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You are here: Home / Archives for Chapter: Spain

ASAP Chapters: 15 and Growing Worldwide

2015-03-18 By ASAP Global

ASAP now has fifteen Chapters launched or in development in Austria, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Mexico, Oceania, Romania, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and West Africa. With more than 1,200 ASAP members working and studying in universities, research centers, and NGOs worldwide, the ASAP Chapter Network is growing rapidly. Chapters are exploring new ways of collaborating to contribute to the eradication of severe poverty. We’d like to share some of the Chapter accomplishments and help you get connected.

ASAP RomaniaSinaia Presentation 1 is exploring a possible research initiative on the welfare of elderly people in Romania, along with projects on poverty measurement aimed at influencing the Romanian development agency and on increasing coverage of poverty-related issues in the Romanian media.

ASAP Oceania published a response to the 2014-2015 Australian federal budget and its impact on the poor and marginalized; their report focuses particularly on foreign aid, indigenous communities, and welfare programs.

ASAP Germany is playing a key leadership role in the Global Colleagues project and recently held an event for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. They are also developing a research project on responsible investment and a group on economics and philosophy.

ASAP Austria is co-organizing a conference focused on absolute poverty with ASAP Germany, has recently completed a book on poverty in Austria, and has developed a mentoring program pairing up disadvantaged young people and college students.

asap usaASAP USA is interested in initiating projects on integrating the study of poverty into college curriculums and will hold a launch conference at Michigan State University in 2015. In New Haven, ASAP Global Headquarters, ASAP co-sponsored two public events on the Sustainable Development Goals and global justice in development, which featured scholars like Jeffrey Sachs, James Hansen, and Amartya Sen.

ASAP Brazil is researching the impact of Millennium Development Goal 2 – Achieve Universal Primary Education – in Brazil, and is negotiating with the Brazilian Ministry of Public Affairs for formal inclusion in its activities.

ASAP Canadaasap canada recently held a very successful event titled “Rethinking Sustainability Beyond 2015: An Agenda for Citizen Action”, which was attended by over 150 people and featured a presentation by Stephen Lewis.

ASAP Italy is planning to promote the debate over intellectual property rights and access to medicines among the main academic and institutional players in Italy.

ASAP Cambodia is planning a launch event in December and is interested in taking the Global Colleagues initiative forward.

ASAP Spainasap spain is planning a contest for the design of a universal flag of humanity and is developing a set of standards for ethical purchasing at
universities.

ASAP West Africa is planning a launch conference, to take place in Lagos in 2015, and is looking to conduct projects to improve quality of education across primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

ASAP IndiaAshok in B Nagar (1) is ASAP’s biggest Chapter, with roughly 125 members. They are currently working on the Know your Rights India and Global Colleagues projects, and have applied for a grant to initiate a project connecting university students with young people living in slums.

ASAP UK is developing a poverty audit, while concurrently conducting research projects comparing poverty in New Delhi and East London, and analyzing the role of the City of London in facilitating illicit financial flows.

Recently, the entire Chapter network was mobilized for the stop tax abuse petition. Chapter members were instrumental in the petition’s success.

Recognizing the importance of collaboration in addressing global poverty, we hope that the Chapter Network will continue to work closely and grow, uniting academics worldwide. New guidelines for chapters will be published on the website in the first quarter of 2015. Given the successes achieved thus far, we are excited about what the future holds for the Chapter Network.

The Chapters have recently redone their web pages – please see the ASAP website for further information and updates. If you would like to get involved with the Chapters, or any of the exciting projects outlined above, please reach out to the contact person listed below.

ASAP Austria: Gottfried Schweiger – gottfried.schweiger@sbg.ac.at

ASAP Brazil: Thana Campos – thana_campos@yahoo.com.br

ASAP Cambodia: Pahlaj Moolio – pahlaj@puc.edu.kh

ASAP Canada: Mitu Sengupta – sengupta@ryerson.ca

ASAP Germany: Robert Lepenies – robert.lepenies@eui.eu

ASAP Greece: Gabriel Amistis – amitsis@otenet.gr

ASAP India: Bijayalaxmi Nanda – bijayalaxmi@yahoo.com

ASAP Italy: Mario Ascolese – mario.ascolese@gmail.com

ASAP Mexico: David Aleman Mena – david.mena@ibero.mx

ASAP Oceania: Keith Horton – khorton@uow.edu.au

ASAP Romania: Diana Velica – diana.velica@gmail.com

ASAP Spain: David Rodríguez-Arias – rodavailg@gmail.com

ASAP United Kingdom: Steph Eldridge – academicsstanduk@gmail.com

ASAP United States: Mladjo Ivanovic – mivanovi@msu.edu

ASAP West Africa: Oluwaseun Olanrewaju – oluwaseunolanrewaju@asapwestafrica.org

Filed Under: Announcements Tagged With: Chapter: Austria, Chapter: Brazil, Chapter: Cambodia, Chapter: Canada, Chapter: Germany, Chapter: India, Chapter: Italy, Chapter: Oceania, Chapter: Romania, Chapter: Spain, Chapter: UK, Chapter: USA

ASAP in San Sebastián

2014-01-19 By ASAP Global

On January 14th, 2014, Academics Stand Against Poverty had its second presentation in Spain. The launch of ASAP Spain was organized by the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona in November 2013, during Thomas Pogge’s visit to Barcelona. In this occasion, some members of ASAP Spain were provided the opportunity to present the organization at the San Telmo Museoa (San Telmo Museum), a fascinating institution of culture in San Sebastián, which has expressed an interest in furthering its collaboration with ASAP.

After a brief introduction of ASAP’s mission by Txetxu Ausín, Carissa Véliz provided an overview of the ongoing ASAP projects, including the Health Impact Fund, the Institutional Reform Goals, Moral Psychology and Poverty Alleviation, Know Your Rights, and the Global Poverty Consensus Report. She also expressed ASAP’s interest in finding new partners and volunteers in Spain. Her presentation was followed by a presentation of the Health Impact Fund project by David Rodríguez-Arias.

A number of local and national media covered the event, which was broadcasted by the radio (Onda Cero and Radio Popular) and diffused by local newspapers (El Diario Vasco and Noticias de Gipuzkoa) through interviews and reports.

The team of ASAP Spain hopes to keep growing in number and reach through collaborations with academic, political institutions, and companies.  If you wish to propose a project or would like further information about ASAP, please contact Paula Casal, Board Member and Chair of ASAP Spain, at epcasal@gmail.com.

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: Chapter: Spain, Pompeu Fabra University, San Telmo Museum

Conference Outcomes: The Launch of ASAP Spain

2014-01-06 By ASAP Global

Launch of ASAP Spain at Universitat Pompeu Fabra
By Paula Casal, ASAP Board Member and Chair of ASAP Spain

ASAP Spain launch conference participants.

The Spanish launch started at 9:30 am on November 29th, 2013, at the Auditorium Mercé Rodoreda of the University Pompeu Fabra. The auditorium was flanked with stands with ASAP t-shirts and recent publications, including new translations of Thomas Pogge’s work, and all the seats were full.

The day began with an informal reception. Guests included UPF´s Vice-rector of Social Responsibility, Monica Figueras, who came to express her personal and institutional support, and UPF’s former rector Josep Joan Moreso, who now works on global justice and constitutionalism, and who also expressed his endorsement of ASAP.

Once participants picked up their name tags and found their seats, Louise McNally, UPF’s Vice-rector of Research, speaking on behalf of the new Rector, Jaume Casals, expressed the Rector’s regrets that he could not attend and UPF’s support of ASAP’s work to foster research that benefits the world’s poor. She also explained some of the efforts that UPF has already made to adhere to principles of global justice, such as adopting energy savings policies  and switching to Fair Trade coffee. She then introduced Nuria Almirón, who presented plans for further efforts for social responsibility at UPF. Almirón, Monica Figueras, ASAP Board Member Paula Casal, and others at the UPF Ethical Sustainability Working Group, have written a plan for introducing sustainability, global justice, gender equality, and respect for other species as “transversal” themes to be taught alongside other disciplines in which the UPF offers degrees.  It also involves practical measures such as cruelty-free, low CO2 meals and new ethical requirements for UPF suppliers.

Paula Casal then commented on the regrettable absence of Ramón Fernández Durán from ADENAT and Paco Fernández Buey from UPF, whom she said would have taken part, had they still been living. She also expressed her regrets that Juán

ASAP Board Members Luis Cabrera and Paula Casal.

Hernandez Vigueras, member of the Scientific Committee of ATTAC and co-founder of Tax Justice Network, could not be there, having had to cancel his talk because he was ill. She then introduced ASAP President Thomas Pogge, who explained the causes of global poverty and the context in which ASAP developed, and Professor Luis Cabrera, who presented ASAP, its goals, composition, activities and projects. Having answered questions from the audience, the participants broke for a vegetarian brunch.

After the break, there was a round table on poverty alleviation solutions chaired by Rafael Vilasanjuán, director of the Institute of Global Health in Barcelona. The discussion opened with remarks by ICREA Professor Giorgios Kallis from Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona, who argued against the assumption that poverty should be eradicated through growth and explained why growth (in both the North and the South) is both insufficient and unnecessary for achieving a reduction in global poverty. Then Gonzalo Fanjul, formerly research director at Oxfam and now research associate at the Institute of Global Health, spoke about the positive effect of immigration on poverty reduction, the inhumanity of modern detention centers, and the need to change current policies on immigration. Thomas Pogge then explained how the Health Impact Fund could simultaneously address the problem of lack of research on the diseases of the poor and the so-called “last mile problem”—the challenge of effective administration of medicines in poor areas that lack the facilities to store them and the personnel to administer them correctly. Finally, ASAP Board Member Luis Cabrera explained his project “Impact: Global Poverty,” which records the cases of academics who have made an exceptional impact on poverty reduction.  All four participants then answered questions from the audience as well as from their chair, Rafael Vilasanjuán. The conference ended with a lecture by Professor Leif Wenar on our role in determining which (often illegitimate) rulers are granted the right to extract resources from their country and sell them to on the international market, and the solution he has devised to combat this problem. Professor Wenar’s moving lecture was chaired by ICREA Professor Andrew Williams and followed by numerous questions from the audience.

Several participants then inquired about membership and internships and offered to help with further events.

ASAP President Thomas Pogge and Board Members Luis Cabrera and Paula Casal.

The day ended with a dinner with the speakers, David Alvarez, now ASAP’s representative in Portugal, David Rodríguez-Alvarez, ASAP’s representative in Madrid, Nicole Selame, a Chilean who defends the right to access to the sea for Bolivia and other landlocked countries, and Ana Polo, speech writer at the Barcelona town hall, where the previous evening Thomas Pogge and Mara Dierssen had revived the Disputatio medieval tradition, debating over global health. The Disputatio was organized by ICREA Professor Genoveva Marti, director of the Barcelona Knowledge Hub of the Academia Europaea, and also a contributor to the newly formed ASAP Spain.

In addition to the coverage offered in La Vanguardia, El Periódico, Ara and Paperblog, David Rodríguez Arias published an extensive article on Thomas Pogge’s visit and views in the open access journal Dilemata, which subsequently released a monographic issue devoted to Responsibility and Global Justice with the participation of ASAP members Txetxu Ausín (Dilemata‘s director), Carissa Véliz, and Mitu Sengupta.

Filed Under: Events Tagged With: Chapter: Spain, University Pompeu Fabra

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Welcome to ASAP

Established in 2010, Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP) is an international community of academics confronting the rules and practices that perpetuate global poverty. Our evidence-based approach provides:

• alternatives to conventional analysis by media and governmental organizations,
• proposals for reforming national and supranational rules and policies,
• public education encouraging citizens to understand and engage with critical issues.

Academics Stand Against Poverty is registered as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in the United States (EIN #32-0324998)

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