The Genoa Project

Briefing note, September 2000
Adrian Lovett, Deputy Director, Jubilee 2000 Coalition UK.

Why should there be a project focusing on debt in the run-up to the Genoa G8 Summit?

The goals of the international movement that has rallied as Jubilee 2000 have not been met. It is now likely that, by the end of the year, about $30 billion of the promised $100 billion cancellation will have been delivered or firmly on course. Jubilee 2000 campaigners have set targets for debt cancellation at £200 billion and upwards. Additionally, the arguments for a fairer and more transparent process that Jubilee 2000 has advanced have not yet been widely accepted. This means there is a significant amount of 'unfinished business' left as the time-limited Jubilee 2000 campaign comes to an end.

Why should we believe anything will change in the next nine months?

There is increasingly strong evidence that a substantial further breakthrough on debt can be achieved at the Genoa summit in July 2001. The Italian government has made approaches to the Italian Jubilee 2000 campaign, proposing a formal dialogue to begin almost immediately, and indicating strong interest in bringing forward a new initiative on debt to be agreed at Genoa.

The campaign has tremendous potential in Italy. Through work done there by the Italian campaign and the UK Jubilee 2000 secretariat earlier this year, an impressive range of figures have been mobilised in support of the campaign, crossing the music, fashion and sports spheres. This has helped to raise awareness of and support for the campaign to a high level in Italy. To add to this, the Vatican and the Pope have long offered a powerful moral call for debt cancellation.

Outside Italy, other developments point towards the opportunity for substantial progress in the first half of 2001. The new IMF head, Horst Kohler, has shown a willingness to consider debt cancellation beyond the current agreement, while the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, is developing ideas around the new process dimension of Jubilee 2000's work that could bear fruit in 2001. A number of Southern leaders, most notably Nigeria's President Obasanjo, are also becoming increasingly vocal in their calls for cancellation.

In short, there is a sense that the outcomes achieved by the Jubilee 2000 movement do not yet match the resources put in - and there is a reasonable prospect that a well-designed and targeted initiative in the first half of 2001 will enable more of those outcomes to be realised.

Isn't this just trying to extend the Jubilee 2000 UK campaign and the UK secretariat for a few months?

No. The Board of the Jubilee 2000 Coalition has made clear it will cease its operation at the end of 2000. This project will not use the name of Jubilee 2000 or go under any of the existing structures of the Jubilee 2000 Coalition. It will not take on the obligations of the current secretariat. It will have a narrower focus than Jubilee 2000, not undertaking, for example, substantial capacity-building work internationally, or developing a new understanding of the debt crisis and its causes. These vital areas of work will be led by others.

For its brief existence, this project will meet some, though not all, of the needs identified for necessary follow-up work after the Jubilee 2000 Coalition closes. It will work in partnership with organisations and individuals responding to the other needs identified. It will inherit the spirit and dynamism of Jubilee 2000, but will bring new energy, imagination and momentum to the historic campaign to cancel the debts of the poorest countries.

International Jubilee 2000 campaigns as well as some of the major aid agencies in the UK will continue to do some work on debt in this period. Why is anything else needed?

The Jubilee 2000 London office has performed a role which, in some areas, cannot easily be transferred to other partners in the international or UK movement with an expectation of the same effectiveness in this very brief period. It is these areas that this project will seek to address. The areas of main activity will include:

a) high-level advocacy, in the UK, G7, multilateral and global decision-making fora;

b) high-profile media work, especially in the international media but also in the UK;

c) coordination work to mobilise the strongest possible range of forces behind the call for debt cancellation in the build-up to Genoa - on a UK and international level.

The Italian Jubilee 2000 campaign, Sdebitarsi, has called for support from the UK in the build-up to Genoa. Its National Coordinator says in a letter to Jubilee 2000 UK: "We know that any effort made by the Italian campaign only would be fruitless without strong cooperation at international level; it is very difficult to picture the future of a debt campaign without your partnership. In particular, cooperation with Jubilee 2000 UK will be essential to us in view of next year's G8 Summit"

What will it actually involve - and what will it cost?

The project will have a staff of five, based in London, led by Adrian Lovett, presently Deputy Director of Jubilee 2000 Coalition. It will begin on 1 January and run at full strength until the end of July (the Genoa G8 summit takes place on 20-22 July). The project will culminate in a major burst of campaigning pressure at and around the G8 Summit itself. This will take forward the call for debt cancellation in an imaginative and exciting way, setting a new benchmark for global campaigning in the way Jubilee 2000 has done in the past.

In August and September, the project will continue to operate but at a greatly scaled-down level (for example, employing only one or two people). This phase will be to ensure there is follow-through on the decisions taken in Genoa. The project will then close completely.

Initial budgeting indicates that this project will cost in the region of £270,000. About £30,000 of this could be met by in-kind support.

What support is needed?

For it to succeed, this project will need:

• A high degree of confidence that the Italian government is willing to bring forward or support a serious initiative on debt at the Genoa summit;
• The cooperation and partnership of organisations and individuals planning activity on debt in the first half of 2001, in particular those organisations planning to mobilise supporters to go to Genoa;
• Financial support, primarily in the form of substantial grants from a small number of sources, committed in advance (the project will need to secure funding for the full period in advance and will have no fundraising function once underway);
• A physical base, in the form of office accommodation, in London, preferably at the offices of a supportive organisation;
• An organisation willing to take on a practical supporting role, assisting with management of income and payments processing, employment of staff and other functions;
• Confidence that campaigners around the regions of the UK will continue to focus on debt and will mobilise for the Genoa summit;
• Confidence that key debt campaigns in other countries, in particular the USA, Italy and Germany, will continue to focus on debt and will mobilise for Genoa.

Adrian Lovett
September 2000