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  SOCIAL FORUM EXTENDED AFTER DAKAR

Idea of ​​Extended social forum

The World Social Forum (WSF) is an international process initiated in 2001 and based on the situations of and self-organized encounter, dialogue and discussions between organizations and individuals who identify with the charter of the WSF, also known as Charter of Porto Alegre, http:/ / www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/main.php?id_menu=19&cd_language=3

Two billion people are now connected to the Internet that allows collective remote intercommunication through simple means, accessible to organized groups. Participation in the WSF process is done through “events” and may be distributed in time and space, if one can live remote situations of meetings, dialogues and deliberations.

Sfex initiative (Social Forum Extended) started at the WSF event in Belem in 2009, it is supported by the Communication Commission of the WSF International Council, and has two long-term objectives: http://openfsm.net/projects/sfexintercom

-Support the integration of various forms of remote participation and extended activities in the communication, mobilization and organization, of "forum eevnts" and

- stimulate exchanges between remote groups locating themselves in the world social forum process

Implementation of the Extended forum in the world: in 2010 and in Dakar

"extension" was explored by one organizers in some of  the 30-50 social forum events of diverse size (from one to one thousand activities) held between January 2010 and Dakar. http://openfsm.net/projects/sfexintercom/sfex-2010-event-list

When the organizers of a Future Forum event attended remotely  an event preceeding their own, they can engage more effectively then, in extending their own event, making mutually reinforcing participation in a central location, and local remote participation from  any number of places, in good part thanks  to an "event website" designed for this purpose

100 activities of " distance encounter"  resulted from extension of event in 2010, often related to local activities and dozen of activities have been "enlarged " on the internet by their organizers in Mexico and Dakar This enlargement formula allows remote participation in activities of a forum event

WSF Dakar "extended" aspect was not taken into account in the event's website www.fsm2011.org, (unlike, for example,Palestine site http://wef-palestine.org/soa-list), and on-site logistics proved faulty at the last moment (no room, no internet, no visibility into the program distributed to participants on the spot). Fortunately a local "Dakar extended team 'has achieved in these unfavorable conditions 70% of the 100 planned encounter activities with 20 countries. http://openfsm.net/projects/dakar-etendu/photosdaket

In the evaluation of the WSF, "Dakar extended seems seen as a positive feature of the WSF 2011 and extended social forum initiative, continues over the period 2011 2012, integrating different actors in a motivated sfex International facilitation group. This group feeds facilitation groups by language, and cooperates with the organizing committees of events eager to "extend"

   

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  Social Forum extended in France in 2011  - a specific experience

In France, the extended social forum initiative at the moment  of WSF Dakar, which had been previously relayed within the network of facilitators of local social forums in 2008, had an additional relay in 2010 through the CRID and ATTAC: a network and an organization  both IC members, where visions of the forum process attentive to the notion of local participation in the WSF process are expressed . http://openfsm.net/projects/facili-tation-de-fsl

Two forms of action have been explored in practice in France: 1 / the "cooperative facilitation service " and 2 / the "special initiative"
1 - In connection with the initiative Sfex, "a French facilitation group, came together late in November 2010 to disseminate the idea of ​​remote participation, gather information, and stimulate combinations of geographically close activitiese  .

Dakar website being not "friendly" for extended  activities, this has led to use the site www.openfsm.net in complete substitution, in a way not always understood or convenient for local groups wishing to be part in the similar to the anglophone  http://openfsm.net/projects/wsf-extended

In Dakar, the resourcefulness of the "Franco-Senegalese  public service team has allowed, despite a critical logistical situation, the holding  of the planned activities, except those of the least prepared ones, but with a lower quality of content: http://openfsm.net/projects/dakar-etendu/photosdaket

Eventually, this initiative, we can name  "cooperative facilitation service ", brought together collectively and made visible in France, in a common country scale framework, 80 localities with 130 activiities  including 50 distance encounter 'http://openfsm.net/projects/facili-tation-de-fsl/localisations~xa0et-activites~xa0dakar-etendu..

2-While remaining in contact with the facilitation group above, the organization "Petitsl Débrouillards /young resourceful ", inspired by the experience of Belem in 2009, put In place  in one French region , a specific initiative with 16 remote intercommunication moments. Remote  intercommunication has thus become a substantial part of its action  in the WSF2011. This experience may inspire other organizations http://openfsm.net/projects/fsm2010-poitou-charentes

Sfex Prospects 2011-12

In Dakar, the potential size of the extension of the event was significant: Of the 800 activities listed in Dakar, 100 were interested in an extended format - in the suburbs or by enlargement on the Internet - to these, we must add 100 distance encounters and 100 local activities (200 activities which would therefore also been included in complement to the  800 registered in the site if that had been possible). This amounts to  300 extended events over a total of 1000.

This extension ratio of 30% or more,  of extended activities is realistic for an event in 2011 and 2012, insofar as the organizing committee includes the extension from the outset in its submission and on its event website and handles all implied aspects of centric venue  logistics.

The International Sfex Facilitation Group is working in this direction, allowing a regular exchange between people active in the extension of past events, and others who wish to be active in organizing events to come. Tunis, Sao Paulo, Porto Alegre, Rio, Lusaka Dhaka and others

In addition, the group is building a directory with over 100 local groups having already performed remote  intercom, and wanting  to continue to do so. This sfex directory can stimulate exchanges between local groups, regardless of events, Nevertheless social forum events  remain the main channel of motivation for a first remote intercomumunication experience, and deliberation activities between networks

Contact: facilit.space.wsf.extended. - gmail.com
Pierre -Sfex initiative - March 2011

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