Who we work with
Eurostep works with a wide range of NGOs and other civil society organisations, both within Europe and across the world. This includes a number of NGOs within Europe, particularly within the Member States that recently acceded to the EU.
Social Watch
Social Watch is an international network informed by national citizens' groups aiming at following up the fulfilment of internationally agreed commitments on poverty eradication and equality. Social Watch was established at the same time that the world's political leaders made their first commitments to eradicate poverty. (The UN World Summit for Social Development (WSSD) held in Copenhagen (Denmark) from 6-12 March 1995) It emerged from a process in which NGOs from South and North co-operated in a strong coalition with the goal to influence the positions of their respective governments in order to improve the substantive outcome of the Summit. It is a systematic reporting and engagement network, linking the national level to international commitments on social development. The core of this idea was to monitor the implementation of the international commitments at national level. Through Social Watch, a series of national groups report on the progress - or regression - towards these commitments and goals.
The Social Watch groups are organized on an ad hoc basis and have a focal point in each country that is responsible for promoting the initiative. They each submit a national report contributing to the yearly publication; they undertake lobbying initiatives aimed at holding national authorities accountable for policies regarding the agreed commitments, they promote dialogue about social development priorities of individual nations and together they develop an active and inclusive strategy to bring other groups into the national group?
ALOP
ALOP is the association of Latin-American development NGOs. (La Asociación Latinoamericana de Organizaciones de Promoción al Desarrollo) They have roots in twenty countries across Latin America and the Caribbean. Founded in 1979, it constitutes one of the strongest efforts to regional integration in the region.
Amongst its aims are; to constitute a meeting space for development NGOs to exchange information, to come up with suggestions for local and global development, taking into account the full extent of experience and knowledge provided by its associates, to establish proactive relationships with other actors in the sphere of Latin American and Caribbean development; to increase the efficiency of NGOs engaging in development processes, promoting managerial and instrumental modernisation and sustainability, and to develop the capacity of dialogue and agreement between civil society organisations in the region, in forums of regional integration and on an international scale.
SAAPE (South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication)
The South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE) was created against the backdrop of rising poverty and escalating human rights abuses in the South Asia region. South Asia is home to almost 23 percent of the world's 6.6 billion people; it has a wide diversity of cultures, languages, religions and social structures, and is severely affected by poverty. Poverty in South Asia is coupled with socio-political tensions, armed insurgencies, gender discrimination and violence against women, the worst forms of child labour and appalling inequalities of all forms.
Various civil society actors from across the region, together with representatives of civil society organisations from Europe convened a consultation in 2000 in Manesar, India to discuss the problems facing the region and to come up with possible solutions. About 200 participants, comprising journalists, academics, trade unionists, human rights activists, NGOs and other civil society actors agreed to form an alliance to fight against poverty and injustice in South Asia, and SAAPE was formed. It was later formalized at the South Asia Civil Society Network meeting on poverty eradication in Kathmandu in December 2001.
ANND
The Arab NGOs Network for Development (ANND) was established in June 1996. It has a membership of 45 network and non-governmental organization from 12 Arab countries. The initiative for establishing ANND came from a group of Lebanese and Tunisian civil society organizations that met in 1993, during one of the preparatory meetings for the International Social Development Summit that took place in Copenhagen, in 1995.
ANND is an advocacy group; since its establishment, it has worked extensively on strengthening and shaping the role of civil society organizations in the Arab countries. The Arab NGOs Network for Development is an independent, democratic, and civic organization that aims to strengthen civil society and enhance the values of democracy and respect for Human Rights and sustainable development in the Arab region. It works towards this aim through programs of advocacy and by lobbying on regional and national policy-making. The three main focus areas being development, trade, and democracy, while also being committed to the international convention on Human Rights, freedom, respect of the individual, respect of diversity, equality of resource division, the protection of cultural heritage in the Region and the implementing of local developmental priorities.
The Arab NGOs Network envisions democratic, active, and effective civil society coordination in the Arab Region. Through this network, these societies are able to influence public policy, and can open and interact with other cultures and societies. These societies respect and protect the dignity and freedom of the individual and their political, social, economic, civic, and cultural rights, within a state of law and institutions, and promote the values of peace, security, and stability.
LDC Watch
LDC Watch is a global alliance of national, regional and international civil society organisations (CSOs) who focus on the eradication of poverty in the World's 49 Least Developed Countries. LDC Watch is committed to facilitating and supporting people's initiatives and struggles against poverty, hunger, social, economic, political and ecological injustices through advocacy, campaigns and strategic partnership with the social movements, UN agencies, LDC governments and other members of the international community, for pro-poor policies together with their implementation in the LDCs.
