Focus on the Global South (Focus) is a non-governmental organisation with twenty staff working in Thailand, the Philippines and India. Focus was established in Bangkok in 1995 and is affiliated with the Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute.
Focus combines policy research, advocacy, activism and grassroots capacity building in order to generate critical analysis and encourage debates on national and international policies related to corporate-led globalisation, neo-liberalism and militarisation.
Focus’s overall goals are to: dismantle oppressive economic and political structures and institutions; to create liberating structures and institutions; to promote demilitarisation and peace-building, instead of conflict. These three goals are brought together in the paradigm of deglobalisation. This term describes the transformation of the global economy from one centred around the needs of transnational corporations to one that focuses on the needs of people, communities and nations and in which the capacities of local and national economies are strengthened.
The deglobalisation paradigm forms the basis of Focus’s work which spans five thematic areas:Defending and Reclaiming the Commons; Trade; Peace and Peoples Security; Alternatives and China .
These thematic areas are complemented by country based programmes in India, the Philippines and Thailand. Teams made up of staff from each of the country offices are responsible for taking forward work on each thematic area.