The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit will be held on November 10-11 in Maldives. Like ASEAN, SAARC is a regional organization that seeks to promote economic, technological, social and cultural development through cooperation and integration efforts. Its member countries include the South Asian countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan. The Republic of Maldives declared “Building Bridges” – both in terms of physical connectivity and figurative political dialogue – as the theme for the 17th SAARC Summit this year.

It is the mission of the Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN) to increase the voices of CSOs in shaping the regional agenda, given the limited space for civil society participation in Asian regional formations like ASEAN, SAARC, EAS, APEC, etc. In light of this, EquityBD, an APRN member and an NGO based in Bangladesh, has come up with a series of campaign papers to tackle various issues confronting South Asia and its peoples, as part of the campaign to promote the people’s agenda in the upcoming SAARC Summit.

This is an intellectual rights-free effort on the part of EquityBD so let us circulate the papers widely in our networks/list serves to strengthen civil society voices and continually push for the recognition of people's demands in SAARC!

Download Campaign Papers :

1. Militarization in South Asia
2. Food Security in South Asia
3. SAFTA and the Stakes of LDCs
4. SAARC Food Bank
5. Promoting SDGs for Eradication of Poverty in South Asia
6. Why should We be the South Asian
7. Climate Change, Actions in South Asia and SAARC: Some Issues for People's Agenda
8. Make South Asia Visa Free and Poverty Free

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