Introducing the Crisis Policy Forum, a Casavaria discursive community project

The Crisis Policy Forum is an online community project with a view to fomenting open debate and discourse on humanitarian, political and economic crises across the world. CPF aims to highlight and bring about new research and policy-proposals, to produce viable, locally-relevant solutions to pervasive crises such as fresh-water scarcity, chronic poverty, access to technology and education, voting rights, agricultural sustainability, infectious disease, conflict resolution and democracy.

The mission of CPF is not profit-driven or entrepreneurial, but is, rather, intended to focus on directing major policy initiatives toward sound, evidence-based efforts that strengthen the fabric of local communities and civil society. An essential ingredient in this project is the recognition that: ideology is a mystical devotion to singular, exclusive political structures, which as a result tends to bring about division, arbitrary exercise of power, social 'blockage', stagnation in the marketplace of ideas, persecution and a 'dumbing down' of the process of inquiry, generally.

Ideals are necessary in the planning, living and evolution of any human endeavor, but cannot be applied as blanket solutions; they are not solutions but rather seeds for thought and must be channeled through local context and available resources, needs, choice and applicability to the problem at hand; when the ideal is not imposed but is chosen voluntarily by those affected, it ceases to force or attack and begins to help resolve problems, which are, essentially, the lack of 'ideal' conditions.

CPF will combine statistics, reports from UN agencies, governments, non-governmental organizations, academics, essays on theory, history and actual policies introduced, examining how they proceed, what level of success is perceived to have been achieved, by various 'stakeholders' (involved parties, both those affected and those acting to implement policy initiatives). The format will be open, and initially without hard channeling of information, as we seek to build a reserve of commentary and a well-spring of concepts, critiques and innovative thought.