Initiatives: Information Exchange

LogoLink coordination moves to the Global South

The coordinating function of LogoLink will move from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in the UK, to one of the LogoLink partners in the South. This decision was made at the last LogoLink partners' meeting held in South Africa during July 2005.

Since LogoLink's inception IDS has been performing the coordinating tasks for the entire network, but in close collaboration with all of the LogoLink regional partners. Over the past four years, while LogoLink has expanded to include practitioners from the North through the affiliation of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium, it has continued to remain a primarily Southern network. In addition to this, the many LogoLink learning events that have been organised throughout the years have consistently demonstrated that partners working in a broad range of southern contexts of "emerging democracies" have many important lessons and rich experiences to share with partners in the northern contexts of "diminishing democracies" which have given the latter extraordinary and invaluable insights to pursue in their work. A shift in the leadership of the LogoLink network to the South is thus timely and appropriate.

The target date for LogoLink's move to the global South is April 2007. Leading up to this date, a new coordinating partner shall be selected from among the current regional partners, and a transition process shall take place over a year to insure the smooth transfer of all coordinating functions. IDS shall continue to be a partner in the LogoLink network once it has moved to the South.