Partners
The
Belgian National Center for Development Cooperation
Development
Project Work
The
consquences of the gap between the North and the South affect the
Third World first of all. There, the NCOS supports initiatives and
the redistribution of power. This support is fit in with the broader
North-SOuth context and the structural causes of underdevelopment
such as the unequal distribution of power, unjust trade relations
and the burden of debt.
NCOS
supports the project financially, informs the public about the situation
in teh South and has frequent contracts with the partner organization.
The project should contribute to the emancipation of the communities
in the South first and foremost. They are not only aimed at material
objectives, but also at the acquisition of new insights, independence
and the promotion of fair social structures. A commission of independent
experts is charged with the ultimate selection of the projects, in
which great importance is attached to continuity and the participation
of women.
The
local groups form the foundation of NCOS. All over Flanders more than
300 groups contribute to the further development of NCOS and the 11.11.11
campaign. Just like other members, these committees are represented
in the governing bodies of NCOS, where the future lines of policy
are laid down. The staff members at the NCOS secretariat help to realize
this policy. The national secretariat in Brussels consists of sevral
departments. In addition, there is a provincial secretariat in each
of the five Flemish provinces.
Range
of Activities of NCOS
Education, political action and development project work are the three
major cornerstones in the NCOS activities.
EDUCATION
NCOS wants to stimulate people to stand up for different North-South
relations and to declare their solidarity with the partners in the
South that share this objective. The local networks are its major
trump: about 25,000 volunteers, organzed in committees in almost all
Flemish cities, spread information and organize discussion evenings,
courses of Third World festivities. The local groups are backed by
provincial secretaries and the education department of the national
secretariat in Brussels, which develops teaching aid like slides,
exhibitions and information brochures. Special attention is paid to
the young, who are approached through specific models and methods.
POLITICAL
ACTION
NCOS believes that the gap between the North and South can only be
stopped thorugh drastic political measures. Therefore it urges the
Belgian government to raise its voice on the national and internaitional
forums and argue in favor of fair prices or raw materials, the remission
of debts, the abolition of European gluts dumping and other measures
that contribute to a different and better Third World Policy. One
of the major demands is that the Belgian government would raise its
expenditure for development cooperation to at least 0.7% of teh Gross
National Product.
How
is NCOS Organized?
PROJECT
DEPARTMENT
Project Managers are in close contact with the partner organizations
in Africa, Asia and Latin-America. They follow up the projects and
diffuse information about them, in close cooparation with the on-the-spot
country manager, who provides the information.
WOMEN'S
DEPARTMENT
Development cooparaion should pay more attention to the important
place that women occupy all over the world. Men and women should be
given the opprtunity to participate on a equal basis, both in the
North and in the South. The women department tries to integrate gender-related
issues into the global NCOS policy.
RESEARCH
DEPARTMENT
Staff members of this department keep a close track of national and
international politics. They speak up for the South on the national
and international forums, and support the NCOS activities by providing
profound information on GATT, the World Bank, food security, gender,
indebtedness ans related subjects.
PUBLISHING
DEPARTMENT
The NCOS publshing department reaches many people through its mothly
review "De Wereld Morgen" and the novels, documentary books
and brochures it distrubutes. The NCOS perodicals provide background
information and news from the Southand from the Flemish Third World
Movement.
DOCUMENTATION
CENTRE DOCENT
People work on a specific Third World country or issues related to
development cooperation or the North-South theme, find a mass of information
at Docent in newspapers, perodicals, books and brochures kept there,
or on-line in computers.
CAMPAIGN
DEPARTMENT
The department organzes the yearly 11.11.11 action, develops new money
collection models and sees to it that NCOS is sufficiently present
in the media.
EDUCATIONAL
DEPARTMENT
Apart from stimulating ans counselling the local 11.11.11 committees,
the educational department also provides an extensive range of didactic
material. Special attention is paid to the young and global education
at schools.
ADMNISTRATION
AND LOGISTICS DEPARTMENT
All activities of the NCOS secretariat are backed by the administrative
and logistical deparments, which have the care of address files, bookkeeping,
informatics, personnel management, finances, printing and mail.
