Nederlands

The Filippijnengroep Nederland (FGN) was established in March 1975. FGN is an independent solidarity group that supports the Filipino people and its self-organizations. The group is composed of persons who have stayed in the Philippines for a longer or shorter time. The members of the group find their inspiration, to a significant extent,in the manner in which the Filipino people asserts its rights, and takes initiatives to improve their living conditions.

Objective

The Filippijnengroep Nederland aims to encourage solidarity with the people in the Philippines in its pursuit to establish a just and democratic society. FGN strives to solicit support for grassroots initiatives aimed at improving the living conditions of the poorest sections of the population, and which work for structural societal change.

FGN wants to contribute to the promotion of a just image about the Philippines in the Netherlands and to contribute to the debate about global interdependency, especially between the North and the South.

Methods

Filippijnengroep Nederland hopes to achieve this through:

• giving insights on the political, economic and social developments in the Philippines. The group tries, as much as possible, to link this with topics that are of interest to Dutch society;
• giving insights on the various ways in which the Filipino people organizes itself and works for a democratic and just society;
• raising support for initiatives of grassroots organizations;
• linking people and organizations from the Netherlands and the Philippines in order to come to a meaningful exchange and to the growth of mutual understanding and solidarity;
• participate in activities and campaigns in the Netherlands related to global relations, in which the Philippines can serve as an example, such as the Clean Clothes Campaign.

• organizes campaigns, actions, public meetings, lobby, information/discussion meetings;
• organizes visits of representatives of Filipino peoples organizations and NGOs to the Netherlands;
• supports groups and individuals who are involved in (or who want to be involved in) Philippine activities, or who are preparing to visit or stay in the Philippines;
• promoting publicity on the Philippines, and distributing information (in various ways) about developments in the Philippines;
• selling and lending Dutch and English-language publications and studies, as well as audio-visual materials (photographs, photo-series, posters, videos, etc.);
• publishes the Philippine magazine Tambuli, 5 times a year (subscription fee: NLG 25/year), in cooperation with FIDOC (Philippine Information and Documentation Centrum).

Within FGN, there are working groups that are active in the areas of human rights, women, campaigns and documentation.

FGN is also the secretariat of the Landelijk Overleg Filippijnengroepen (LOF - National Consultation of Philippine Groups). LOF is a network of organizations in the Netherlands with links to the Philippines; it meets a number of times a year and undertakes common activities.

For more information, contact the secretariat of the Filippijnengroep Nederland, in Utrecht.

Filippijnengroep Nederland (FGN)
3512 GN Utrecht
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 (0)30-2319323
Fax: +31 (0)30-2321379
E-mail: philsol@knoware.nl