PSPD in English Archive 2003-01-31   1008

Documentation for Action Groups in Asia (DAGA)

In 1973 the Christian Conference of Asia-Urban Rural Mission (CCA-URM) established DAGA as a place where information on economic, political, and social issues in Asia could be collected and systematically stored. This information was crucial for various people’s movements around Asia as many countries at that time were tightly controlled by military regimes and relevant information was not readily available locally. The DAGA database became a place for these movements to get the data they needed to do analysis and strategizing.

As the Asian people’s movements strengthened and gained some success, the role of DAGA also changed to focus on more specific issues that are affecting the lives of grassroots communities in the region. These issues include documentation and research on transnational corporations, migrant labor, rural to urban migrations and indigenous peoples, castes, and minorities. DAGA is able to provide useful information to groups throughout Asia working on these crucial issues.

With the growing access of religious and secular groups to the Internet, the role of DAGA is changing once again. There is now more focus on assisting these groups to gain the necessary skills to get the information they need from the Internet as well as to share their information with others through WebPages or e-newsletters. Along with working on important economic issues with other regional organizations, DAGA has also identified marginalized community initiatives for building just peace for the next few years.

DAGA stands for Documentation for Action Groups in Asia. DAGA’s general aim is to serve ecumenical action groups in the area of information solidarity by collecting, analyzing, and sharing information for action. DAGA envisions a just world in which all peoples, especially the marginalized, can participate in decision-making processes that affect their lives and livelihood. For the marginalized to participate actively and effectively, they need access to information. Thus DAGA works to develop information sources that can be used easily by grassroots communities.

Mission

The mission of DAGA can be summarized as follows:

1. a venue to articulate the language of hope: sharing people’s struggles and alternative paradigms, so that where people can take control of their lives by bringing about changes, even at the local level;

2. a channel that links the stories of grassroots people with other action groups and the ecumenical movement;

3. an infrastructure for information sharing, research, and analysis of key issues for action, training, and language services; and

4. a network that mobilizes the resources, services, and contributions of the people and action groups for communication and relevant publications.

This mission is carried out through several different programs. These programs include:

1. Publications

a. DAGA produces the “Dossier” several times a year. Each issue focuses on a particular issue and attempts to give readers a broad range of information on the issue. It also provides information on links where further research can be done. Past “Dossier” issues have dealt with Mindanao, Kashmir, China and the WTO, and Burma.

b. DAGAinfo is a monthly e-newsletter providing summaries of important events of the month, urgent appeals, and one or two full-length articles of interest.

c. DAGA Press publishes occasional books by Asian authors on relevant topics. Recent publications include The War on Terror by Ninan Koshy, and Globalisation of Finance by Kavaljit Singh.

More information on these publications can be found on the DAGA website at

http://daga.dhs.org/daga/.

2. Center for Justpeace in Asia (CJPA)

The CJPA is a new initiative designed to identify grassroots movements for justice and peace that are based on the traditions, culture, and histories of grassroots communities. By studying these grassroots movements, DAGA believes, we can find new paradigms of peacemaking and conflict transformation for national and global struggles.

A new CJPA website has been designed where just peace information is shared and discussed. This website can be found at http://daga.dhs.org/justpeace.

An occasional Justpeace e-newsletter is also produced, and those interested in receiving it can request it from justpeace@daga.org.hk.

3. Research

DAGA works together with other NGOs to research important issues such as:

a) How globalization affects developing countries, especially the marginalized of those countries;

b) How the WTO threatens the life of poor, marginalized communities.

4. Documentation

DAGA provides training to regional NGOs on how to better use the Internet for research and information sharing. DAGA also operates a server where small local NGOs can create a webpage to share their issues and actions with the broader community.

Contact:

96, Pak Tin Village Area 2

Mei Tin Road, Shatin

Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China

Tel: [852] 2697 1917

Fax: [852] 2697 1912

E-mail: dagainfo@daga.org.hk

DAGA

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