We applaud the views of the Belgian group FOS ( www.fos-socsol.be) . FOS sees the social and economic problems in the world (and most importantly in the countries in the South) arising from a structural inbalance of political, economic and social power between the countries in North and those in the South. This imbalance in power translates into unequal trade patterns, unequal access to resources and most importantly the increasing desire of certain economic, social and political dominant actors to impose their will on the rest of the people in the world.

The effects of these are poverty, hunger, malnutrition, natural disasters, economic, social and political upheavals in countries in the south.

The most effective way to combat these social evils in a sustainable way is to fight against the power relations at all levels. Stronger organisations from the civil society and more importantly membership-organisations of peasant farmers, women, workers and rural communities are the building rocks to effect changes. These organised bodies need to participate in the decision-making process affecting them and also embark on countervailing power process.

ROLE :

FOS sees its role as one of facilitating, supporting, sharing experiences and information, and building strong relations and solidarity with organised groups of marginalised people in both North and South to improve their power relations. The power relations affect life on local, community, provincial, national and international levels. FOS seeks to build and enhance the capacity of these organisations so that they can respond effectively to the needs of their stakeholders.

GOALS :

The global objective of FOS is to help the emancipation process and power relations of organised groups of marginalised people. Taking control of their own development processes means having the power over resources and translating these means into ends. The ultimate end  is the  improvement of the living conditions of the beneficiary group. FOS therefore strives through its role of capacity building and organisational strengthening to improve the working, delivery, transparancy, accountability and participatory role of the organisations concerned.

WORKING METHOD :

FOS strives in both South and North to work against the conditions, actions and policies which create, maintain and increase global inbalance of power on social and economic front.

Working in the South

In the South we support activities which improve the economic and social conditions of the people concern.

FOS is of the view that sustainable improvement of the lives of people can be done by the people themselves. Therefore FOS chooses to work with local organisations in the South. We choose in the first place to work with membership organisations like peasant farmers' organisations, cooperatives, trade unions, women’s groups and community-based organisations. In cases where these organisations are not in existence, weak or just emerging, we work through service organisations (NGOs) which are meant to provide assistance to these membership organisations.

FOS chooses in most cases not to be an implementing agency. We rather work through local organisations or NGOs in order to forestal the sustainability of the programmes.

There are 8 offices overseas which are staffed with expatriate development workers whose tasks are mainly to undertake prospective work, monitor, facilitate linkages and exchanges, coordinate and to report from the countries to Brussels.

Sending foreign expatriates to implement projects is therefore at the minimum. We believe strongly in local expertise and when it is not present or weak, we choose to facilitate its improvement. In few countries like Angola, Mozambique and Vietnam, FOS has some expatriates in certain projects.

Working in the North

FOS believes that the economic and social problems in the South are not caused only by the conditions there (lack of resources, lack of capacity & management skills, natural disasters and political woes), but the actions from countries in the North are part of the problem. Political and economic ideological dominance contribute to worse situations.

Globalisation, liberalisation, and open market economic doctrine are causing massive problems in the South. Trade exploitations, aid policies, agricultural policies, impositions of structural adjustments policies, tied-Aid, debt issues and environmental pollution are major issues which have their roots in the North but gravely affect the lives of the people in the South.

At the same time issues like attitude, racial & cultural dominance,  superiority complex, ignorance, misinterpretation of values and negative image building contribute to the imbalance of power relations.

PROGRAMME COMPONENTS IN THE NORTH :

FOS undertakes public educational programmes and activities in the Flemish Community in Belgium. This has the objective to improve the image building over countries in the South, influence the attitude of the Flemish people towards other cultures and values and also to make known the negative effects of the practices in the North which affect the Southern countries.

The major partners in this educational programme are the various organisations within the social democratic movement: eg: the trade union-ABVV, the health insurance-‘Socialistische Mutualiteiten’, the women organisation-‘Socialistische Vooruitziend Vrouwen-SVV’, the youth organisations-‘Maatschappelijke Jongeren Actie-MJA’ and the ‘Jonge Socilaisten’. 

Policy influencing, lobby activities and public campaigns are also undertaken to change the policies of the Belgian Government and the EU to create a favourable and sustainable development in the South. FOS undertakes this either on its own or with other sister organisations both in Belgium and other European Countries.

Research work, training, publication and information dessimination on EU-related issues are undertaken by a special department within FOS called the European Research Office- ERO. This unit focuses on Southern Africa region and FOS-ERO has a regional antenae in Harare which engages in policy influencing. The EU-related issues are: Post Lomé debate, agricultural policy, fisheries, trade and aid.

PROGRAMME COMPONENTS  IN THE SOUTH:

To increase the impact of its support, FOS focuses on certain geographical regions and limits the number of countries in which it works. Currently FOS works in 5 regional programmes situated in 14 countries.

The regions and countries are:

Southern Africa    : Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe

Southern America : Bolivia, Chile and Peru

Central America    : Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador (limited work in Cuba)

South-East Asia    : Cambodja & Vietnam

Middel East           :  Palestine

On the sectorial level, FOS limits itself to the support of organisations like peasant farmers' groups, community-based organisations, trade unions, women’s groups and lastly service organisations which gear their programmes towards the groups mentioned above.

Most of the concrete activitities carried out by the partners with FOS support are situated in:

mobilising, organising and strengthening of membership organisations (trade unions, farmers' associations, community-based organisations and women’s groups)

capacity building and training programmes

community development

production and marketing of farming products, small-scale industrial production

community-based credit schemes

health mutuality schemes

 The specific programme, activities and partners within a particular country are described  under country programmes.

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE :

FOS is a development NGO registered under Belgian law as a non-profit organisation. It has as its supreme body, 37 member General Council made up of representatives of the socialist movement in Belgium (trade union-ABVV, Socialist Mutual Health Insurance, the Socialist Party), engaged individuals who share FOS’s vision and four staff members. The Board of Trustees are chosen from the General Council and these are generally made up of the representatives of the social organisations. There is a management committee which runs the organisation on a daily basis and this is made up of the President of the Board, the two vice-presidents and the General Secretary.

STAFF:

FOS has a total staff compliment of 34 (14 women and 20 men). At the headquarters in Brussels, FOS works with 14 staff members (9 of these are women, including the General Secretary). The other staff members are spread over the 14 countries to coordinate and monitor the programmes with partners in the south and to represent FOS in the country or regional offices.

FINANCES:

FOS has an average annual financial output of about US$ 5.4m. (Euros 4.6m) 

Out of this approximately US$ 3.4 comes from the Belgian taxpayer through the Belgian Administration of Development Cooperation (BADC).

Approximately US$ 1m comes from the co-financing budget for NGOs from the EU through DGVIII.

About US$ 1m is gathered through FOS own fund-raising activities. These include individual donations, contributions from sister organisations of the Flemish socialist movement, provincial and local governments grants and public fund-raising activities coordinated by the umbrella NGO group NCOS.