In 2009 Both ENDS, ActionAid Netherlands, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), Clean Clothes Campaign, Milieudefensie and the Transnational Institute (TNI) joined forces to develop an ambitious and innovative collaboration aimed at advancing socially just and environmentally sustainable societies worldwide. The Fair, Green and Global Alliance was born.
The Fair, Green and Global Alliance has distinguished itself with our unique approach to international development cooperation. We focus on strengthening the power and influence of civil society actors, working in cooperation with partners in relationships of equality, humility and respect, and pursuing the global, structural change that is needed to achieve lasting, positive impacts on the local level everywhere.
With generous support from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the six Alliance members and our diverse networks and partner organisations worldwide launched our first five-year programme in 2011.
The capacity to make people’s voices heard
From the start, the FGG Alliance set out to strengthen civil society in the global South by supporting people’s involvement in decision-making processes at all levels. We explicitly focused on ‘building the bargaining and negotiating capacity’ of FGG partners and communities so they could effectively influence the laws and policies of governments and companies. At the time, this represented an unconventional take on the meaning of capacity building in the context of international development cooperation.
Since then, the importance of civil society’s capacity to make people’s voices heard, advocate effectively, and hold decision-makers to account has been increasingly recognised as vital to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
In 2015 the Fair, Green and Global Alliance was selected to be a Strategic Partner of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs within its pioneering Dialogue and Dissent policy framework, which aims to strengthen civil society organisations in low and lower-middle-income countries in their role as advocates and lobbyists. The Alliance’s second five-year programme (2016-2020) featured increased attention to defending and expanding civic space.
Cooperation and equal partnership
The members and partners of the Fair, Green and Global Alliance engage in close cooperation based on long-term relationships. These relationships are developed and maintained in a wide variety of formal and informal networks. Relationships are based on mutual respect, equality and the shared belief that civil society actors and their constituents can best speak for themselves. FGG Alliance members and partners actively engage in collaborative processes, including joint research, campaigning, lobbying and advocacy. We work for positive changes at all levels and in all directions, from local to global, North to South.
A global, structural approach with a focus on economic forces and actors Inequality, poverty, hunger, environmental devastation and climate change. The problems of the 21st century, including inequality, poverty, hunger and climate change, often manifest themselves most visibly and tangibly in low income countries. But they are often rooted in global structures and systems. The Fair, Green and Global (FGG) Alliance focuses on improving corporate conduct, trade and investment, and financial and tax systems to bring about more inclusive societies in which human rights are respected and global public goods managed sustainably.
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