Organization

Solidaridad is an international network organization with nine Regional Expertise Centres (RECs) worldwide. The international structure is still under construction. The network organisation is planned to be fully established by 2012.

The nine regional centres will have a coordinated programme. The policymaking process will be fed by equal input from all the centres between North and South. The meeting of the directors of the nine regional centres will constitute the decision-making body, under the chairmanship of an international director. Management supervision will be done by an international supervisory board, made up of representatives of the various  continents.

Most Regional Expertise Centres are already up and running, and have been officially registered. The expertise centres in China, India, Southern Africa, East Africa, West Africa, the Andes, South America and Central America will be linked up and further developed.

Solidaridad’s new structure is more than a new organizational model: it radically changes the relationship between North and South. In terms of policymaking, there is a shift from partner consultation towards a more binding form of joint policy development. A global strategy for the network organization will be developed with equal input from the nine regional contexts. A mutual strengthening of the capacity to develop policy jointly is the highest level of development cooperation. The implementation of policy developed in consultation will be decentralized and delegated to the regional expertise centres.