Connecting the local to the global: voices of the poor

Institutional innovations are beginning to emerge in different parts of the world that promise to give voice and representation to poor people. This paper offers examples of such innovations from very different fields, drawing out the common features and the lessons that should guide the design of new mechanisms, and suggesting actions to close the large gap between the local and global level.

It first describes the nature of the gap, and then examines possible solutions from two perspectives: from local to global, and from global to local. Under the local to global heading, the paper identifies three factors that make it possible to close the gap - strong networks of poor people's organisations; the vision and skills of social entrepreneurs; and the availability of information and communication technology, which has the power to decrease poor people's social exclusion and create new economic opportunities for them even in the presence of structural inequities.

Examples are given of organisations and programmes that build on each of the three factors. Turning to the global to local perspective, the paper describes three other types of networks that help connect global resources to local initiative and issues - the emergence of transnational people's movements, global policy networks, and the use of the Internet to connect grassroots producers to the global marketplace through e-commerce. Again, examples are given. Finally, the paper suggests strategies for action.

(From the authors)