Development cooperation

The Peuples Solidaires association focuses on international solidarity work. In 1983, it was founded following the merger of two organisations: the Mouvement 1% Tiers-monde pour un Développement Solidaire (founded in 1974) and the Union des Comités pour le Développement des Peuples - UCODEP (founded in 1972). Peuples Solidaires comprises individual members and local groups that are promoting “solidary development cooperation between all peoples”. The association unites 80 local groups and 300 individual members. 7,500 are taking part in the campaigns of the association’s network Réseau-Solidarité. The work of Peuples Solidaires is characterised by four thematic focuses:

1. Partnerships
   The individual local groups carry out educational work, offer assistance with credit applications, support economic initiatives and implement measures for rural development and to increase school attendance. Aside from ‘direct relations’, the association also maintains large-scale partnerships with organisations in Africa, South America and Asia.
2. Economic, social and cultural rights
   Peuples Solidaires wants to ensure that the economy serves humankind. The main objective is the facilitation of a fairer exchange between the North and the South, the cancellation of debt, the reform of the international financial institutions as well as the assumption of social responsibility on the part of corporations. The association primarily launches letter campaigns via its network Réseau-Solidarité and, in doing so, stands up for women and men of the South whose economic, social and cultural rights are being spurned.
3. The creation of an international civil society
   Educational and public relations are of great importance for us in order to show our fellow citizens the urgency of creating a world based on solidarity. Peuples Solidaires approaches everyone, children, teenagers and grown-ups. The association engages in the publishing of Altermondes, a journal for international solidarity, and provides books and information material, organises seminars and takes part in international information and mobilisation campaigns.
4. Federalis
   For us, federalism stands for the interface between individual members and autonomous associations with the goal of collecting ideas and creating synergies. For us, federalism also means giving everyone the chance to excel, to connect with others and thus to be stronger when it comes to the globalisation debate. Active members work in committees, networks and national institutions. One of the association’s basic principles is collaboration with other organisations. Local groups take part in the local coordination and the association is a founding member of the CRID (Research and Information Centre for Development) and is involved in numerous unions on a national as well as an international level.

AKÜ is an open forum of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) and experts for advocacy, public awareness and joint development projects. AKÜ acts as a national platform for development NGOs in Estonia. AKÜ informs its members about development news, facilitates participation in seminars, trainings and field studies, and cooperates with similar networks in Europe.

AKÜ participates actively in Trialog project (Development NGOs in the Enlarged Europe) and in CONCORD working groups (European NGO Confederation for Relief and Development).