GAC - Bridgetown Protocol - Economic and Community Development Working Group Report



		THE BRIDGETOWN PROTOCOL HOME TABLE OF CONTENTS Back to Working Group Reports PART III - WORKING GROUP REPORTS ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT WORKING GROUP REPORT Chairperson: Cikiah Thomas Rapporteur: Nekesha Holdipp INTRODUCTION PRIORITY AREAS RECOMMENDATIONS INTRODUCTION We are pleased with the progress of our working group in light of the size of the task that was before us. The task was enormous. This is only the beginning, and the work has been exciting. This conference generated a lot of debate, ideas and cross-fertilization of views, which have greatly enriched the outcome of our deliberations. We were able to lay the foundation for fulfilling our working group’s objectives, by building on the expertise of the Afrikans and Afrikan descendents constituting our group. We had a vigorous exchange of brilliant input following the presentations of Rev. Ron Nathan (Community Business and Empowerment, and a problems facing the inner cities), Michelle Williams, Prince Asiel ben Yisrael (Afrikan Hebrew Israelites), New Economic Partnership for Afrikan Development; Farid Omar (Con-NEPAD) vs. Nwachuku Okonkwo (Pro-NEPAD), and an American youth by the name of Aday shared his idea of using the Pan-Afrikan Games as a vehicle for expanding unity not only on the continent, but also in the Diaspora. We were also very pleased with the representation we had from Afrika, North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe. Our discussions were guided by the relevant paragraphs of the UN Durban Declaration and Program of Action of 2001. Our priorities were divided into the following: · Agriculture and food security · Agri-Business · Development Financing · Fair Trade · Human Resources and Capacity Building · Infrastructure Development · Transfer of Technology · Debt Relief We also began the accumulation of a technical expertise team and proposed further expertise teams that start here, in Barbados, for work to begin when we return to our respective regions. We will begin with the dissemination of information that is already available, from which we shall build upon. PRIORITY AREAS ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT · Use government legislation and legal frameworks to incorporate self-initiating and self-enforcing mechanisms · Create pool of Afrikan and Diaspora resources to develop the Continent · Focus on youth – utilizing the following avenues: o Education: Choice of curriculum; o Increase the numbers and quality of education facilities; o Tapping into youth talents; o Afrikan language and dialectical programs; o Network communities · Devise network vehicles for Pan-Afrikan communities, i.e. Proposal for the Pan-Afrikan Games · Develop an institute of excellence that would produce Afrikan-centred educators to enable community self- education · Form an independent, inter-dependent Pan-Afrikan business community for economic self-determination · Devise agencies for local and individual level mentorship specific to education and career expertise · Encourage the support of Pan-Afrikan businesses and Pan-Afrikan education institutions, countering inconveniences and obstacles · Devise tolerance programs and discourage generalizations · Implement organizational formations with the grassroots to facilitate networking (micro–macro) to communicate and develop progressive projects · Implement a “purpose-direction-planning” strategy to lobby and organize a ‘to do for self’ approach · Formalize a Diaspora and Continental partnership to effect complementary relationships to aid in areas of weakness e.g. education, policy making, food security; and highlight areas of strength · Acknowledge and lobby governments and corporations to eliminate externally imposed economic ceilings UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITY LEVEL ACTIVITIES · Utilize structures, resources and research already possessed by establishing businesses in Afrika and the Diaspora to build upon · Establish a “grassroots to grassroots” communications database · Share and replicate best practices · Accumulate information on regional levels · Explore our communities to determine what has been financially profitable and self promoting as opposed to culturally self-defeating · Encourage the support of cottage industries, starting small with simplistic business initiatives · Understand the local market RECOMMENDATIONS AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY · Reclaim land, with open access · Support Black farmers rights on the continent and in the Diaspora · Improve farming methods to maximize land production capacity · Identify regionally suitable areas for maximum crop production · Encourage and facilitate growth from micro to macro subsistence farming · Expand from single crop/monoculture farming · Develop strategies to shift production from primary to agri-business · Identify land resources that can facilitate large production · Research the importation of “empty foods” into the continent and Diaspora responsible for malnutrition, as well as availability of essential foods to prevent mal-nutrition and starvation · Examine and correct land mine issues affecting farm land availability · Install incorporated rejuvenation and conservation techniques to restore and prevent further deterioration of land · Identify, address and eradicate patent constraints, blocking access to indigenous materials · Provide education on indigenous Afrikan technology and patent process to ensure information is secured · Formulate an agriculture cartel · Expand from Euro-centric farm production and marketing · Institute Afrikan nutritional standards, education and policies · Formulate policies to reflect complementary and solidarity enhancing farming practices · Formulate a Pan-Afrikan agricultural economic system using a Pan-Afrikan currency · Promote information and product dissemination independence · Create education initiatives on land ownership, farming methods, production and distribution LAND REFORM STRATEGY · Support the Zimbabwean Land Reform Initiative and use it as a precedent for future regional claims and redistribution initiatives · Reform land ownership laws and create a process to achieve social justice and equity · Reform legal institutions by replacing bureaucracy with swifter processes · Implement institutional recognition of communal/collective land ownership · Devise legal, financial, ownership structures to halt dubious land transfers (land ownership protection laws) · Impose moratorium on multi-national corporations and alien land ownership · Insist and enforce redistribution of land to indigenous people · Implement mechanisms to establish continental repatriation (rights of return) policies and permission for Diasporans to purchase properties through prioritisation of ownership according to heritage ties · Tax and gradually nationalize multi-national corporations · Rally and educate communities to assume collective efforts in becoming self-sufficient · Call on G8 to cease subsidizing farmers (fair trade agreement reform) · Lobby Afrikan governments to subsidize farmers MODERN, HOLISTIC AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY · Develop integrated farming Systems Technician · Utilize renewable (recycling) resource methods of farming · Implement the development of a regional technology bank · Return to the use of natural holistic food processing and preservation methods (storage) · Develop and increase funding to institutions that have agricultural research departments specialising in holistic and sustainable development. · Develop irrigation systems in regional farming areas. · Fund the development of a central agricultural information bank that would link academia, community groups, government etc. · Eliminate the importation and use of GMOs · Address weakness in co-op farming. AGRI-BUSINESS · Produce a communication network for sourcing of raw materials. · Increase the number of “backyard”/co-op farms. · Determine the market direction and demand on commodities e.g. spices, pepper etc. · Review indigenous commodities and raw materials in relation to the physical environment, i.e. cost effectiveness, in order to reduce training and equipment costs · Create a Pan-Afrikan credit union/ financial institution · Create an inventory of successful past practices; identify ways to communicate this information to other areas. · Provide education about farming methods such as natural selection and indigenous methods for sustainable development · Create accessibility to Caribbean markets, e.g. Latin American Communities · Diversify the distribution of technology from urban accessibility to rural access · Adapt technology and its instruments/machinery to the size of the community · Encourage the use of present technological structures · Develop youth programs from best practices · Develop a technical resource team from the expertise that is represented at the conference INFRASTRUCTURE · Prioritise rural electrification with locally owned power stations · Incorporate renewable energy systems into rural areas · Lobby governments for funds from energy budget to be allocated to the promotion and implementation of local and renewable energy systems · Implement the development of an intra-continental railway system to link continental communities · Allocate funds to institutions for the development of regionally appropriate farming methods · Revise safety issues and policies around maritime sector · Stop privatisation of water resources · Replicate communal ownership of energy sources on a macro scale · Improve clean water access in rural areas; replicate existing successful water projects · Provide educational programs about fish farming in a sustainable capacity · Focus on free and fair trade e.g. tariffs, quotas · Develop an Afrikan Common Market Cartel · Convince Afrikan Governments to withdraw/refrain from institutions which incite and precipitate oppression and operate in ways that are not beneficial to our communities · Use Pan Afrikan consultants · Prioritise the infra-structural development of strategically located (i.e. rural) health care facilities that cater for HIV/AIDS-related needs · Develop a Pan-Afrikan transportation system · Develop Pan-Afrikan travel; Pan-Afrikan based (South–South) tourism HUMAN RESOURCES/CAPACITY BUILDING · Develop a resource bank of Afrikan expertise (specialist people and institutions) in the world, including an inventory base of skills · Develop an inventory of Afrikan and Caribbean owned banks and credit unions (with extensive analysis of their sensitivity and practical efforts toward Pan-Afrikan development) · Implement Afrikan based languages into an education system · Examine the feasibility of implementing skills exchange · Encourage training at the managerial, technical and professional levels · Reverse the brain drain by recruiting Diaspora Afrikans back to Afrika and the Caribbean · Develop youth and mentorship programs RESTITUTION OF ARTIFACTS/ART · Build art institutions to receive returned Pan-Afrikan artefacts · Build cultural banks as depositories of Pan-Afrikan art that provide an alternative to the inappropriate solicitation for said art · Enforce agreements made for the return of Afrikan artefacts (e.g. Italy and the Ethiopian Obelisk) SMALL WEAPONS · Moratorium on the export of weapons to Afrika · Pursue legal action against corporations that manufacture weapons (e.g. legal actions against the tobacco industry) DEBT RELIEF · Cancel the debt of Afrikan countries · Sue banks for malpractice and negligence in debt resulting contracts · Redirect repayment funds to appropriate areas (i.e. health care, community development, etc.) via NGO monitoring and oversight on funds disbursement to avoid governmental mismanagement · Develop micro credit institutions and opportunities utilizing government resources, but not government intervention Back to Working Group Reports _________________________________ Please direct questions or comments to website@globalafrikancongress.com Copyright © Afrikans and Afrikan Descendants World Conference Against Racism 2003. 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