REPORT OF “THE DOON MEETING” OF THE ALLIANCE

Dear friends,

The unique process of the 2001 event series of the Alliance has begun in South Asia. I deliberately used the word unique, because in the whole lot of events that will take place in all over the world by different social and political organisations in the wake of the new millennium, the Alliance events will not only be an event in itself but it will be a unique method to connect people through hearts and make them partners, perhaps for ever, in the struggle to realise the Alliance dream of a better world.
So far, the Alliance way of organising meetings has been proved to be very effective and action oriented. It has allowed people to express themselves freely, think realistically and act effectively. These meetings and workshops have mostly meant to share experiences, express hopes and frustrations and make collective strategies for actions, unlike those big meetings and workshops where people talk about others, blame others and leave the work done by others!
After the Barcelona meeting, the Alliance process of entering into the new millennium became a more clear and an well-organised move. Since then the process has started in all over the world, at least in thinking level. We are looking forward very excitingly to the diverse proposals of our allies from different parts of the world for entering into the next millennium, while presenting the series of events that are going to take place in South Asia during the year 2000/2001.

The beginning:

To start the process, we contacted the Alliance partners in our region and made them aware of the 2001 process of the Alliance. We got prompt responses and very encouraging supports from the allies. In the process we felt that we need to make a small team of around ten to twelve active allies who can devote their time and make strategies for organising effective events. We decided to call a working meeting in our home in Dehradun.  We invited twelve people in a very short notice. All of them agreed to attend the meeting. Nine of them could actually make it. Siddhartha, who was going to attend a meeting in Australia at the same time, sent Pradeep Sebastian, a very devoted and active member of Pipal Tree. Three of them could not come because of their tight schedule, but wished to be the part of the team and extended their full support.

Those who attended the meeting are:

Mr. Rakesh Jaiswal  (Kanpur, India) … Eco-friends.
Ms. Vidhi Jain (Rajasthan, India) … Shikshantar.
Mr. Pradeep Sibastian (Banglore, India) … Pipal Tree.
Mr. Rajendra Mulmi (Kathmandu, Nepal) … Youth Organisation.
Mr. Shahid Perwez (Delhi, India) … Asian Youth Network of the Alliance (AYNA)
Mr. Makarand Pranjpe (Delhi, India) … Professor, IIT Delhi. / the writer of the South Asian Earth Charter of the Alliance
Mr. Arvind Mohan Negi (U.P, India) … Save the seeds/ Asian Youth Network of the Alliance (AYNA) Ms. Nacéra Aknak Khan (Dehradun, India) YW International Coordinator.
Mr. Sarfaraz Khan (Dehradun, India) …. YW Coordinator, Asia.

The Meeting:

The meeting was held in Dehradun between 17-19 of November ’99.
It started with an informal welcome remark by Nacéra and Sarfaraz.  Rjendra Mulmi gave valuable information about his work and his organisation in Nepal. Vidhi and Rakesh updated their activities after the last meeting of the Alliance in Bangalore.  Nacéra and Sarfaraz then gave the detailed information about the newly created four wings of the facilitation team of the Alliance. They also explained the ideas of the 2001 process of the Alliance. As the discussion proceeded, a crucial issue of the distorted education system in our region came up which led to the idea of starting an education project for South Asia.  Since Vidhi Jain has been involved in the alternative education in Rajasthan and that Sarfaraz and Rajendra closely associated with the education issues, it was decided that to start the process Vidhi would prepare a draft document on the issue with the help of Sarfaraz and Rajendra from Nepal. This draft will then be shared with the other individuals and organisations involved in the field. Further it will be brought out to the decision-making institutions on a wider level. 
The rest of the days of the meeting were devoted to think of the programs and strategies for the 2001 events in South Asia.

The Ideas for the Alliance events in South Asia:

1.    The Participants thought about the idea of an Alliance March for the year 2000. It was suggested that the Youth Workshop of Asia will initiate the March and young people from all parts of the region will join it. This march was thought of as means, which will take part in different events that can be organised in different parts of the region and ultimately conclude in a big event/meeting to make a collective declaration.  Two names suggested for the March: 1. The Millennium March of the Alliance. 2. The Naya Yug March. (Naya Yug (Hindi) means New Age). 

2.	The second possibility came up after a detailed discussion and analysis of the situation in the region. Nacéra suggested that we could organise a central event in South Asia in the year 2001. This event can be organised over 150 to 200 people. Prior to this, several pilot meetings/events will be organised in different places of the region. Kathmandu (Nepal) was thought of the possible venue of the central event. Pradeep Sebastian emphasised that CREATIVITY and IMAGINATION should be made the central goal of the Alliance events. Makarand Pranjpe, while agreeing with Sebastian, suggested to establish a South Asian Facilitation Team of the Alliance for 2001 events. Sarfaraz taking the ideas of Nacéra, Pradeep and Makarand suggested the following :

a)	We form a South Asian Facilitation Team of the Alliance 2001 events, which can be called SAFTA-2001.
b)	SAFTA-2001 will be formed with all the participants who are present in the meeting, plus one member each from Srilanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. SAFTA-2001 will take the responsibilities to facilitate the organisation of several small events in different corners of South Asia.  The members will plan the events, which are most relevant and effective in their region with the help of the members of their own organisation (or make a group for the purpose). Each small event will be supported by the SAFTA-2001, by taking part in the event or otherwise. These small events will be a chain of events and will be concluded in the end of the year 2000. During the events each group will also prepare and get support from their participant for the big event, which will take place in June 2001. 
c)	The place of the big event can be Kathmandu, Nepal. (But it is left open to discussion for the moment).

The final decision:

We agreed and formed the SAFTA-2001. It was decided that several small events would be organised by the SAFTA-2001 members in their regions. The three allies from SriLanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh will be contacted as soon as possible and help them to organise events in their countries. (At the time as I am writing this message, Nacéra got a confirmation e-mail from Srilanka. Savithri Walatara has agreed to join us and that she will organise an event in Srilanka under the 2001 process of the Alliance. She is now one of the SAFTA-2001 members).

The following events have already been proposed to take place in South Asia.  (Few more events that will take place will be finalised soon.) These events will be the pilot meetings, which will help to mobilise and select the participants for the June 2001 event.

Events Planned:

1. Political Alternatives for the next millennium in the youth points of view.
Place: New Delhi – India  
In February 2000 
Co-ordinator:  Makarand Pranjpe

2. A March with slogan "The new millennium, millennium of the Youth"
Place: Kanpur-India
In  September 2000
Co-ordinator: Rakesh Jaiswal

3.	A week long Art festival and workshop on "youth & Media" 
Place: Udaipur-Rajasthan-India
In May-June 2000
Co-ordinator: Vidhi Bhandari

4.  "Social engaged artists concert and Poetry festival"
Place: Bangalore-India
In August-September 2000
Co-ordinators: Pradeep Sebastian and David Timothy

5.	"youth workshop on millennium agendas for the youth" 
Place: Kathmandu-Nepal
In May-June 2000
Co-ordinator: Rajendra Mulmi

*The above mentioned events will produce documents, Video and Audio tapes that will be used for the 2001 event as well as to diffuse through the Alliance communication tools.
*These documents will be provided to the THEMATIC commission of the International Facilitation Team of the Alliance (IFT).
*These documents will be so organised that they will be a sub chapter of The South Asian Earth Charter.

The sub-committees of the SAFTA-2001

Three sub committees of SAFTA-2001 are set up.

1.	Fundraising:  Siddhartha, Vidhi and Makarand. 
2.	Thematic: It includes all the SAFTA-2001 members and Sarfaraz as co-ordinator. 
3.	Logistic:  It will be taken care of by Rajendra and his team.

Further:

1.    On the 2nd of December ’99, a get together will be organised in New Delhi with the allies who are living in Delhi so that we know each other and help each other for the events and fundraising. The same day Sarfaraz, Makarand and Nacéra will draft the tentative budget for the events in South Asia. The regional events will largely be self financed except little help to some of the events.

2.	We will start as soon as possible an e-mail list for the team.

3.	The full report (2000-2001 events projects) will be diffused on the 15th of December ‘99 with the provisional budget.

4.	A letter from the team will be prepared to invite other people to join the process.

5.	The next meeting of SAFTA-2001 will be held in September 2000 (probably in Kathmandu).

6.	Vidhi, Rajendra, Sarfaraz and Jeroo Billimoria from Bombay will work closely for the Education workshop in South Asia. During December, we'll have the first experiences abstracts and a general document "Education in South Asia".