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 population living in South Asia, half of the poor reside in this region. Out of eight countries, four (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal) are in the category of least developed countries (LDCs) in South Asia. Conflicts in different forms and manifestations —mainly rooted in denial, discrimination, exclusion, deprivation and marginalisation— are frequently faced by South Asian societies. The region has also been characterized by the unjust distribution of productive resources, resulting in deep rooted inequality, conflict, destitution and systematic marginalisation. This unequal distribution of resources is encountered by various communities within the region.
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.
From 2012, SAAPE members are focusing on food sovereignty, gender justice and demilitarization, democratisation and social justice issues in South Asia.
SAAPE’s mission is to intervene on the issues of poverty and exclusion for pro-poor people of South Asia.
SAAPE envisions just societies that enjoy all human rights and freedoms, giving dignity to individuals.
SAAPE brings together existing like-minded networks to strengthen and build on their work.
SAAPE brings together existing like-minded networks to strengthen and build on their work; to make explicit the links between different issues that impact on poverty; and to link and bring a regional understanding to national level campaigns.
All Members of SAAPE
The membership of SAAPE is open to all the organisations and individuals that subscribe the above CMPs.