’ has always made me uncomfortable. It speaks too much from a Hungry for change Northern perspective: we talk about ‘developing 11 A new model of agricultural production is essential countries’ as if they are a bit slow on the uptake, but if we help them out with a bit of and voices instruction, they can be just like us – developed. But if we are stuck with this word, we need to reclaim its meaning. Because the development What does development mean to you? that Progressio aspires to is not about telling 13 Fresh thoughts on development people which way to go, but supporting them in the direction they wish to travel. viewpoint Uncharted territories in early maps of the world were inscribed with the legend: ‘Here be monsters’. Now we find that the monster we have Opening up our vision created – the monster of perpetual economic 14 Participants in the People’s Summit 15 growth, which enriches the rich and impoverishes show the way the poor – is everywhere. As Andrew Simms and others argue in this Interact, we have become Helping the grass grow preoccupied with feeding this monster – not 15 Soil and water conservation in Somaliland ourselves. Ultimately, the voices in this Interact are calling for one thing: a vision of development that puts poor people first. One that refuses to accept a 18 16 analysis: Zimbabwe: between hope and fear journey that leaves so many people behind. Let’s draw a new map together. 17 viewpoint: Zimbabwe: behind the headlines

18 action: East Timor: who cares?

20 viewpoint: Thirsting for change in El Salvador

Cover picture: Children in Aileu, East Timor. Photo: Nick Sireau/Progressio

Published September 2008 by Progressio Progressio Ireland Editor Alastair Whitson Unit 3, Canonbury Yard c/o CORI, Bloomfield Avenue Executive Director Christine Allen 190a New North Road Off Morehampton Road Design Twenty-Five Educational London N1 7BJ Donnybrook, Dublin 4, Ireland Printing APG (ISO 14001 accreditation for tel +44 (0)20 7354 0883 tel +353 (0)1 6144966 international environmental standards). fax +44 (0)20 7359 0017 e-mail [email protected] Printed on REVIVE 100% chlorine free e-mail [email protected] Charity reg. in Ireland no. CHY 14451 recycled paper. website www.progressio.org.uk Company reg. no. 385465 Recycle this magazine!

Progressio is the working name of the Catholic Institute for International Relations Charity reg. in the UK no. 294329 Company reg. no. 2002500 The views and opinions in Interact are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect Progressio policy. issue 021 12/9/08 17:06 Page 3

first person David Tanner/Progressio

Progressio development workers and colleagues from partner organisations discussing strategies for tackling HIV and AIDS in Yemen (August 2008).

[awareness-raising workshop] participants satisfactorily without referring to the trainer [Progressio Rising to development worker Silvester Kasozi]. Previously the development worker gave me a lot of guidance, but now he leaves me some parts of the challenge the training to do by myself to boost my confidence and to help me to be N THE BEGINNING I was very afraid and and a goal to fulfill and no-one will more skilled in doing that job. hesitant to be part of a HIV and be satisfied with themselves unless I feel very satisfied with the work IAIDS programme. [Rasha works on they feel that they have fulfilled that has been done so far because a HIV and AIDS awareness project run their duty to the very best. from the comments of the people by the Women’s Forum for Research And what more worthwhile or that we have trained it is clear that and Training in Yemen, assisted by sacred mission can there be than to they appreciate the knowledge and Progressio development worker help someone or to save the life of a skills they have acquired. The large Silvester Kasozi.] I felt that it was not human being? I felt that this is the number of people that we have going to be easy because of the way core of our work in the Women’s managed to reach in the short time people feel about this sensitive issue Forum for Research and Training and since we started the programme is – and because I am a woman. in this particular programme, so testimony to the fact that our efforts But then I felt maybe this is the I decided to do it no matter how are paying off too. chance I have been looking for to difficult it was. prove myself. I am not the type of So I am very proud of myself and person that likes to do ordinary my work. It was hard for me in the work. I like to do something which is beginning during the early different, something that for others workshops, but later on things has always seemed difficult, became easier. Right now I feel that I something that others look at as a have gained a lot of knowledge challenge. I felt ready to take that about HIV and AIDS and the differing chance. skills of interacting with others – Moreover I felt that it was a great with new people from different Rasha Mohammed Abdulwahab responsibility, because I believe that spheres with different perceptions – works for Progressio partner everyone should be committed to and of coordinating different organisation the Women’s Forum for the work that he or she does. It is activities, taking care of all the small Research and Training. She works not just a matter of doing your work details. alongside Progressio development but rather a duty. I believe that there I feel confident in what I am worker Silvester Kasozi, who is are no extra pieces in the universe, doing, so that I am able to facilitate training her to run HIV and AIDS everyone on this earth has a mission and answer the questions of the awareness workshops in Yemen.

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agenda

‘Everyday human interdependence tightens and spreads by degrees Progressio’s vision of development draws on over the whole world. As a result the social teaching of the the common good, that is, the sum and the Gospel message, but can be shared of those conditions of social life by all, writes Christine Allen agenda which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfilment, today takes on an Foundation increasingly universal complexion and consequently involves rights and duties with respect to the stones whole human race. Every social group must take account of the ROGRESSIO WAS FOUNDED IN 1940 – as the right to education, to needs and legitimate aspirations of the Sword of the Spirit – by lay employment, to a good other groups, and even of the PCatholics concerned at the Catholic reputation, to respect, to general welfare of the entire Church’s failure to respond to the rise of appropriate information, to human family.’ (Gaudium et Spes fascism. From the start, the organisation activity in accord with the upright 1965) was inclusive in its ethos and approach, norm of one’s own conscience, to but over the years, alongside the ideas of protection of privacy and to For Progressio, the common good is both the people who work with and support rightful freedom, even in matters what we seek and the way we seek to us, we have continued to draw religious.’ (Gaudium et Spes 1965) bring it about. The common good tells us inspiration from our Catholic heritage that progress or development is and particularly . ‘Development must be directed meaningless unless it benefits all, and the This edition of Interact looks at and judged by the extent to which poorest in particular. We work with all people’s visions and hopes for the future it benefits human beings in the people of goodwill, whatever their belief of development. In exploring what we totality of their being.’ (Sollicitudo system, inspired by a vision of a better mean by development, we look here at Rei Socialis 1987, para 29) world for all. Development is a shared some of the themes of Catholic Social task with those who are poor, and we are Teaching that are reflected in our work. For Progressio, the person-centred privileged to play a part whether this be The ethos and values are inspired by the approach is enshrined in the use of with partner organisations which are Gospel message, but will resonate with development workers: people who share involved in advocating change or through anyone with a concern for and interest in their skills and knowledge with others, our development workers. authentic human development. It is a with humility and respect. They give and vision that is fundamentally human, and they receive, they share and learn with The preferential option for that reflects a vision for the future that is local communities. It stresses the the poor shared by the people of all faiths and relationships between people not the The common good and human dignity none with whom we work. financial transactions. People who are could just be comfortable concepts were poor and marginalised have their own it not for this aspect of Church teaching. The dignity of the human perspectives and analysis too – that is It places the concern about and person why our advocacy work is rooted in the perspective of the poor at the centre of The belief in the dignity of people gives experience and analysis of communities its mission and for those who follow rise to human rights which are enshrined from the South. Christ, at the centre of their lives. in legal processes. But Church teaching goes beyond that and asks us to see The common good ‘…This is an option, or a primacy in people as sacred, and therefore to be However, the focus on the human Christian charity, to which the valued and cherished. person can never be an excuse for Church gives witness down the The desire and search to be fully individualism. Within Catholic Social ages. It affects every Christian who human is at the centre of Progressio’s Teaching, the common good is an seeks to imitate the life of Christ. development purpose. Being fully human important concept that encapsulates But it equally applies to our is more than just having the basics, but responsibilities, solidarity and responsibilities within society, and takes on board wider aspects of culture, interdependence. Over time, the therefore to our life-style and, if we freedom and a sense of control over common good has also widened to are to be consistent, to the one’s life and future. cover the responsibility towards all of decisions we make concerning our creation and with it to future ownership and use of goods.’ ‘…Therefore, there must be made generations as yet unborn. The desire (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis 1987, para available to all everything for the common good, alongside the 42) necessary for leading a life truly preferential option for the poor, is the human, such as food, clothing, and root of solidarity. The common good is Therefore poverty isn’t so much shelter; the right to choose a state not limited or sectarian – it seeks the something that happens ‘out there’ but is of life freely and to found a family, good of all by involving all. happening to ‘us’ as a global community.

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agenda

We cannot address development without looking at our own role in it: as consumers, as travellers, as politicians. Being aware of this responsibility requires us to have a change of heart about how Graham Freer/Progressio we see the process of ‘development’. This calls all of us to be engaged in a radical project where the resources of the earth can be fairly shared by all, including future generations.

‘It is impossible to see what right the richer nations have to keep up their claim to increase their own material demands, if the consequence is either that others remain in misery or that the danger of destroying the very physical foundations of life on earth is precipitated. Those who Children in a village in the Peruvian highlands near Cusco. are already rich are bound to accept a less material way of life, criterion must be applied ‘The development we speak of with less waste, in order to avoid internationally…. Through here cannot be restricted to the destruction of the heritage solidarity we come to see the economic growth alone. To be which they are obliged by “other” in each person, people authentic it must be well-rounded; absolute justice to share with all and nation, not as something to it must foster the development of other members of the human be exploited at little cost to each [person] and of the whole race.’ (Justice in the World 1971, ourselves and then discarded when [person].’ (Populorum Progressio para 70) no longer useful, but as a 1967, para 14) neighbour and helper who like As a development agency we are ourselves must also be a sharer in ‘… the whole concept of concerned about poverty. But this God’s banquet.’ (Sollicitudo Rei development changes dramatically teaching calls us to go one step further – Socialis 1987, para 39) when considered from the point of to see the world from the perspective of view of the interdependence of the poor and to have an analysis of Whether it be through financial or other the world community. True power: Who benefits from decisions? support for organisations like Progressio, development cannot be conceived Who loses out? When women are so getting involved in campaigns or of simply in terms of the often powerless, the power analysis becoming a development worker, the accumulation of wealth and goods brings us a gender perspective; when imperative is not to sit by but to get by some, if such wealth is acquired local communities are not properly involved. Through this solidarity we will at the expense of many millions of consulted by authorities, this perspective also experience more fully what it means human beings and without any gives us an insight into good governance. to be human. proper consideration of the social, cultural and spiritual dimensions of Call to action The full vision of progress – humanity.’ (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis The social teaching of the Church tells us live Simply, Sustainably and 1987, para 9) that because of these elements, the in Solidarity personal is the political. Individuals are One of the reasons why Progressio has As you can see from the stories and called to act, and to respond to needs in been involved in the livesimply challenge reflections elsewhere in this edition of whatever way they can. But the way in is because it resonates so well with our Interact, this vision is put into practice by which we work should respond to holistic view of development. Models of partners, development workers and the human dignity, and be done in solidarity development have to be more than just people we support. Thank you for being and respect. economic, but people and creation part of it. centred. ‘Solidarity is validated within a Christine Allen is Progressio’s executive society when members of the same Our global solidarity means listening to director. society recognise each other as the communities and responding to their persons.... The Church feels called needs; it means development workers Quotations are from Gaudium et Spes, a key to take its stand beside the poor, living in solidarity, not being paid like document of the Second Vatican Council (1965); Populorum Progressio, an encyclical letter by Pope to discern the justice of their international consultants; it means that Paul VI (1967); Justice in the World, a document requests and to help satisfy their the perspective of the poor and produced by the Roman Catholic Synod of Bishops (1971); and Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, an needs, within its overall concern marginalised are central to our policy encyclical letter by Pope John Paul II (1987). for the common good…. The same analysis and advocacy work.

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insight: the future for development THE COURAGE of our convictions

We will not achieve our goals unless sustainability), we see a much trends continue it will lead to the world changes its vision of bigger ecological problem than water scarcity in many parts of development, says Joanne Green we thought we had at the turn the world. Mono-cropping of the millennium. comes at the expense of local Like climate change, the crop biodiversity. In Ecuador, 2005 WAS A PIVOTAL YEAR for current food crisis is a symptom 10 years ago they had 40 development. UK civil society of deeper problems. It should varieties of potato. Now they and the UK government led the prompt us to look at only have four – exposing poor way in putting poverty at the fundamental flaws in the farmers to much greater centre of the political agenda. Northern-driven economic vulnerability, especially with Three years later and much development model: a model climate change. of that optimism has been which pushes intensive, export- In the words of Marcial swamped by climate change led agriculture on Southern Lopez, a farmer from and a global food crisis. As we countries to satisfy the interests with whom Progressio works: assess progress towards of multi-national companies, at ‘Small producers have been Millennium Development Goal the expense of food security confused by the lure of greater 7 (to ensure environmental and environmental wealth to adopt methods and sustainability for the poorest solutions that are really communities. working in the interests of ‘Small producers have been confused by Aquifers and rivers are being corporations rather than the lure of greater wealth to adopt pumped dry. According to the society.’ methods and solutions that are really Comprehensive Assessment of Instead of prompting us to working in the interests of corporations Water Management in question the current model, Agriculture, if today’s food such food crises provide rather than society’ production and environmental opportunities for vested interests to push for solutions that further promote their interests, as witnessed by the outcomes of the recent CBD (UN Convention on Biological Diversity) and Food Summit Fernando Ruiz/Progressio meetings. One example is the intensity with which genetic modification is pushed as the panacea for food security. Such an approach concentrates on a technological ‘quick fix’ and ignores the fact that people are hungry because of unequal access to natural resources and food, not insufficient food production. There is enough food to feed everyone in this world. But less than half of the grain we produce is directly eaten by people. Most goes into animal feed and, increasingly, agro-fuels – another so-called Members of the Movimiento Indígena y Campesino de Cotopaxi, which is supported by Progressio solution to climate change that development worker Fernando Ruiz and the Institute of Ecuadorian Studies. has actually decreased access to

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insight: the future for development

food and further depleted natural resources. We cannot have more of the same and we are in no position to take risks with untested technologies, especially as

climate change will reduce Myriam Salazar/CEA/Progressio water availability and increase the importance of having a broad crop biodiversity on which we can depend. It is no coincidence that our planet is already at its environmental limits and poor farmers are already too vulnerable. Poverty and the environment are inextricably linked because poor people become more marginalised as their environment is degraded. The system needs to change so that it isn’t biased towards the interests of the rich and Farmers in Intag, Ecuador, preparing ingredients for an organic fertiliser. powerful and fails to protect the poorest. We need a different vision of environments and change transformed reality of development. correspondingly. development and globalisation. Governments and We need a new vision of Will the UK, so long a institutions must adapt and development in which leading voice in global change. And citizens of governments move beyond development, have the courage developed countries also have a short-term technological fixes responsibility. I write this to address the long-ignored knowing that my society and root causes of the food crisis The system needs to change so that it my attitudes and lifestyle and and restructure economic isn’t biased towards the interests of the choices are part of the problem systems and global institutions rich and powerful and fails to protect like never before. Our insatiable to be pro-poor. Poor people the poorest appetites for more are hitting need a food system that is the poorest communities the capable of withstanding hardest. economic and environmental of its convictions and admit that Despite what some may say, shocks. we face some very hard choices? As there is a trade-off between The recent IAASTD one of the world’s richest, most further economic development (International Assessment on powerful and most polluting in the North and meeting goals Agriculture, Science and countries, we look to our on the environment and Technology for Development) government to take the lead in poverty reduction. The current report recommended a much challenging unjust structures, systems are not sustainable. greater focus on small-scale learning from our failures and And technology is not the agriculture and one that works facing up to our responsibilities. answer. in harmony with nature. The Will we change our bias to the rich We need a new vision of importance of poor countries and instead learn from poor people development in which a and communities determining and communities on what this people-centred food system how they feed themselves new vision should look like? For allows the voices of small-scale cannot now be ignored. everyone’s sake, I hope so. farmers to be heard. Where the Such a vision of needs of poor producers and development should be agreed This is an edited version of a speech consumers are met. Where under the auspices of the UN – by Joanne Green to the ECOSOC autonomy and self-sufficiency bringing together Northern (United Nations Economic and Social are theirs. governments, Northern food Council) High-level Segment on We need a new vision of producers and Northern Meeting the Millennium Development development in which consumers with Southern Goals, in New York on 2 July 2008. northern consumers face the governments, Southern food Joanne Green was then Progressio’s impact our choices have on producers and Southern advocacy manager. She is now Head poor communities and their consumers to implement a of Policy at Cafod.

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insight: the future for development Mark Howard/Twenty-Five Educational Mark Howard/Twenty-Five

ENDING POVERTY in a carbon-constrained world

We need to change our locked-in thinking about economic development and reorganise around the principles of social justice, writes Andrew Simms

EVERAL YEARS AGO the Tuvalu, in the South Pacific, environmental limits. Next International Red Cross and learned from other small they evolved resilient local Ssent me on behalf of the island states, may hold lessons economies that helped them World Disasters Report to assess for how many millions more cope with extreme and the early impacts of climate can withstand the upheaval of unpredictable weather. These change on vulnerable global warming on our small were, of necessity, based on populations. What I saw in island planet. reciprocity, sharing and co- To survive for so long on operation, and not unlimited remote shards of land, exposed growth fed by individualistic, The policies designed to pursue to the full force and vagaries of beggar-thy-neighbour nature, these island competition. growth have become a mask for communities first had to Today, as collectively we face making the rich, richer respect their obvious and exceed the limits of the

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insight: the future for development

Pacific island communities like Tonga have evolved resilient local economies ‘trickle-down’. It means, What, if any, guides do we based on reciprocity, sharing and perversely, that for the poor to have to surviving these co-operation. get slightly less poor, the rich multiple shocks? have to get very much richer, One country, much earth’s bio-capacity, we are implying patterns of maligned, provides a glimpse of challenged at the global level to consumption which, in a world a near future that many more learn, in a few short years, facing climate change, cannot may face. Almost like a lessons that such small be sustained. laboratory example, positioned communities often took It now takes around $166 on the flight path of the annual millennia to arrive at. Our task worth of global growth – made hurricane season, since 1990 is enormously complicated by up of all those energy-hungry Cuba has lived through the the intricate interdependence giant flat screen TVs and sports economic and environmental of the modern global economy, utility vehicles – to generate a shocks that climate change and the unbalanced distribution of single dollar of poverty peak oil hold in store for the power and benefits within it, reduction for people in rest of the world. and a pace of international absolute poverty, compared The impact of the sudden decision making that, until the with just $45 dollars in the loss of cheap Soviet oil and its ice started to melt so rapidly, 1980s. economic isolation was I would have described as Earnings of between $3 and extreme. Oil imports dropped glacially slow. $4 per day is the approximate by over half. The use of We already know that people level at which the strong link chemical pesticides and living in poverty are hit first between income and life fertilisers dropped by 80%. The and worst by global warming. expectancy breaks down. So, let availability of basic food staples This and the challenge of us ask what would happen if like wheat and other grains fell reducing poverty in a carbon we agreed $3 per day as the by half and, overall, the constrained world calls for a minimum level of income to average Cuban’s calorie intake new development model which escape absolute poverty? fell by over one third in around is climate proof and climate Using the ecological five years. But serious and long- friendly. There is no either/or footprint measure, if the whole term investment in science, approach possible; the world world wished to consume at engineering, health, education, must meet both its the level of the United States, plus land redistribution, commitments to achieve the we would need, conservatively, reduced inequality and research MDGs and tackle climate over five planets like earth to into low-input ecological change. The two are support them. But, under the farming techniques, meant the inextricably linked. current pattern of unequally Here we crash headlong into distributed benefits from another, equally large problem. growth, to lift everyone in the There has been, in effect, a sort of It is clear that conventional world onto a modest $3 per ‘flood-up’ of wealth from poor to economic growth will happen day, would require the rich, rather than a ‘trickle-down’ in poor countries as a resources of around 15 planets consequence of effective like ours. Where, you might poverty reduction. But at a ask, will the other 14 come country had a strong social global level, the policies from? fabric and the capacity to act. designed to pursue growth have To tackle poverty in a carbon At the heart of the transition become a mask for making the constrained world, then, we after 1990 was the success of rich, richer, whilst leaving the need a new development small farms, and urban farms poor with few benefits and model, based on better and gardens. Immediate crisis abandoned to deal with measures of progress, and a was averted by food growth’s environmental shift from relying on unequal programmes that targeted the consequences. During the global growth to serious most vulnerable people, the 1980s, from every $100 worth redistribution. If we think of old, young, pregnant women of global economic growth, the planet as a cake, we can and young mothers, and a around $2.20 found its way to slice it differently, but we surely rationing programme that people living below the cannot bake a new one. guaranteed a minimum absolute poverty line. A decade Climate change is not the amount of food to everyone. later that had shrunk to just only reason that we have to Soon, half the food consumed $0.60c, and the actual mean learn to live with far fewer in the capital, Havana, was income of those living under fossil fuels. Development must grown in the city’s own gardens $1 per day in Africa also fell. also contend with the high and and, overall, urban gardens There has been, in effect, a rising price of oil, and the provide 60% of the vegetables sort of ‘flood-up’ of wealth imminent global peak and long eaten in Cuba. The threat of from poor to rich, rather than a decline of oil production. serious food shortages was cont...

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insight: the future for development

Rich countries must radically cut possible to assess if we are vulnerable? achieving human development • Will it move us toward truly their own consumption to free-up whilst living within our sustainable, one-planet- the environmental space in which environmental means. living? others can pursue the Millennium The new economics • Will it move us fast enough Development Goals foundation ‘Happy Planet to prevent irreversible, Index’ compares the relative catastrophic climate change? success of nations at delivering When the people of Tuvalu first overcome within five years. long life expectancy and high encountered Europeans in the Cuba demonstrated it is levels of well being, compared 19th century, they gave them possible to feed a population to the size of their ecological the name palangi. Victorian under extreme economic stress footprint. The results reveal travellers translated the word to with very little fossil fuel. The many middle income countries mean ‘heaven bursters’, a approach was dubbed the ‘anti- performing well, with good life reference to their ship’s guns. model’ because it was both expectancy and well-being, and Now, some of our lifestyles truly highly managed and led by relatively low footprints. threaten to burst the heavens. communities, it focused on Strikingly, some of the best At the very least, to achieve meeting domestic needs rather performers are small island poverty reduction in a world than exports, was largely states. Somehow, they have threatened by climate change, organic and built on the worked together to produce we know that the good news is success of small farms. more convivial communities, that we now know, from the Currently, according to our whilst respecting literature on human well-being, calculations, in a given environmental limits. that making the rich, richer calendar year the world as a How can we learn from these does nothing to increase their whole goes into ecological debt examples, change our locked-in life satisfaction. On the around October 7th – by which thinking about economic contrary, numerous studies time we have consumed more development, and reorganise confirm that once your basic and produced more waste than around the principles of needs are met, you are just as ecosystems can deal with. The resilience, social justice, likely to have high life results are seen in climate sufficiency, ecological satisfaction, whether your change, oceans emptied of fish, efficiency, and the capacity to ecological footprint is large or and desertification. Forty years adapt? small. My conclusion is that a ago Robert Kennedy said that We might begin by asking, as new development model is economic growth measured acid tests: needed as much, if not more, in everything apart from that • Will what we do make countries like Britain and the US which really matters. But it is people more or less as the majority world. We have to demonstrate that good lives do not have to cost the earth. Impassable ecological obstacles lie on the path down which we chase the shadows of over-consumption to deliver Jeroen Oerlemans/Panos Jeroen our well-being, expecting the poor to be grateful for any crumbs that fall from our plates. The good news is that another way is not only possible, as the philosopher A.C. Grayling writes, it is better, richer and more enduring.

This is an edited version of a speech by Andrew Simms, policy director and head of the climate change programme at nef (the new economics foundation), to the UN ECOSOC special session on climate change and the Millennium Development Goals, New York, 2 May 2008. An 'organoponico' in Miramar, Cuba: one of many large organic vegetable gardens run by local See www.neweconomics.org for community groups as part of the 'Urban Agricultural Programme'. more information.

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RADICAL transformation in the way that the Aworld’s population produces and consumes agricultural products is needed HUNGRY if we are serious about poverty reduction and tackling climate for change change. The current model of Changing the way we produce and consume food is crucial to reducing agricultural production, based poverty throughout the world, says Sol Oyuela on the exploitation of land and water resources, the use of community has stopped to outputs such as hybrid seeds or chemicals (pesticides and reflect on the unintended fertilisers and therefore, fertilisers) and hybrid seeds has consequences of the intensive fluctuations in the prices of not benefited the world’s and export-oriented model of these products do not affect poorest. Modern agriculture has agricultural production their capacity to grow food. resulted in increased prevalent today. The experience of our production but today more The IAASTD report, launched partners in developing than 800 million people remain in April, calls for a radical countries shows that hungry. transformation in the world’s supporting agricultural There is enough food farming system to give small- practices that promote self- produced in the world to feed scale farmers a central role in sufficiency and autonomy of the population. In 2007 the agricultural production. This poor farmers can significantly world produced 2.3 billion tons means recognising that farming reduce their poverty. So, what of grain, 4% more than in has a diversity of should a new agricultural 2006, and since 1961 the environmental and social model look like? In the words world’s cereal output has functions and that nations and of Edgar Gonzales, a small-scale tripled, while the population peoples have a right to farmer in : has doubled. But today, less determine their most suitable ‘My vision of the future is a than half of the grain produced food policies in a democratic traditional agriculture that is in the world is directly eaten by way. aimed at satisfying the food people; most goes into animal To Progressio and our and livelihood needs of farmers feed and agrofuels. partners this is not new. For and their families, rather than Inequitable access to food – many years, we have been generating profit and and not insufficient food supporting rural communities accumulating wealth.’ production – is the main reason in developing countries in their why people go hungry. Trade efforts to grow crops agro- Sol Oyuela is Progressio’s liberalisation and unfair trade ecologically, that is, in an environmental officer. rules have forced developing environmentally and socially countries to open their markets sustainable way. For example, and lands to global agribusiness in Ecuador Progressio is for the production of global working with partner commodities. This is having a organisations supporting small- devastating effect on the scale farming communities to world’s poorest people. manage their water, land and

In the face of a global food seeds in a sustainable way. Myriam Salazar/CEA/Progressio crisis, where spiralling food Through the promotion of prices for cereals have resulted seed-saving and seed-exchange, in people all around the globe the protection of natural taking to the streets to demand resources and organic action from governments, harvesting of palm, corn, change is imperative. But cocoa, plantain, yucca, peanuts change in what, by whom and and rice, these producers grow where? the food to feed their families Progressio thinks that the and sell the surplus in the local answer lies in a groundbreaking market. This way of farming is new report by the United environmentally and Nations, the International economically sustainable. Poor Assessment on Agriculture, farmers do not rely on external Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). For the Women in Columbe Alto, Ecuador, first time, the international selecting potato seeds.

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voices What does development mean to you?

Fresh thoughts on development from people who care Mónika Galeano Velasco is a Progressio development worker in , working on human rights Sylvester Kasozi (far right) with fellow and HIV and AIDS Progressio development workers (from left) Ronnie Murungu, Irfan Akhtar and Prachanda Shrestha. For me, development is linked to people’s access to education, and and AIDS is a development issue – particularly equal access to one that affects people’s livelihoods – knowledge for men and women. and it’s therefore important that they When people gain knowledge, get to know what it is all about, their they are able to know, understand, attention may be drawn to what their think and analyse. This is the next meal will be, or where and how mental process necessary in order they will get the school fees for their to understand their reality, take children, or the ill-health of family decisions and put them into Silvester Kasozi is a Progressio members they left back home. practice. development worker in Yemen, True, we cannot provide solutions The women with HIV with working as a HIV and AIDS to all these problems – but they have whom I work perceive trainer with the Women’s an effect on the work that we do. development from the point of Forum for Research and Although seemingly trivial, if these view of well-being, and the Training issues are preoccupying the minds of guarantee of their human rights. some the participants in an Development for them is having For me ‘development’ means a shift in awareness-raising workshop, it has an quality of life, opportunities and the way people view, see or perceive adverse effect, since their attention respect for human dignity. issues that affect them. However, that will justifiably be elsewhere. Discrimination because of being is only part of the journey towards My personal vision for the work I women and having HIV is an development itself. The shift in am doing is to see a Yemen that is aspect that alters their individual perceptions has to be complemented more open to HIV and AIDS as a development and their right to live with the ability for people to do development rather than a medical or with dignity. things differently to bring about a immigration issue. A time when HIV I aspire to women having access change in their lives for the better. and AIDS can be talked about and to education and having freedom Only by translating knowledge into discussed in all spheres of life – and autonomy to make decisions practice can development be fully homes, schools, offices and the media about their lives and their bodies. realised. – just like any other development Prosperous and developed societies From what I have seen with my issue that affects the lives of people. are precisely those which manage own eyes in Yemen and from my I envision a Yemen where people to break down the wall that interaction with locals, development living with HIV can express represents the unacceptable to them is a meaningful democracy themselves, stand up for their rights inequality between a man and a where their rights are upheld, and and not be despised and blamed for woman. where in due course they are able to their status. Only then will I see my I want to see the women of this access and/or afford basic necessities work bearing fruit. I will not myself country [Honduras], those who for their lives such as food, medical have orchestrated this change but I give my work meaning, making services, education and shelter. will have been a part of those who their own decisions, sure of A vivid example would be the made a contribution towards it. That themselves, and leading the invitation of participants to a is what development is all about. It’s unstoppable social processes to workshop to raise their awareness not about instant change but gradual, change the thinking that limits about HIV and AIDS. Although HIV sustainable change. their freedom and development.

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Marianela Gibaja is development is any change or Progressio’s country implementation that happens, and representative in which brings improvement in the Peru quality of life. What I hope to see in 10 years’ time is: For me, development is • A fair redistribution of wealth and a process through which a consequent diminishing of people’s quality of life poverty and inequality. can be improved, and is something • That beneficiaries with whom we which can only be reached by work are more empowered: with recognising and respecting diversity. the power to make decisions about This process aspires to close the their lives and with strong self- social, economic, cultural and esteem. environmental gaps that exist • That cultural diversity is not a between people. This requires an reason for discrimination. equitable and fair redistribution of all • That minority groups are not Jenny Cosgrave lives in resources, within a democratic stigmatised and discriminated London and works for The framework in which peace, freedom, against. Passage, a day centre for solidarity, health and education are • That beneficiaries and partners rough sleepers or people sought for all. have reflected on caring for the who are threatened with For some people, development is environment and are using homelessness. She is synonymous with the generation of practices which care for water. involved in the livesimply economic wealth, without taking into • That Northern countries invest challenge account whether this wealth more in the development of Latin generates more poverty and America, in order to achieve a Development is living in solidarity inequality. But for the majority, better balance. as a world community, working for equality and social justice. Development does not mean hegemony, rather a process of Ernest Cañada is a authorities, to be able to sell their mutual and sustainable learning Progressio harvests for a good price and educate and change that strives to create a development worker their children, to have access to just world. I think it is important to in Nicaragua, working drinking water and electricity every move as far away as possible from in communication for day, to have an influence on public the colonial vision of ‘them’ and development with affairs without risking their lives. For ‘us’ – as if the West is the authority Fundación Luciérnaga these people, development is very that must teach everyone else how specific, but also very complex: the to live. What development should At this stage in history, it is hope of being able to live with dignity. mean is eradicating the inequality obvious that the concept of My hope is that we can reclaim a in world resources whilst at the ‘development’ has been overused and vision of development which grows same time reflecting our own played around with too much. It has from the concerns and needs of poor cultural and historical identity – served to justify external intervention in people, and not from dull, grey diversity in our world is so exciting poor countries, to serve the interests of officials who have chosen to work in to me! rich countries and their local allies. development in order to be well paid, War, violence, the disregard for ‘Development’ is therefore, firstly, a or in order to serve the economic and human life and the arrogance of concept to be reclaimed, to recover, in strategic interests of donor countries. I the human race to think we can the interests of the oppressed. It simply wish for working for development to continue to live in the way we do means taking action so that people be a life choice of commitment to make me angry. I have not lost can live dignified, better lives, thanks poor people and against inequality. hope though! For me this was truly to their own efforts. It therefore has My hope for the future is to see a realised when I did a hitch-hike nothing to do with economic growth, real empowerment of people’s groups from Manchester to Morocco (it access to international markets or capable of defending their rights and was to raise money for a charity monetary income. Development is to having an effective influence on their called LINK Community do with the real options of the people living conditions. We can support Development). The kindness that to come up with and construct their them, and facilitate processes, but we were shown by complete own future. they must always be the protagonists. strangers was extraordinary and For people in Nicaragua, Without an organised popular really moving. I believe that people development is the desire for access to movement, with proposals and the are good and no amount of antiretroviral medication, to be treated capacity to influence public policies, pessimism will change that well in hospital or by the public there will never be development. conviction!

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and space for conversation between the two. ‘I think the official summit responds Opening up to the needs of a specific economic model and so the proposals they make are going to respond to that model – and by that I mean they are not going to resolve the gap between rich and poor. our vision They are working within the perspective of an economic model which continues to fragment society, making the poorest While governments pursue their own agenda, people are increasingly poorer and the richest richer.’ determined to follow a different approach, Progressio development She sees the contrast between the worker Diana Torres tells Michelle Lowe lavish party laid on for delegates at the official summit in Miraflores, one of the richest parts of Lima, and the ‘people’s ERE AT THE PEOPLE’S SUMMIT [held promoting participation in local party’ held in another plaza miles away, in Peru in May], it is very development. For Diana, the summit as emblematic of the inequality and ‘Hobvious that people have a highlighted the lack of real mechanisms division in Peruvian society: desperate need to express themselves. for participation for marginalised groups ‘Alan Garcia [the president of Peru] When the presentations finish, people in Peru: can continue saying that we are in “a don’t have questions, what they need is ‘This [alternative] summit is a place time of abundance”, but abundance for to be listened to. It makes you reflect on where you can hear the voices which who? In Miraflores, there will be a big the grave lack of opportunities to have ended up being silent because party – who will be at that party? And participate and have a voice when, as nobody listens to them. It is absolutely who will be at this party? It shows how soon as there is an opportunity to speak, vital that NGOs including Progressio and divided we are: the state is on one side people need to talk and talk and tell its partner organisations should be here. and civil society is on another.’ what is happening to them and how it is I think these kinds of events are crucial The Peruvian government has openly happening.’ for us to be able to continue re-thinking attacked dissenting voices, calling them Diana Torres was reflecting on the the work we do and improving it.’ ‘traitors’ who are against development, alternative People’s Summit held in Lima, Although the alternative People’s but at the alternative summit the view Peru, in May to coincide with the official Summit provided an opportunity for was put forward ‘that protest appears 5th Summit of Heads of State and people to talk and be heard and learn because it is so difficult to sustain the Government of the European Union and from each other, the contrast with the neoliberal model – it is almost a natural Latin America and the Caribbean. Diana, official summit reflects the lack of real consequence of the unjust model’. Diana a Progressio development worker with dialogue between governments and their says: ‘Repression of protest is a symptom Educa, the Institute for the Promotion of people: ‘You can see the fragmentation of an inability to sustain the system. a Quality Education, is working in the in which the state is acting in one sphere I think that understanding that reflection very deprived district of San Juan de and the people are acting in another, might help us to find ways to act and Lurigancho on the outskirts of Lima, and you wonder where is the dialogue respond.’ For Diana, the alternative summit helped ‘to open up my vision’: ‘It allows you to understand other aspects of the national reality which you cannot find out about through the media, which don’t really represent these other worlds Michelle Lowe/Progressio and other realities. It allows you to know what is happening for all the groups which are called “minorities” but which are actually sustaining the country. ‘Sometimes you can feel that communities are tired – that there are small efforts in the communities but that they aren’t enough. But here in this summit you can see that there are people who are really fighting and achieving important things – and that’s encouraging.’

Michelle Lowe worked as a Progressio development worker in Peru and Participants in a forum at the People's Summit on natural resources and mining. Ecuador.

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HE LANDSCAPE SUFFERS where the people suffer.’ So says ‘TProgressio development worker Ingrid Hartmann, who arrived in Helping the Somaliland in August to work on a new soil and water conservation project. As her plane descended over Somaliland, she was, she says, ‘a little worried about where to find the soils grass grow I was supposed to conserve’. Looking down, she saw ‘nothing but stones and gravel, only sometimes interrupted by A new Progressio project in Somaliland aims to find a sustainable small strips of brownish maize plots. method for boosting soil fertility and conserving water, writes I thought, if that is now the skin of Caroline Pankhurst Somaliland, Somaliland must be deeply wounded.’ Somaliland is predominantly a year, strengthening earth structures, nomadic pastoral society that traditionally stabilising soil during extreme rainfall, depends on livestock and agriculture. replenishing groundwater reserves and However, over the last 10 years soil also removing contaminants. Aside from erosion has become a major problem, this, the cut grass has many uses, for due to extreme climatic variation such as example, thatching houses, for pest Caroline Pankhurst/Progressio Caroline prolonged drought and short and very control and for medicinal purposes. It is intensive rainfall on steep slope also unnecessary to plant the grass from landscape. This has resulted in flooding, seed – cuttings can be taken from other erosion of topsoil and sedimentation, plants, making it an affordable and leading to decreased soil fertility and sustainable means of conservation. ground water retention as well as Test plots have been planted at the accelerated desertification of land. Faculty’s nursery and Ingrid has now This has prevented the area from arrived to work on the next phase of the being self-sufficient in food production project. The plan is to train 40 small-scale (both livestock and crops). As a result, farmers in four different locations in the the living standard of small-scale farmers use and benefits of the grass. If the grass and herders over the past two decades proves successful, these farmers will also has decreased, with many more people be trained as ‘trainers of trainers’ who Teklu Erkossa with a colleague at the vetiver now falling under the poverty line. will each be able to pass on the technical grass test plot at Amoud University. According to the 2002 UNDP information to around 20 other farmers Somalia/World bank Socio-Economic so that the project can be replicated in earthbanks with the vetiver, since for the Survey, about 73.4% of Somalilanders neighbouring communities. earth bunds they had to sacrifice the have an income of less than $2 per day. The next step is to introduce the topsoil.’ This is the situation into which Teklu vetiver grass method to the farmers. Once the vetiver in the nursery is Erkossa, a Progressio development Most of the farmers are relative sufficiently established, cuttings can be worker from Ethiopia, stepped earlier this beginners, having switched from transferred to the farms, and its year. Teklu was working on a short-term pastoralism to agriculture due to the suitability can be tested in the field. placement with the Faculty of Agriculture reduction of the grazing base. However, There is still work to be done, but if it and Environment at Amoud University – Ingrid says, ‘their awareness of soil succeeds, the project could play a key the first faculty of its kind in Somalia and conservation is very high and their role in improving agricultural livelihoods Somaliland – to help set up a pilot current practices of soil protection very in the near future. project to test the suitability of using sophisticated. vetiver grass for soil and water ‘Almost every farmer uses at least four Caroline Pankhurst is Progressio’s conservation. different methods of soil conservation, funding manager. The vetiver grass Vetiver grass is a cheap, easy to most of them stone bunds, earth bunds, project is funded from Progressio’s implement and effective means of soil ridges, some of them terraces which they partnership agreement with the and water conservation that provides an renew every year, some do fencing with Department for International alternative to more expensive and less aloe vera or stop water flow with Development. sustainable mechanical procedures. It has branches from shrubs and trees.’ been used successfully to prevent soil But their initial response to vetiver is erosion elsewhere in Africa and Asia positive: ‘Almost every farmer interactnow (more than 120 countries worldwide), immediately could identify a place where Read more at Ingrid Hartmann’s weblog but never in Somalia or Somaliland. vetiver grass could be planted, mostly The Skin of the Earth http://progressio.typepad.co.uk/ The grass has a massive root system eroding riverbanks, sometimes gullies, theskinoftheearth/ reaching down to 2-3 metres in its first sometimes they suggested replacing

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analysis

women and 37 for men in 2006, and five million Zimbabweans will shortly be in need of food aid. Despite the lifting of Between a ban on humanitarian and relief agencies carrying out food distribution, NGOs will still be profoundly restricted and hence people will be in danger of starvation. hope The 85% unemployment in the formal sector has driven millions abroad. The economy has declined by 60%. The foreign currency shortage remains critical. In late July 2008 ten zeroes were and fear removed from the currency but inflation continues to mushroom. Despite Mugabe playing his The future of Zimbabwe and its beleagured people still trademark card of undermining and hangs in the balance, writes Steve Kibble weakening the somewhat divided opposition, there are some encouraging signs. The peoples of the region and INCE MARCH THIS YEAR Zimbabweans will a deal be found acceptable to internationally have signalled their have lived through cycles of fear outsiders willing to reconstruct and pour distaste for ZANU-PF. Trade unionists in Sand hope, from the 29 March in massive needed aid. South Africa refused to unload arms elections through massive state-directed The background to the long drawn- from a Chinese ship destined for Harare, violence to Robert Mugabe’s declaration out nature of the talks lies with the and demonstrations against Mugabe’s of himself as president following the hardline Joint Operations Command presence at the Southern African presidential ‘run-off’. around Mugabe. They had been refusing Development Community (SADC) Optimism rose again during to entertain any deal that would bring in negotiations on a power-sharing transparent governance and economic Despite Mugabe playing his government under the somewhat transactions, as this would undermine tarnished guidance of President Thabo the patronage system by which they are trademark card of Mbeki of South Africa. A memorandum enriched and enabled to buy the undermining and weakening of understanding (MOU), signed on 21 allegiance of those such as the militias the somewhat divided July, committed the parties to an end to and ‘war veterans’ who carry out their opposition, there are some violence, the lifting of the ban on NGOs campaigns of violence and intimidation. encouraging signs They are also worried by threats of We are still in stasis prosecution for human rights abuses. politically amid massive Already by late August militias were summit were held by the Congress of harassing people in Matobo near South African Trade Unions (Cosatu). economic decline, Bulawayo where there will be a by- Regional church leaders have issued precipitated by an all- election (date not yet decided). Given the strong statements against the illegality of pervasive governance crisis nearly equal balance of power in the elections and continuing repression. parliament ZANU-PF considers it vital to The Zimbabwean Catholic Bishops’ distributing vital humanitarian aid, win this by-election, which happened Conference and its Justice and Peace respect for the rule of law, freedom to because the MDC MP for the seat was Commission said in early August that pursue political activity, and recognition elected as Speaker of the House. few of the conditions of the MOU have of the need for a new constitution and We are still in stasis politically amid been met. Civil society and churches for outside reconstruction assistance. massive economic decline, precipitated have been strong in their demands for a As I write, a power-sharing deal has by an all-pervasive governance crisis say in the negotiations. just been agreed, but questions remain which has seen the economy shrink by Whilst we await the details of the over the division of ceremonial and 80% since 1999 – a record for a country power-sharing agreement, ordinary executive power between Mugabe and not at war. The crisis has been marked by Zimbabweans attempt to survive in what Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for a series of disastrous land reform has become a barter economy, with Democratic Change (MDC). Questions to policies, the adoption by the ZANU-PF great need for as much international be resolved include who will control the government of draconian measures solidarity as they can get. The economic and security ministries and curbing civil and political liberties, the international community will need to be how long a power-sharing government plundering of the economy, and the ready to help with recovery programmes should last before elections. collapse of social services. The country once it is clear that progress towards Whilst Mugabe’s ZANU-PF still faces a devastating HIV and AIDS normality and democracy is sustained. controls the apparatus of the state and epidemic, and widespread hunger and security, it has no solution to the crisis dependency. Life expectancy has Steve Kibble is Progressio’s advocacy and is aware that only through the MDC dropped from 61 years in 1990 to 34 for officer for Africa.

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Y COUNTRY currently has 80% unemployment. Inflation is Mrunning at 11,250,000% while month-on-month inflation has Behind accelerated to 840%. It’s hard to make sense of numbers like this. What do these figures mean in reality? What is daily life in Zimbabwe like? the I live in Harare with my wife and have three children aged 9, 14 and 18. My daily life has changed immeasurably in the last 18 months. Everything that we headlines used to take for granted – food, electricity and water – we can no longer ignore. Things that were just part of an Kevin Ndemera, Progressio’s new country representative ordinary day – like going shopping, or in Zimbabwe, describes the reality of daily life in Harare grabbing lunch – have taken on far greater significance. the much-needed medication. So I meet It’s hard to know what my daily life is The day starts early. Normally I’d have lots of people who have had the drugs, going to be like in a year’s time. It could taken a hot shower and had some but have missed a few days or weeks of go so many different ways. Zimbabwe’s breakfast before leaving for the office. medication and so acquired a resistance always surprising. We have a long history That’s not always possible now. We often to their medication. – much longer than news headlines don’t have water, or electricity, so I can’t Having a poor diet really doesn’t help would lead you to believe. If we have a take a shower. We just get what water either – and eating well is difficult when we can in buckets and wash with that. 80% of the population is unemployed. Things that were just part of There’s no doubt that living without Food prices have rocketed and often an ordinary day – like going electricity is better than living without there isn’t any food in the shops. People water. If there’s no electricity, it can be a are inventive. They grow what they can shopping, or grabbing lunch problem cooking food. People gather and trade between themselves. But the – have taken on far greater firewood and cook outside. You don’t economics of the country really affects significance. have the TV, radio or your computer. But people in all sorts of ways. I see it every you can manage. day. real political settlement that recognises Living without water however is no We just used to pop to the shops to the will of the people things could joke. You don’t know when the water buy what we needed. Now that’s improve rapidly. All the ingredients are will go off or for how long. Sanitation impossible. When we go shopping it’s a there. But also, without that settlement, becomes a problem. Imagine that for a three-day round trip to Botswana. I have things could get a lot worse. family of five in a warm country. We’ve to take time off work to buy what the It’s hard to think how they could be learned always to keep a large container family needs to survive. My wife and I go worse. But they could. At the end of the of water to flush the toilet. once a month, and we’re lucky that we day I’m just focusing on my children, not I’m in a fortunate position: I can still can do this. For most people in the on myself. I want them to have a future drive to work. Many people simply can’t country it isn’t an option and I’m always in Zimbabwe. I want them to feel secure. afford to travel to work: the cost of mindful of that. That’s my focus every day. petrol virtually doubles every day. There are far less buses and cars on the roads than there used to be and far more people. Many people now walk for hours to get to work. They arrive late and leave early. Graham Freer/Progressio Once I’m at the office I might not necessarily be able to work because of the lack of electricity. I can’t even turn my computer on. A lot of our work focuses on people living with HIV and AIDS. Although the prevalence rate in Zimbabwe has dropped from a high of 33 per cent to 15 per cent of the population, it’s still a real concern. Gaining consistent access to anti- retroviral drugs can be very difficult for patients because the government doesn’t have enough money to import Kevin Ndemera pictured during a recent visit to Progressio’s head office in London.

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action

The ugly truth: EAST TIMOR: UK arms sales to Indonesia The arms trade is shrouded in secrecy, prone to corrupt practices and highly profitable. The UK has a long history of selling arms to Indonesia, and despite the insistence of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that WHO CARES? none of these arms would be used to repress human rights within Indonesia, extensive evidence collected in East Timor has shown UK-manufactured jets, tanks and arms being used in Timor between 1975 and 1999. The UK licensed the sale of Hawk jets or other major arms to Indonesia in 1978, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1991, 1993, 1995 and 1996. The value of the UK’s arms exports to Indonesia during the period 1997 to 1999 alone is estimated to be in the region of £287.75 million pounds. Throughout this period reports of major human rights abuses in East Timor were being documented and ignored by the UK government.* The UK has given £1 million to the World Bank’s Trust Fund for East Timor, but recently announced it had no further plans to contribute to this programme. Although it funds other agencies and programmes in the area, even the most optimistic funding estimates over the last 10 years would be less than 10% of what the UK earned in arms sales to Indonesia between 1997 and 1999. Progressio is asking the UK government to acknowledge its role in the occupation and repression of the East Timorese people by funding comprehensive capacity-building and rehabilitation programmes to help East Timor move into a peaceful future. Currently, the UK government isn’t stepping up to the proactive and constructive role it could play to promote meaningful progress.

* All figures courtesy of Arms to Indonesia CAAT-TAPOL Factsheet, December 2005, retrieved August 21, 2008 from http://caat.org.uk/publications/countries/indonesia-0604.php

Snapshot: East Timor

Official name: The Democratic Republic of Timor Leste Languages: Tetum, Portuguese Comparative area: roughly two-thirds the size of Wales Indonesia Climate: tropical, hot, humid with wet and dry seasons Terrain: mountainous Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas East Timor Arable land: 8.2% Population: 1,108,777 (but other estimates are as low as 800,000); 35% of the population is less than 14 years old Refugees and internally displaced persons: 100,000 (estimated) Infant mortality rate: 42 per 1,000 live births Life expectancy at birth: 67 years Religions: 98% Roman Catholic Australia Literacy: 58% Population living on less than $1 per day: 40% Unemployment: 50% (estimated)

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action A brief history of the conflict

Nine days after declaring Timor but made a conscious decision to punishing the general population for independence from Portugal in ignore this and state publicly that they defying the wishes of their powerful 1975, East Timor (Timor Leste) was had no knowledge of any abuses to neighbour. During the occupation it is invaded by Indonesia, marking the preserve stability and support Indonesia estimated that between 100,000 and beginning of a bloody, repressive and as a regional anti-communist power. 250,000 people died. violent occupation that would last for More audaciously, as reports of human the next 24 years. rights abuses trickled into British East Timor today The Indonesian military forcibly diplomatic missions in the region and Since independence, the nation has displaced thousands of East Timorese were ignored, the British government struggled to come to grips with its from their homes and livelihoods and made agreements for future arms sales troubled past. Breaking entrenched forbade them from leaving to Indonesia: thereby tacitly supporting cycles of violence and moving towards resettlement camps, despite lack of the occupation. peace is a slow process and there food or adequate hygiene facilities. All The occupation was marked by have been many bumps in the road. human and civil rights were several high profile massacres of citizens In Indonesia, the military perpetrators suspended. in addition to the general climate of fear of human rights violations continue to Some women were forced into and repression. In 1991, a peaceful rise through the ranks and obtain marriages with Indonesian soldiers, protest prompted by the last-minute positions of political influence with no raped or abused, often as retribution cancellation of a Portuguese fear of prosecution. for being related to members of parliamentary delegation to East Timor In East Timor the consequences of Fretilin (the Revolutionary Front for an resulted in the massacre of hundreds of justice undelivered have fed a culture Independent East Timor). Pro- demonstrators, an event caught on film of enmity and violence between independence activists were by British journalist Max Stahl (later former political and ethnic rivals, persecuted, tortured or killed, and released as a documentary entitled In leading to a spiral of violence which is basic freedoms – such as freedom of Cold Blood). It marked the beginning of preventing the country from moving speech, movement or association – an international movement in support of towards a peaceful future. Despite were non-existent. independence for East Timor, the assurances of both the East During this time, the world culminating in a UN-mandated vote for Timorese and Indonesian community, including the UK, turned independence in 1999. governments that justice and a blind eye to the atrocities occurring After the popular consultation in forgiveness has occurred for past in East Timor. Recently, declassified which the people of East Timor voted atrocities, the assassination attempt documents from the 1970s show the overwhelmingly for independence, on President José Ramos-Horta in UK knew of atrocities and human Indonesian-backed militias went on the 2008 is further evidence that, in rights abuses occurring within East rampage throughout the country, practice it remains a long way off. EAST TIMOR: WHO CARES?

Progressio is asking all our members and supporters who believe in justice and truth to stand up ARE YOU WATCHING? and tell decision-makers that they care about the future of East Timor. As a tiny nation, far away from our daily lives, it’s easy to forget the problems and struggles of our brothers and sisters in Timor. Politicians and decision-makers in the UK will continue to ignore their obligations to this tiny island nation unless you help. Our new campaign leaflet features a poster asking campaigners to complete the sentence ‘I care about Timor because….’ and includes a letter to send to UK MPs. You can download it from our website from 14th October, or pick up a copy at our AGM in London on the same day at Central Hall, ARE YOU LISTENING? Westminster. We’re also asking campaigners to photograph themselves holding the poster, and either email, upload or send a hard copy of the photo. We’ll present these photos to UK MPs, to show them the human face of our support for East Timor.

For more information on the campaign, keep your eye on www.progressio.org.uk, sign up to Progressio’s campaigners’ newsletter Proactive (you can subscribe at the ‘Take action’ section of our website) or join WILL YOU SPEAK? Progressio’s new Facebook group (see our website for details).

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huge event for El Salvador. As I watched the procession go by, one woman told me why she’d come Thirsting that day. She said: ‘We women have to spend four hours a day looking for water and this means that our work is put at risk. ‘We face tiredness and a lack of safety on the journey and do not have for change time for other things like education.’ As the protesters marched past the Metrocentro shopping centre, they The struggle to put water rights on the public agenda in El Salvador is passed a sprinkler watering the grass just beginning, says Progressio development worker Marcos Sanjuan under the midday sun. It enraged a young man who was taking part in the march. He said: ‘Look how they’re AN YOU IMAGINE what it would be hold meetings with parliamentarians and wasting the water. ‘In my community, we like not to have any water? Every politicians later this year. only get water for two hours every four Ctime you wanted to wash, cook or But in El Salvador, nothing is simple. days … but the water bills always turn simply have a drink, you’d be forced to The civil war has left a polarised, divided up on time. We are paying for the air in find water wherever you could. There’s no society. Groups from the Right and the the pipes.’ tap to turn on at home. You may spend Left will not speak to each other. El Salvador’s elections next March several hours each day collecting water. And UNES is trying to bring them represent a pivotal moment for this You might even have to pay as much as together to lobby about water provision. beleaguered country. By lobbying one-tenth of your income on water. This It’s not easy. Long-standing mistrust now, UNES is hoping to galvanise the may stop your children from going to dies hard. However, progress is being political elite to take water seriously and school, or you from going to work. made and it is vital that it is. The world’s provide this basic right for its people. This is the situation for over two most powerful leaders have committed million people in El Salvador – some to changing this situation. One of the Marcos Sanjuan is a Progressio 42% of the population. Millennium Development Goals is to development worker with UNES. Water is not a basic human right in El halve the number of people without Salvador. It’s not pumped to every home. access to safe drinking water by 2015. Your chances of having a water supply Fine words need to be changed into a are higher if you live in a town – 73% of finer reality. Promises need to make a urban dwellers have a water supply. But difference to the daily lives of people in only 31% of rural dwellers do. And El Salvador. having a pipe connection does not mean Last year civil society groups organised having water on tap: the precious liquid a march in the capital, San Salvador, is only available a few hours a day in demanding more investment in water Sanjuan/UNES/Progressio Marcos most households, and in some resources and for the protection of households not even every day. people’s right to water. An estimated That’s just water. There isn’t a sewage 25,000 people attended. This was a system. Sanitation is a tragedy. The combination of lack of water and poor Women and children march for water rights. sanitation means that 32 children die every day in El Salvador from diarrhoeal diseases. That’s 21,000 preventable deaths every year. Progressio advocacy on water There have been moves recently to Water will be the focus of Progressio’s environmental advocacy work until 2012. privatise the water supply, putting it even The decision follows detailed consultation with partner organisations, many of further out of reach of the poorest people. whom are working with small-scale farmers to improve their access to water That’s why Progressio partner resources for food security. We will work on three areas: organisation UNES (Unidad Ecológica • the impact of climate change on water resources and what donors and Salvadoreña) is campaigning on this multilateral institutions can do to help poor people cope with increased issue. March 2009 sees El Salvador’s variability in the availability of water general elections. Campaigning has • water footprint: how Northern consumption patterns (especially regarding already begun. So, we are using this agricultural products which take a lot of water to produce) are having an moment when politicians want people’s impact on access to water for poor people in developing countries votes to lobby them about the need to • alternative agriculture: promoting agricultural production methods that use improve the country’s water supply. water in a socially and environmentally sustainable way and making sure that We are aiming to bring together a small-scale sustainable agriculture is prioritised in the policies of donors and broad coalition of NGOs and institutions multilateral institutions. who want to see change. We intend to

20 interact Autumn 2008