The Regional and International Networking Group (RING) is a global alliance of predominantly Southern independent research and policy organisations that seeks to promote sustainable development through a programme of collaborative research, dissemination and policy advocacy. It was formed in 1991 to stimulate preparations for the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. Each RING member prepared national sustainable development reports to complement their own government’s contributions, and a number of RING institutions were represented in their government’s national Earth Summit delegations.

The Regional and International Networking Group (RING) held its Fifth Annual Meeting during 21 and 22 March, 2000 at Delhi, India. This meeting was hosted by Development Alternatives.
 
This meet had participants from Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, Bangladesh; Development Alternatives, India; ENDA, Senegal; IIED, UK; IIED-AL, Argentina; Nigeria Environmental Study Action Team, Nigeria; Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Pakistan; and Zimbabwe Energy Research Organisation, Zimbabwe.
 
The meeting began with the outlining of the achievements of the past which included consolidation of its regional bi-lateral exchanges and ‘pooled research’, and the development of a collaborative research programme around common priority themes of Water and People, Sustainable Livelihoods (including People’s technologies), Multilateral Environmental Agreements (in particular, Climate Change, Desertification, Trade and Environment), and RING Research and Policy Impacts. It was also reported that pooled research papers have been produced on the RING themes, and a RING Working Paper series has been initiated (4 currently available).
 
The main agenda of this annual meet was to chart the path for the Phase II of its collaborative research programme. RING priorities for Phase II were agreed upon. Participants talked about ways and means of making its work of practical relevance for the poor; and to ensure maximum policy impact across all levels.
 
To achieve this, the following activities were planned - consolidation of the RING’s achievements to date through a structured 3-year programme of collaborative research, dissemination and advocacy; joint publications (on Sustainable Livelihoods, Water and MEAs); expansion and strengthening of the network, regionally and globally; ensuring the optimum targeting of RING outputs to influence policy around the priority themes of water, sustainable livelihoods, MEAs, and trade and environment; publication of Policy Briefs, Working Papers and other publications, including a Ring Quaterly Bulletin and Website development.

RING regional workshop: A Brief Summary The Regional and International Networking Group (RING) held its first regional workshop at Delhi during 23-27 March 2000 at Delhi, India. Organized by Development Alternatives, the regional workshop participants (from the three South Asian RING partner organizations, namely BCAS, DA and SDPI), collaborated to develop project proposals on major themes in the South Asian region. During the five-day regional workshop, seven potential areas were identified for project development, to be forwarded for funding at different stages. Four of these were earmarked for Phase II. The agenda for the Delhi Workshop was to produce one full-fledged project proposal from the selected themes, as well as preparing outlines for at least one more theme. At the end of the workshop, a preliminary draft proposal on "Sustainable Livelihoods: People to Policy" and an outline of the proposal, "Sustainable Industrial Production" emerged.

Current RING members Ø Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, Bangladesh Ø Development Alternatives, India Ø Environmental Development Action, Senegal Ø International Institute for Environment and Development, UK Ø International Institute for Environment and Development, Argentina Ø Nigeria Environmental Study Action Team, Nigeria Ø Stockholm Environment Institute, Boston, USA Ø Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Pakistan Ø Zimbabwe Energy Research Organisation, Zimbabwe

A Report by Aparajita Gogoi