Even though the WSF is above all a process, its most visible expressions have been the four massive events organized in Porto Alegre, Brazil, (2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005), Mumbai, India (2004) and the polycentric World Social Forum of 2006 in Caracas (Venezuela), Bamako (Mali) and Karachi (Pakistan) with tens of thousands of participants from all over the world.

The first World Social Forum-event held in Porto Alegre in 2001 has developed into a process of regional, thematic, national and local social forums. Also, one of the largest demonstrations in world history (15 February 2003) was seen as an initiative promoted at events of the World Social Forum-process. The geographical shift of the annual World Social Forum from Porto Alegre in Brazil to Mumbai in India where the WSF IV was held, was a first step in actively rooting the process in as many parts of the world as possible. The internationalisation flourished yet more colorfully with the polycentric WSF in 2006 (Mali, Caracas, Karachi).

Well on its way towards the WSF of 2007 in Nairobi, Kenya, the open space of the WSF continues to be positively challenged regarding its capacity to strengthen that other world its participants do believe is possible.

NIGD is a founding member of the International Council of the World Social Forum . As such NIGD wants to work on furthering democratic developments of the IC itself, and, in general, to further the development of global topics and alternatives within the WSF toward a democratization of the world.

It was at a meeting in Helsinki in June 2001 organized by NIGD that the first contacts between the Brasilian WSF secretariat and Indian activists were made. The contacts led to the plan to host the WSF in India, which materialised in January 2004. NIGD board member Vijay Pratap was the original convenor of the India WSF process and became central in the Indian Organising Committee in 2003-2004 preparing for WSF IV.

NIGD at WSF

NIGD has organized workshops and seminars at all five WSFs. In 2001, the topic was global democracy and in 2002 the workshop was more specifically related to the framework of the project on evaluating global democracy initiatives, within the frame of the North-South Dialogues-project. In 2003, we continued to develop our own strategy toward global democratization while developing international campaign work around the currency transactions tax. At WSF 2004, in Mumbai, NIGD was involved in organising a total of six seminars on different aspects of global democratization, the role of education and information while also trying to find common denominators with other actors who have developed strategies toward global democratization. At WSF 2005 once again in Porto Alegre, NIGD organised four events on US Social Fora, the CTT, Debt and the Future of the WSF. NIGD was present at all three of the polycentric WSF 2006 forums and held a variety of events. NIGD has also co-organised seminars at the European Social Forums I and II, and been active in the Finnish and Peruvian social forum processes.

NIGD on WSF

NIGD members often discuss the WSF process, also in public. Apart from the various presentations NIGD members have given in the main annual WSF events, our members have been invited guest speakers at, for instance, the Norwegian Social Forum (October 2003) and the Uppsala Social Forum (April 2003). NIGD is also involved in the planning of the Peruvian Social Forum process (spring 2004) and has taken part in the Finnish Social Forum II (2003) and III (2004). We have also lectured about the WSF process at several universities (for instance at the San Marcos University in Lima, and the Universities of Arequipa, Gothenburg, Helsinki, and Stockholm) and at numerous international meetings and conferences of activists, diplomats & politiciants and academics. In September 2005, NIGD co-organised an event entitled "The WSF goes to Africa : time for a Cultural and Ecological Renewal?" as part of the Democraticing Globally side events of the Helsinki Conference.

The Africa Committee of the WSF in Finland (ACWSF)

In September 2005, the ACWSF was established with NIGD and ATTAC Finland, SASK (Trade Union Solidarity Centre of Finland), TSL (Workers´ Educational Association Finland), and Vasudhaiva Kutubakam among its founding members.
NIGD is an active member of the commission,