What We Achieved in 2016

2016 was a dynamic year for the ASAP network, with exciting developments at the global level and among our growing network of chapters.

ASAP Global

• ASAP Global held two successful conferences at Yale University: “The New Philanthropy: Effective Altruism and Beyond” (May 2016) and “New Topics in Global Justice” (October 2016). These conferences convened many forward-thinking academics to debate burning issues related to philanthropy, global poverty and justice.
• ASAP Global completed a number of major capacity-building efforts, introducing a new administrative system, accounting system and database, positioning the organisation for successful growth and increased impact in 2017.

ASAP Chapters

ASAP\’s Chapter Network produced prolific outputs in 2016. What follows is a selection of achievements shared by representatives of ASAP chapters.

ASAP Cambodia

• ASAP Cambodia produced twelve senior project research studies on various issues related to poverty alleviation through Pannasastra University of Cambodia\’s Faculty of Social Sciences and International Relations (SSIR).
• The chapter provided technical assistance to the Cambodia Council of Ministers in assessing the needs of four impoverished villages in Takeo Province and conducted an inspection of these villages in January 2016. The inspection revealed that access to primary health care services and basic water and sanitation facilities were major concerns by the poor village population.
• To assist the villagers in the provision of curative and preventive health care services, ASAP Cambodia coordinated with the Rotary Club of Metro Phnom Penh to send an American medical team to these villages in the early part of 2017. ASAP Cambodia arranged for 10 university students to assist the team, and a total of 4,320 indigent patients were able to access curative and preventive health care services during five days of clinic outreach.
• The chapter enabled Pannasastra University\’s Student Senate to incorporate poverty alleviation programs and projects in their community outreach activities, facilitating a high level of awareness on poverty issues among student leaders and sharing of resources for community action projects for the poor.

ASAP Germany & Austria

• Members of ASAP Germany and Austria started a book series on Philosophy and Poverty through Springer Publishing, the Advisory Board of which also includes members of ASAP Spain and Canada.

ASAP Greece

• ASAP Greece launched a new academic series with Papazisis Publishing on \”The Reform of the Social State\”, with the first book Flagship Initiatives to Safeguard Social Cohesion During Austerity Times – The Paradigm of the Greek Social Inclusion Strategy by ASAP Greece Coordinator Gabriel Amitsis published in 2016.
• Several other publications were produced by chapter members, including:
  • Amitsis G. (2016): \”The Development of National Asylum Policies in Times of Economic Recession: Challenges for Greece\”, Transnational Social Review, 2016, 6(1-2), 204-208.
  • Chtouris S. et ot. (2016): \”A Concept on the Dialectical Methodology of Empirical Research – The Paradigm of Focus Groups on the Social and Labour Integration of Young People\”, Greek Social Research Journal, 145 (in Greek).
  • Papatheodoridis, G., Thomas H. C. …., Yfantopoulos J. et ot. (2016): \”Addressing Barriers to the Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Hepatitis B and C in the Face of Persisting Fiscal Constraints in Europe – Report from a High Level Conference\”, Journal of Viral Hepatitis, 23 (Suppl. 1), 10-12.
  • Stergiou A. (2016): \”The Development of Second Pillar Pensions in the Greek Framework\”, Labour Law Review, 75(10) (in Greek).

ASAP Oceania

• ASAP Oceania conducted the Australian Poverty Audit, turning the spotlight on the poverty reduction policies of the major political parties to inform policy debate during the July 2016 election. Parts of the report were published in local news media outlets as well as academic blogs.

ASAP Romania

• ASAP Romania organised and participated in meetings with government officials and poverty/development experts, leading to a new governmental programme for poverty reduction at a national level. This effort followed on successful efforts in the previous year to inform and advise the UN delegation to Romania led by Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty Philip Alston, resulting in partial inclusion of ASAP Romania\’s analysis in the delegation\’s preliminary report.
• ASAP Romania subsequently organised a press conference for the Rapporteur and publicised the report extensively on social media, which were critical in influencing the new government.

ASAP Spain

• ASAP Spain contributed to many conferences and workshops in 2016 including:
  • Masterclass with Noam Chomsky on Migration (United Nations University\’s Center for Globalisation, Culture and Mobility)
  • Conference on Simon Caney\’s On Cosmopolitanism (Center for the Study of Global Ethics, Birmingham University)
  • \”Global Animals\” with Jeff McMahan, J. Mosterin, O. Horta, A. Williams, C. Faria discussing topics at the intersection of animal ethics and global justice (organised by P. Casal)
  • \”Ethics and Child Public Health\” workshop (Madrid, November 10-11, 2016): part of the \”Social Justice and Child Poverty\” research project funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF): P 26480 in cooperation with the JuriLog Group of the Institute for Philosophy of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
  • \”The Increasing Demand for Institutional Accountability in the International Order\”, in the Winter School on Soft Law and Legal Theory, organised by the University of Palermo, February 15-19 2016 (Luis Martí)
  • \”Republicanism and Legitimate Constitution Making\”, in the Workshop on the Future of Democracy, organised by the EDDA Research Center of the University of Iceland, May 20-22, 2016
  • \”Compromise and Deliberative Democracy\” in the Workshop on Compromise and Democracy organised by the University of Copenhagen, October 2016
  • \”Domination and the Republican Case for Global Labor Regulations\”, in the \”Workshop on Theories of Domination and Labor Law: A New Conception for Legal Intervention?\”, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow October 2016
  • \”Republican Perspectives on International Courts\” workshop at Pompeu Fabra University, May 6-7, 2016. Speakers included Follesdal, Viehof and Bellamy, among others
• Paula Casal participated in the International Panel on Social Progress
• Members of ASAP Spain received grants for research pertaining to poverty measurement, ethics and global justice and contributed to several publications, including:
  • Un reparto más justo de planeta (Trotta, Madrid 2016) David Rodríguez-Arias, Jordi Maiso and Catherine Heeney (Eds.)
  • Justicia ¿Para todos? Perspectivas filosóficas sobre la Justicia. (Plaza y Valdés, Madrid 2016)
  • Chapter: \”Exclusion from Healthcare in Spain: The Responsibility for Omission of Due Care\” by Rosana Triviño, David Rodríguez-Arias and Txetxu Ausín, in Helmut P. Gaisbauer Gottfried Schweiger and Clemens Sedmak (ed.) Ethical Issues in Poverty Alleviation, Doordrecht, Springer, 2016

ASAP UK

• ASAP UK\’s \’Global Systemic Change\’ Roundtable was hosted by the University of Oxford in March 2016. It explored the different frameworks and assumptions held by various actors working on systemic change. The event was attended by a diverse range of individuals from academia, movements and organisations including Effective Altruists, New Economics Foundation (NEF), Finance Innovation Lab, World Bank, Tax Justice Network, Save the Children and the Department for International Development (DfID)
• The chapter is now delivering a fourteen-chapter publication on systemic change written by event participants, which will launch soon in London and Oxford.

ASAP West Africa

• ASAP West Africa held a successful two day conference at the University of Lagos. Its keynote address titled \”Corruption, Transparency and Accountability in Public and Private Sector Organisations\” was delivered by Mr. Waziri Adio, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI)
• A policy paper, \”The Power of Infrastructure: How The Post-2015 Architecture of Development Assistance (ODA) will Shape the Future of African Economy\” was written by Saidu Ahmed Enagi (Deputy Coordinator Africa Affairs, CNRJ International and ASAP West Africa Youth Ambassador)
• ASAP West Africa initiated its \”Access to Justice\” program for the poor in December 2016, which will commence in April 2017

New ASAP Chapters

• New ASAP chapters were launched in Ireland, Chile and the Philippines. ASAP Spain assisted in the creation of ASAP Chile and participated in its inaugural conference.