Introduction

SAAPE’s mission is to facilitate the process for establishing mechanisms to ensure people’s genuine participation in the decision-making processes at all levels to contribute towards poverty eradication and sustainable development. SAAPE facilitates linkages among and between groups in the region, throughout the global South and with like-minded groups in the North.

South Asia is home to above 1.65 billion people that comprise about 24% of the world’s 6.99 billion population. South Asia region has a wide diversity of cultures, languages, religions and social structures, which are severely affected by poverty. Despite several decades of planned development efforts targeted towards poverty reduction, almost all countries of South Asia have been experiencing poverty, exclusion and denial since long. Even the conventional poverty estimates show that, compared to almost one quarter of world.

Against the backdrop of rising poverty and escalating human rights abuses, various civil society actors from across the region, together with representatives of civil society organisations from Europe convened a consultation in 2000 AD in Manesar, India to discuss the problems facing the region and to come up with possible solutions. About 200 participants, comprising journalists, academics, trade unionists, human rights activists, NGOs and other civil society actors agreed to form an alliance to fight against poverty and injustice in South Asia. This led to the creation of the SAAPE. It was formalised later at the South Asia Civil Society Network meeting on poverty eradication in Kathmandu in December 2001.