Asia Development Alliance (ADA) Bangkok Declaration 2013

Asia Development Alliance (ADA) Bangkok Declaration 2013

Asia Development Alliance (ADA) 2013

Bangkok, 31 Jan. to 2 Feb. 2013

Asian Voice for the World We Want 2015

ADA Bangkok Declaration 2013

 

We, over 70 participants – mainly representatives of national and sub-national development NGO/CSO platforms (NP) and international CSOs and their platforms – of the first meeting of the Asia Development Alliance (ADA) in Bangkok from 31 January to 2 February 2013 held under the theme “Asian Voice for the World We Want 2015†including an one-day public session on 1 Feb. 2013 at the UN Conference Centre, UNESCAP addressing the Asian CSO response to the Post-2015 Development Agenda (Session1), policy dialogue with UN and ADB (Session 2), international advocacy on international processes and agendas (Session 3), enabling environment for CSO development effectiveness and human rights defenders (Session 4-1), and financing for development beyond Monterrey Consensus (Session 4-2),

1. Recognizing that the Asia Development Alliance (ADA) a joint initiative and an evolving network of national and sub-national development NGO/CSO platforms (NPs) in Asia – mainly South, Southeast and Northeast Asia – in order to enhance synergetic effects and cost-effective communication, coordination and cooperation in partnership with international CSOs and their platforms, in particular, Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP)-Asia, CIVICUS Affinity Groups of National Associations (AGNA), International Forum of National NGO Platforms (IFP) in the context of Post 2015 Development Agenda and the global campaign for the World We Want,
2. Recognizing that the ADA is a result of a series of consultations among representatives of NPs during the international meetings including the Asia regional meeting of IFP (Kathmandu, Oct. 2011), CIVICUS General Assembly (Sept. 2011 and 2012) and Seoul Civil Society Forum (Sept. 2011, Feb and Sept. 2012),
3. Recognizing that NPs can and should play a proactive role as an interface and inter-linkage between local, sub-national and national CSOs and international CSOs in terms of information sharing, policy shaping and advocacy,
4. Recognizing that the ADA is a space for policy dialogue for action and reflection at the regional level with international organizations and institutions such as the UN, and other stake-holders such as ADB,
5. Recognizing that the ADA is a collaborative efforts between development and human rights CSOs at the regional level to meet common challenges of defending civil society and democratic space, human rights defenders as well as promoting an enabling environment for CSO development effectiveness,
6. Recognizing that the ADA is a timely response to emerging challenges of the Post-2015 Development Agenda and other related processes and agendas such as Post Istanbul process on LDCs, Post Busan Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC), g7+ and Peacebuilding and Statebuilding Goals (PSGs) and Post Rio+20 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and G20 Summit Development Agenda,
7. Recognizing with appreciation the role played by the 4 co-conveners – Voluntary Action Network in India (VANI) for South Asia, Cooperation Committee for Cambodia (CCC) and Code-NGO (Philippines) for Southeast Asia and Korea NGO Council for Overseas Development Cooperation (KCOC) for Northeast Asia in making the first regional meeting of ADA possible,
8. Expressing our deep appreciation to the UN Millennium Campaign (UNMC) and Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) for their services as local hosts of the ADA,
9. Expressing our deep appreciation to the co-sponsors for their valuable contributions, namely CIVICUS AGNA, IFP and Good Neighbors International (GNI) and other contributors including Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Zhi-Shan Foundation,
10. Expressing our appreciation to Mr. Shun-ichi MURATA, Deputy Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) who welcomed the participants in person at the opening session of the ADA,
11. Expressing our appreciation to all participants, mainly representatives of NPs, CSOs and their platforms as well as experts who shared their valuable knowledge and expertise,

Commitments and Action Plans

1)       Decide to officially launch the ADA as a coalition of national and sub-national development CSO/NGO platforms in Asia with the following organizations as founding members in partnership with international CSOs and their networks listed below, and invite more NPs to join in due course,

2)       Commit to work together with relevant partner organizations such as GCAP-Asia in context of the Post 2015 Development Agenda, in particular the 4^th HLP on Post 2015 (Bali, March 2013), UN General Assembly (New York, Sept. 2013) and other relevant international meetings,

3)       Confirm the following 6 NPs as a group of co-conveners to facilitate the ADA process: VANI (India) and NFN (Nepal) for South Asia, Code-NGO (Philippines) and CCC (Cambodia) for Southeast Asia, and JANIC (Japan) and KCOC (Korea) for Northeast Asia with a mandate of 2 years (Jan 2013 to Dec. 2014) and KCOC as a focal point,

4)       Request Co-conveners to develop Terms of Reference (ToR) regarding membership and partnership criteria and procedure of NPs for new membership,

5)       Welcome the initiative of VANI (India) to provide a website for ADA members by creating a website or modifying the existing IFP-Asia website http://www.ngo-asia.org/ as a space for online communication and resource archive including a common work calendar,

6)       Welcome the “Siem Reap Initiative†from CCC (Cambodia) as a focal point among NPs in Asia to implement the Istanbul Principles and Seam Reap Consensus for CSO Development Effectiveness through training and advocacy,

7)       Welcome the formation of the ADA Working Group on G20, primarily among NPs from five member countries of the G20 namely, China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia and India in corporation with other interested NPs and IPs to facilitate Asian CSOs participation in the G20 process, especially the Development Working Group and Civil G20 Dialogue and G20 Summit (Petersburg, June and Sept. 2013),

8)       Request Co-conveners to facilitate the formation of an ADA Working Group on GPEDC as an interface between ADA and CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE),

9)       Request Co-conveners to consider forming an ADA Working Group on Rio+20, as necessary and appropriate, as an interface between ADA and existing CSO/NGO and/or Stakeholder Groups like Major Groups in Asia,

10)   Request Co-conveners to organize the following programs if and when possible, in cooperation with international CSOs and their platforms that have relevant expertise and resources,

a)     Capacity-building program on national and international advocacy on international development processes and agendas including MDGs and Post 2015 Development Agenda, GPEDC, Rio+20, G20 and Monterrey Consensus,

b)     Training and exchange forums among development practitioners and human rights defenders focusing on human rights mainstreaming, human rights-based approach to development (RBA) and the Istanbul Principles and Siem Reap Consensus for CSO Development Effectiveness,

c)     Policy dialogue and engagement with national governments as appropriate, UN and other international institutions as well as policy makers, parliamentarians and academic communities on the ‘new Asian development framework’based on universal norms such as human rights, social and gender justice, ecological sustainability, peace and human security and decent workwhich reflects reality and aspirations of impoverished and marginalized people in Asia,

d)     Policy dialogue and engagement with private sectors to promote corporate accountability in corporation with relevant organizations including the UN Global Compact,

11)   Request Co-conveners to organize a 2^nd meeting of the ADA in an appropriate timeframe oflate 2013 or early 2014 to assess the outcomes of international advocacy work particularly the UN GA (New York, September 2013) and make joint plan for the year 2014 and beyond.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/ADA2013/

List of Founding NPs participating in ADA 2013

South Asia

1. Bangladesh Federation of NGOs in Bangladesh (FNB) www.ngofederationbd.net
2. NGO Federation of Nepal (NFN) www.ngofederation.org
3. Sushasoner Jonny Procharavizan (SUPRO), Bangladesh www.supro.org
4. Voluntary Action Network India (VANI) www.vaniindia.org

Southeast Asia

1. Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO) Philippines www.code-ngo.org
2. 6.       Cooperation Committee on Cambodia (CCC) www.ccc-cambodia.org
3. FONGTIL-Forum NGO Timor Leste (FONGTIL) www.fongtil.org
4. Indonesia International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID) www.infid.org
5. 9.       NGO Forum on Cambodia (NFC) www.ngoforum.org.kh/eng

Northeast Asia

1. China Association for NGO Cooperation (CANGO) www.cango.org
2. Japan Association of Charitable Organizations (JACO) www.kohokyo.or.jp
3. Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation (JANIC) www.janic.org
4. Korea Civil Society Forum on International Development Cooperation (KoFID) www.kofid.org
5. Korea NGO Council for Overseas Cooperation (KCOC) www.ngokcoc.or.kr
6. Taiwan Alliance in International Development (Taiwan AID) www.taiwanaid.org

 List of Partner Organizations – International CSOs and Platforms– participating in ADA 2013