A Memorandum of Understanding between Another Development Foundation and Visthar: Institute for Social Inclusion and Sustainability is now signed by Ingvar Rönnbäck, Chair of the Board for Another Development Foundation and David Selvaraj (on the photo), Exectutive Trustee for Visthar April 24th, 2018. This is the agreement between the organizations:
When members of the board and management for Another Development Foundation and Visthar: Institute for Socal Inclusion and Sustainability met at the campus of Visthar in Bangalore, India January 2018, the representatives for both organizations discovered similarities in terms of identity, orientation and will of the organizations. The members of the board for Another Development Foundation were very impressed by the deep commitment to social justice, peace and environmental sustainability, as well by Visthar´s long and rich history of involvement in community-based advocacy and initiatives, their work with transformative education, the links to the international academic community and their international collaborations. The members of the board for Another Development Foundation were also impressed by the campus with its environment, facilities and activities – a place very well suited for contemplation, dialogue, learning, capacity building and partnership development.
For these reasons, Another Development Foundation expressed a will to collaborate with Visthar on a long-term basis, with Visthar as a member of an international network with people, movements and organizations from different parts of the world supporting each other as peers in the work for Another Development, and with respect for differences in identity and priorities for the parties involved.
This Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Another Development Foundation, Sweden and Visthar, India is a result of the meeting in Bangalore January 2018, and expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. Areas of collaboration for both parties to explore and work on are:
- Gatherings of like-minded people, movements and organizations at Visthar on regular basis from especially South Asia for the purpose of peer and strategical support
- Collaboration in the international platform provided by Another Development Foundation, i.e. international meetings in Sweden where parties in the network support each other as peers
- Identify people and organizations who can participate in the activities and projects managed by the parties, for example courses at Visthar Academy
- Collaboration in practical, humanitarian projects benefiting both parties, organizations and groups involved while respecting local culture and maintaining political neutrality in the respective countries of the partners