« A plea for foundations to get together to tackle global issues »
Contribution to the 2nd China–Europe Forum, 4th 5th october 2007, workshop WS45 – « Foundations »
Summary of : « A plea for foundations to get together to tackle global issues »
Governments as they are, are too tied up to short term issues to do any more than pay lip service to global challenges…
If foundations don’t put money into grasping the problems, who can ? For Foundations enjoy long term perspectives, independance and money !
Incantations are not enough ; let us get organised for action.
Let us make a bet : for a small percentage of our funding we accept to take risks ; change our way of assessing the actions we carry out ! Decide the rationale will be « is what we are doing relevant in terms of the issues to be tackled ? Is the way we proceed right ?»
Get together ; and very important, clearly define the meaning of the words used « challenges », « global », « complex » etc… ;
Spot and subsidise agencies in civil society able to deal with this or that issue, and to connect with others around the world.
Issue reports, not on the impact of, but on the questions that arise, the enlargement of the networks, the leverage etc…
Should 5% of the fundings (to start with) be extravagant ?
