APGN 5-Year Development Plan Survey

Summary of Main Findings from APGN 5-Year Development Plan Survey

The Australian Greens Global Issues Group has taken on the task of coordinating work towards a 5-year development plan to be put as a proposal for the conference this coming April-May in Taiwan. For this the Global Issues Group prepared a survey for APGN members and interested groups, to help them prepare a draft 5 year plan.

Below is a small summary of the findings from this survey that are most relevant for the 5 year development plan. A full report of the survey findings will be included as an appendix to the development plan proposal.

The groups that have responded so far to the survey are: Green Nepal Party, Uttarakhand Parivartan Party (UKPP), China Green Party, Green Nepal Party, Mongolian Green Movement, Mongolian Green Coalition, Nature Conservation Party, Chinese Greens, Sri Lanka Green Alliance, Mongolian National Green Movement, Federation For A Democratic China Australia, Green Party, ECOLO Japan, Chinese Greens, Partido Kalikasan or PK (Philippine Green Party), PNG GREENS, Australian Greens, Pakistan Green Party.

If you have any comments or suggestions or would like more information write to Miriam Solomon at miriams@iinet.net.au.

Survey Summary:

Individual groups

Q.5 Main Goals

• Implement Global Greens Charter and related issue campaigns achieved through electoral success, through lobbying and through connections with social movement.
• significant voice and influence in the politics of the country
• work cooperatively together with other APGN groups and support international/Asia-Pacific campaigns
•  democratisation, good governance and electoral reform; educational and media reform
•  awareness raising; carbon-neutral country/region
• found or strengthen green political party in country.

Q9. Goals for next 5 years? (or 10 years?)

strengthen power to implement global greens charter policies

electoral reform

• register legally as political party (where it is now illegal, e.g. China) and become elected
•  democratisation of our country

electoral success

•  increase ability to strongly influence government decisions through increased electoral representation, gaining “balance of power”.
•  increase number of elected representatives at all levels
•  form government / become a ruling power in national parliament
• first youth led green party in our country gaining electoral representation

strengthen the party

• double membership
• set up well structured and functional bio-regional assemblies across our country
• increase number and skill of local and national candidates to stand for election
•  achieve a national level green party with strong base in rural areas

improve policies

• To gain and produce sustainable policies among leading NGOs and research Institutes, private think tanks change ideologya new green mind set with correct attitudes towards our problems with constructive solutions.

Main political issues – summary

Economic

• ·     Economic structures, legislation leading to displacement of people, unemployment, poverty, social justice.

Ecological

• unsustainable devlopment: pollution, damage and ecological disasters, climate change, availability of water and renewable energy.

Human rights

• freedoms: lack of judicial independence, minority rights, refugee rights.

Lack of Democracy

• Need for electoral reform and participatory democracy: undemocratic.
• Governance structures: corruption, failure to implement laws
• Education and media: lack of green awareness
• External political interference and exploitation

Insecurity

• Security threats: wars, political instability, private armies & extra-judicial killings

Social

• Social cohesion, need for human resource development,

APGN

Support Needed – Summary

• Financial
• Common campaigns
• Information and knowledge sharing (on management, methodologies, political agenda, policies, guidelines, election campaigns)
• International forum for our voice
• Set up common foundation for fund collection and allocations
• Divide 3 APGN regions to strengthen each (East Asia, South Asia, Pacific)
• Empowering our potential young green leaders (election candidates)
• Moral, ethical, ideological – promote the spread of green ideas

Goals summary

capacity building

• Support the growth of green groups and parties throughout the region, including supporting small and local green groups
• Strengthen linkage between parties: communication, information, resources and skills sharing
• Establish infrastructure for political and financial support
• Visit each other during election campaigns

Common campaigns

• Coordinate common coalitions and campaign strategies
• Engagements in such mechanisms as ASEAN, APEC, Regional Trade Agreements/ Negotiations, Global climate change negotiations, relevant MEAs and others

Promotion and development of policies and ideologies

• Global warming: Green and Carbon Neutral Asia
• Bring groups closer ideologically and politically – federation of political parties not a group of many different NGOs , Political parties and individuals

Q4. How groups can contribute to APGN

• Interface with other green movements and emerging green parties in our own sub-region to introduce global greens network and share information. Visiting each other.
• Promote green issues and parties in our country and the region
• Create an open sharing mechanism of information and updates on critical issues from our national borders which may have regional and sub-regional implications
• Coordinate or organise regional meetings, help its financial and planning supports 
• Contact Green parties and members in other regions of the planet, inviting them to our meeting 
• Collect important materials and make database on Green politics and related issues
• To share local views and experiences.  Hong Kong can always act as a stepping stone to promote green issues into China.
• Help build the low carbon economy model
• Cooperate to reach common understandings, work through differences, and give mutual support
• Take part in efforts to re-initiate APYGN
• Helping with resources of a range of types
• Putting forward proposals to improve organisational structure of APGN and regional networks 

Desired outcomes from APGN 2010 summary

Organisational reform of APGN

• A formal APGN organization with elected leaders, permanent working committees
• Strong network structure with a support mechanism for the membership
• Form stronger Membership Panel and a larger Coordination.
• Monitoring mechanism for functioning of the Membership Panel and Coordination

5 year plan

•  A clear 3-5 year strategic and an annual operations plan.   
• Inter national green movement/party, intra regional, intra-subregional and inter-regional and global pledges and commitments to be drawn up from EVERYONE to help in making the national green parties and movements in the region to be politically viable and self-sustaining organizations relevant to our respective nations and regions/sub-regions.
• Decide what, when, where and how we should do commonly in actions and campaign in the coming 5 years. More detailed shedule.
• Help poor countries
• Develop some plans to help those regional green parties from non-democracy countries such as Iran and China.
• Develop strategies to hold regional level Congresses.
• Benefits at the meeting
• Support each other. Support for our next election campaign.
• That we can specifically reflect in our own action plans.   
• Closer relationships between members, cooperation and united green movement, work together as global citizen where we share common goals and objectives.
• A united voice. Show the world that countries from Asia Pacific regions are no longer passive to response to green issues and that we are reacting very positively with great new ideas to make our mother earth a better place.
• new mind set with solid green solutions

Capacity building mechanisms for APGN

• Fund / resource mechanism

Issues

• A common effort to create a green and carbon neutral Asia.
•  save himalayan region
• Perhaps a resolution on climate change

03/18/2010 – 18:58