The Development GAP's Mission and Operating Principles
The Development Group for Alternative Policies was founded in 1976 to assist in the promotion of economic justice across the South, or Third World, by helping to maximize control by poor communities and sectors over their own development in the face of impositions from the North. It was founded on the principle of the right to self-determination and on the belief that local knowledge is indispensable to the shaping of sound development policies, programs and projects relevant to local needs and conditions.
The Development GAP’s focus both on the active participation of organized civil society in economic programming and on the accountability of U.S. and global institutions is predicated on the recognition of the existence of powerful interests, many of them Northern, that undermine local development processes. The exigencies of foreign policy, global corporations and external ‘expertise’ have shaped aid, trade, investment and debt policies, as well as economic-policy measures prescribed by the international financial institutions, that have largely ignored local-level needs, priorities and capacity. It is for that reason that we address these policy instruments in our work in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and Central Europe.
Our efforts in this regard emanate from the belief that true democracy must extend to key decision making in the economic sphere and to all levels of policymaking, including the global, where policies affecting local and national development are increasingly formulated. It is therefore necessary to build and to strengthen organized forces for economic justice both within and among countries so as to open space for autonomous and participatory development.
Hence, with one foot among forces for democratic change and equitable and sustainable development in the South and the other in policy centers in the North, The Development GAP seeks to close the gap that exists between the perspectives, objectives and operations of these two worlds. To this end, our work is organized to provide access for those in the South to Northern policymakers and opinion shapers and to expose Northern officials, media, and, to the extent possible, the general public to local realities abroad. More specifically, we endeavor primarily to:
§ support Southern participatory endeavors and civil-society analytical and organizational capacity building through South/North partnerships and collaborative engagements;
§ help build and coordinate global, regional and U.S. civil-society policy platforms, campaigns, coalitions, networks and movements for the development
and promotion of concrete economic-justice agenda and initiatives and direct challenges to Northern interventions;
§ engage Northern policymakers and Southern civil-society representatives in joint, participatory policy and program assessments and formulation; and
§ develop and demonstrate participatory programmatic options and policy alternatives within Northern institutions.
The Development GAP also seeks to apply the same values that govern its work to its internal operations. We are committed to maintaining staff participation in decision making and modesty and equity in salaries. At the same time, we make every effort to avoid the pursuit of institutional imperatives, so as to be responsive to the priorities of our Southern colleagues and to be open to risk taking commensurate with theirs. Overall, we attempt to build working relationships built on mutual respect trust and accountability.
The Development Group for Alternative Policies was founded in 1976 to assist in the promotion of economic justice across the South, or Third World, by helping to maximize control by poor communities and sectors over their own development in the face of impositions from the North. It was founded on the principle of the right to self-determination and on the belief that local knowledge is indispensable to the shaping of sound development policies, programs and projects relevant to local needs and conditions.
The Development GAP’s focus both on the active participation of organized civil society in economic programming and on the accountability of U.S. and global institutions is predicated on the recognition of the existence of powerful interests, many of them Northern, that undermine local development processes. The exigencies of foreign policy, global corporations and external ‘expertise’ have shaped aid, trade, investment and debt policies, as well as economic-policy measures prescribed by the international financial institutions, that have largely ignored local-level needs, priorities and capacity. It is for that reason that we address these policy instruments in our work in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and Central Europe.
Our efforts in this regard emanate from the belief that true democracy must extend to key decision making in the economic sphere and to all levels of policymaking, including the global, where policies affecting local and national development are increasingly formulated. It is therefore necessary to build and to strengthen organized forces for economic justice both within and among countries so as to open space for autonomous and participatory development.
Hence, with one foot among forces for democratic change and equitable and sustainable development in the South and the other in policy centers in the North, The Development GAP seeks to close the gap that exists between the perspectives, objectives and operations of these two worlds. To this end, our work is organized to provide access for those in the South to Northern policymakers and opinion shapers and to expose Northern officials, media, and, to the extent possible, the general public to local realities abroad. More specifically, we endeavor primarily to:
§ support Southern participatory endeavors and civil-society analytical and organizational capacity building through South/North partnerships and collaborative engagements;
§ help build and coordinate global, regional and U.S. civil-society policy platforms, campaigns, coalitions, networks and movements for the development
and promotion of concrete economic-justice agenda and initiatives and direct challenges to Northern interventions;
§ engage Northern policymakers and Southern civil-society representatives in joint, participatory policy and program assessments and formulation; and
§ develop and demonstrate participatory programmatic options and policy alternatives within Northern institutions.
The Development GAP also seeks to apply the same values that govern its work to its internal operations. We are committed to maintaining staff participation in decision making and modesty and equity in salaries. At the same time, we make every effort to avoid the pursuit of institutional imperatives, so as to be responsive to the priorities of our Southern colleagues and to be open to risk taking commensurate with theirs. Overall, we attempt to build working relationships built on mutual respect trust and accountability.
The Development GAP's Board of Directors and Officers
William Dyal, Jr. (Chair Emeritus) was President of St. John’s College in Annapolis from 1987-90 after serving as Consultant Advisor to the President of the Ford Foundation and President of AFS International/Intercultural Programs. In the 1970s he was the founding President of the Inter-American Foundation, providing U.S. public funds to grassroots initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean and serving as an inspiration to the founders of The Development GAP, which he subsequently served as Board Chair. Previously he was Peace Corps Regional Director for North Africa, Near East and South Asia and Country Director in Colombia and, in the 1990s, in Panama.
Anne Fitzgerald (Secretary) has advised philanthropic organizations since 1985 on the design, development and assessment of domestic and international environmental programs. Anne’s diverse background includes work as a journalist, training director for a federal human services demonstration project, director for an adult literacy program and personnel director for a country-wide library system. She has also served as a local elected official, a senior foundation program officer and a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica.
Yao Graham is Coordinator of Third World Network-Africa, which, based in Ghana, seeks, through research and advocacy on social and economic policy, to advance sustainable development and the interests of marginalized social groups in Africa. Trained in law in Ghana, Belgium and England, he has worked with students, trade unions and workers in the Ghanaian and African political and social-justice movement, as well as in the anti-racist and national liberation support movement in the U.K.. He has written extensively on African political and development issues.
Douglas Hellinger is co-founder and Executive Director of The Development GAP, for which he has advised Congressional committees and other policymakers, consulted with the World Bank, USAID and other aid institutions and worked extensively with grassroots and other non governmental organizations in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Central Europe. Previously he served in the Peace Corps in Brazil and advised the
Inter-American Foundation and other bilateral, multilateral and non-governmental organizations. He has co-authored or edited three books on international economic-development issues.
Stephen Hellinger is President of The Development GAP, which he co-founded in 1976 and for which he has worked extensively in policy centers, with aid institutions and with development organizations in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia for social change. Previously he served in the Peace Corps in Nicaragua and Venezuela, researched and wrote in Washington and consulted with UNESCO and the Inter-American Foundation. He is the co-author/editor of three books on global economic-development issues.
Carlos Heredia is Associate Professor at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE) in Mexico City. He was Senior Advisor on International Affairs to Governor Lazaro Cardenas of the State of Michoacán, and was previously a member of the Mexican Congress from 1997-2000. He has worked for over three decades for Mexican civil-society organizations, including Equipo Pueblo, Iniciativa Ciudadana and the FIDES Fund. In 1993-94, he worked in Washington as a Visiting Fellow with The Development GAP. He had previously worked for five years as an economist and Deputy Director of International Economics at the Ministry of Finance. He has published extensively on development issues.
Atherton Martin (Vice Chair) is Executive Director of the Dominica-based Development Institute. He served as chair of the country’s Development and Planning Corporation (1995-97), as Minister of Agriculture in the 1970s and later as Minister of Agriculture, Planning and the Environment. He has served as president of both the Dominica and Caribbean Conservation Associations, and in 1998 was awarded a Goldman Environmental Prize. From 1983-91 he ran the Caribbean program of The Development GAP after developing a Caribbean program for the American Friends Service Committee. An agronomist, he served as General Secretary of the Dominica Farmers Union, and helped establish and managed Farm-to-Market, Ltd.
Lidy Nacpil has served since 1996 as Secretary General of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) of the Philippines, a national coalition of people's organizations, social movements, NGOs, church groups, trade unions and women’s organizations focused on debt, structural adjustment and other economic issues. She represented FDC-Philippines on SAPRIN’s Executive Committee and is the International Coordinator of Jubilee South, a network of organizations across Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific addressing debt and related issues. She has co-founded and worked with various organizations and networks in the Philippines since the early 1980s as a social activist and feminist.
Donna Sulpy O’Connor (Treasurer) is Executive Director of the Seattle-based Choral Arts and a non-profit management consultant with over 20 years of experience working with grassroots and social-service organizations. She formerly served as Country Specialist for Albania & Macedonia and activist leader for student and local groups throughout the United States for Amnesty International USA and was The Development GAP’s Finance Manager (1997-99). She advised small businesses and banks and coordinated a women-in-development program in the Peace Corps in Albania from 1995-97. Previously, she was an Assistant Vice President at PNC Bank in Philadelphia.
Fred O’Regan (Chair) retired in 2013 from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, where he had served as Executive Director since 1997. After serving in the Peace Corps in Swaziland, he was Program Director of the Community Action Program in Cambridge, Massachusetts before co-founding and then co-directing The Development GAP from 1977 to 1984. During the following five years, he headed the Kenya Rural Enterprise Programme and then returned to Washington to run the Community Economics Corporation and a national action-research project at the Aspen Institute on employment generation and business development among the poor. From 1994 to 1997, he was the Peace Corps’ Director for Europe, Central Asia and the Mediterranean.
James Perna has practiced law in Washington, DC for more than 35 years, specializing in tax, real-estate finance, corporate, partnership and investment matters. He previously worked as an attorney in the public sector and has undertaken financial analysis for international institutions. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Brazil from 1970-72. He has contributed legal services to The Development GAP since its inception.
Laura Roosevelt is a poet, photographer and free-lance journalist living in Martha’s Vineyard. After working for five years with the OAS-affiliated Pan American Development Foundation and earning an MBA from Yale University, she worked at J.P. Morgan & Company in Corporate Finance and then in the bank’s philanthropy department, responsible for grantmaking to non-profit arts and international relief and development organizations. She is a member of the board of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, board president of the performing-arts organization, the Yard, and has served on the boards of a number of other non-profit organizations.
Sally Yudelman (in Memorium), former Board Chair of The Development GAP, was an unremitting advocate for social justice, participatory development and human rights, particularly those of women, until her death in 2008. A researcher, author and teacher, she served as the Peace Corps’ Latin America program director before joining the Inter-American Foundation in 1972 where she became Vice President prior to departing in 1984. She subsequently was a Senior Fellow for more than two decades at the International Center for Research on Women. A frequent member of human-rights and electoral delegations to Latin America, she gave generously of herself to numerous organizations and to generations of young women and others in the U.S. and Latin America working for social change.
William Dyal, Jr. (Chair Emeritus) was President of St. John’s College in Annapolis from 1987-90 after serving as Consultant Advisor to the President of the Ford Foundation and President of AFS International/Intercultural Programs. In the 1970s he was the founding President of the Inter-American Foundation, providing U.S. public funds to grassroots initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean and serving as an inspiration to the founders of The Development GAP, which he subsequently served as Board Chair. Previously he was Peace Corps Regional Director for North Africa, Near East and South Asia and Country Director in Colombia and, in the 1990s, in Panama.
Anne Fitzgerald (Secretary) has advised philanthropic organizations since 1985 on the design, development and assessment of domestic and international environmental programs. Anne’s diverse background includes work as a journalist, training director for a federal human services demonstration project, director for an adult literacy program and personnel director for a country-wide library system. She has also served as a local elected official, a senior foundation program officer and a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica.
Yao Graham is Coordinator of Third World Network-Africa, which, based in Ghana, seeks, through research and advocacy on social and economic policy, to advance sustainable development and the interests of marginalized social groups in Africa. Trained in law in Ghana, Belgium and England, he has worked with students, trade unions and workers in the Ghanaian and African political and social-justice movement, as well as in the anti-racist and national liberation support movement in the U.K.. He has written extensively on African political and development issues.
Douglas Hellinger is co-founder and Executive Director of The Development GAP, for which he has advised Congressional committees and other policymakers, consulted with the World Bank, USAID and other aid institutions and worked extensively with grassroots and other non governmental organizations in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Central Europe. Previously he served in the Peace Corps in Brazil and advised the
Inter-American Foundation and other bilateral, multilateral and non-governmental organizations. He has co-authored or edited three books on international economic-development issues.
Stephen Hellinger is President of The Development GAP, which he co-founded in 1976 and for which he has worked extensively in policy centers, with aid institutions and with development organizations in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia for social change. Previously he served in the Peace Corps in Nicaragua and Venezuela, researched and wrote in Washington and consulted with UNESCO and the Inter-American Foundation. He is the co-author/editor of three books on global economic-development issues.
Carlos Heredia is Associate Professor at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE) in Mexico City. He was Senior Advisor on International Affairs to Governor Lazaro Cardenas of the State of Michoacán, and was previously a member of the Mexican Congress from 1997-2000. He has worked for over three decades for Mexican civil-society organizations, including Equipo Pueblo, Iniciativa Ciudadana and the FIDES Fund. In 1993-94, he worked in Washington as a Visiting Fellow with The Development GAP. He had previously worked for five years as an economist and Deputy Director of International Economics at the Ministry of Finance. He has published extensively on development issues.
Atherton Martin (Vice Chair) is Executive Director of the Dominica-based Development Institute. He served as chair of the country’s Development and Planning Corporation (1995-97), as Minister of Agriculture in the 1970s and later as Minister of Agriculture, Planning and the Environment. He has served as president of both the Dominica and Caribbean Conservation Associations, and in 1998 was awarded a Goldman Environmental Prize. From 1983-91 he ran the Caribbean program of The Development GAP after developing a Caribbean program for the American Friends Service Committee. An agronomist, he served as General Secretary of the Dominica Farmers Union, and helped establish and managed Farm-to-Market, Ltd.
Lidy Nacpil has served since 1996 as Secretary General of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) of the Philippines, a national coalition of people's organizations, social movements, NGOs, church groups, trade unions and women’s organizations focused on debt, structural adjustment and other economic issues. She represented FDC-Philippines on SAPRIN’s Executive Committee and is the International Coordinator of Jubilee South, a network of organizations across Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific addressing debt and related issues. She has co-founded and worked with various organizations and networks in the Philippines since the early 1980s as a social activist and feminist.
Donna Sulpy O’Connor (Treasurer) is Executive Director of the Seattle-based Choral Arts and a non-profit management consultant with over 20 years of experience working with grassroots and social-service organizations. She formerly served as Country Specialist for Albania & Macedonia and activist leader for student and local groups throughout the United States for Amnesty International USA and was The Development GAP’s Finance Manager (1997-99). She advised small businesses and banks and coordinated a women-in-development program in the Peace Corps in Albania from 1995-97. Previously, she was an Assistant Vice President at PNC Bank in Philadelphia.
Fred O’Regan (Chair) retired in 2013 from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, where he had served as Executive Director since 1997. After serving in the Peace Corps in Swaziland, he was Program Director of the Community Action Program in Cambridge, Massachusetts before co-founding and then co-directing The Development GAP from 1977 to 1984. During the following five years, he headed the Kenya Rural Enterprise Programme and then returned to Washington to run the Community Economics Corporation and a national action-research project at the Aspen Institute on employment generation and business development among the poor. From 1994 to 1997, he was the Peace Corps’ Director for Europe, Central Asia and the Mediterranean.
James Perna has practiced law in Washington, DC for more than 35 years, specializing in tax, real-estate finance, corporate, partnership and investment matters. He previously worked as an attorney in the public sector and has undertaken financial analysis for international institutions. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Brazil from 1970-72. He has contributed legal services to The Development GAP since its inception.
Laura Roosevelt is a poet, photographer and free-lance journalist living in Martha’s Vineyard. After working for five years with the OAS-affiliated Pan American Development Foundation and earning an MBA from Yale University, she worked at J.P. Morgan & Company in Corporate Finance and then in the bank’s philanthropy department, responsible for grantmaking to non-profit arts and international relief and development organizations. She is a member of the board of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, board president of the performing-arts organization, the Yard, and has served on the boards of a number of other non-profit organizations.
Sally Yudelman (in Memorium), former Board Chair of The Development GAP, was an unremitting advocate for social justice, participatory development and human rights, particularly those of women, until her death in 2008. A researcher, author and teacher, she served as the Peace Corps’ Latin America program director before joining the Inter-American Foundation in 1972 where she became Vice President prior to departing in 1984. She subsequently was a Senior Fellow for more than two decades at the International Center for Research on Women. A frequent member of human-rights and electoral delegations to Latin America, she gave generously of herself to numerous organizations and to generations of young women and others in the U.S. and Latin America working for social change.
