Background
The Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian
Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC) is
a regional NGO association of 21
national and regional NGO networks from
11 Asian countries actively engaged in
food security, agrarian reform,
sustainable agriculture and rural
development activities. Its
member-networks have an effective reach
of some 3,000 NGOs throughout the
region.
ANGOC was founded in Bangkok in February
1979, following a two-year series of
village- and national-level
consultations in 10 Asian countries
leading to the World Conference on
Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (WCARRD,
Rome, 1979). This initiative led to the
preparation of a consolidated Asian NGO
Report to WCARRD, entitled "Development
of the People, for the people, by the
people".
In mid-1982, ANGOC, together with the
Centre on Integrated Rural Development
for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP),
implemented a joint program on rural
community participation aimed to promote
GO-NGO dialogue on agrarian reform and
rural development at the national level.
The program called for village-level
surveys and consultations. It covered 7
countries in South and Southeast Asia:
Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal,
Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
In 1985, ANGOC launched a new program to
concretize the promotion of GO-NGO-Donor
relationships. ANGOC held its first
Study Tour focused on rural credit and
marketing. Also, along with 4 Philippine
NGOs, it participated in the formation
of the Philippine Development Assistance
Program (PDAP).
In 1988, ANGOC and Friends of the
Earth-USA entered into a partnership to
address issues related to multilateral
development banks (MDBs) on a global
level. ANGOC also forged links with the
Environmental Policy Institute to bring
about bank reforms.
From 1991 to 1996, ANGOC organized the
asian Development Forum (ADF) that
tackled the following themes on an
annual basis: a) community-based
resource management, b) sustainable
agriculture, c) sustainable livelihoods,
d) transforming institutions, and e)
people-centered sustainable development
In preparation for the 1996 World Food
Summit (WFS), ANGOC jointly organized
with FAO- Regional Office for Asia and
the Pacific (FAO-RAP) the "Asia-Pacific
Consultation of NGOs on the World Food
Summit" held on 29-30 April 1996 in
Bangkok, Thailand. Prior to this
consultation, ANGOC sponsored a regional
advocacy training in Bangkok on "Food
Security Through Sustainable
Agriculture" and organized a one-day
dialogue with FAO-RAP involving 40
sustainable agriculture practitioners
and 27 FAO-RAP technical officers. This
NGO workshop also produced the "Asian
NGO Declaration for the World Food
Summit" which became the basis for the
NGO Declaration at the "Global Food
Assembly" in which ANGOC was selected as
one of the three focal points for
follow-up in the Asia-Pacific region for
the WFS.
In October 1999, ANGOC together with the
Popular Coalition conducted a review of
the WCARRD Agreements after 20 years.
The conference enabled a dynamic sharing
of experiences in accessing resources
and resolution of land conflicts among
civil society from Asia to Latin
America.
Over 25 years, the ANGOC network has
organized over 100 regional and national
conferences, workshops and training
courses and provided a continuing forum
for exchange of experiences, ideas,
knowledge and information. It has
produced some 82 issues of various
serials, at least 100 publications and
over 200 unpublished studies. These have
been circulated to about 3,000
individuals, institutions and
organizations worldwide.
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