The People-Centered Development Forum (PCDF) site was developed in response to David Korten’s new book “The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community.” The intention is to provide encouragement and resources for individuals and communities engaged in the work of the Great Turning. See also www.thegreatturning.net and www.davidkorten.org.

About the People-Centered Development Forum

The PCDForum envisions human societies in which three values serve as organizing principles of public policy.

	Justice. The just society gives first priority in allocating the human share of the sustainable renewable resource output of earth's eco-system to assuring all people the opportunity to meet their physical needs at the level required for physical and mental good health. Progress beyond this most basic of goals is measured by indicators of social, intellectual, and spiritual advancement that reflect the quality of life, not the quantity of consumption.
	Inclusiveness. The inclusive society assures every person the right to participate in the decisions that shape their lives and the opportunity to be a recognized and respected contributor to family, community and society. It roots power in local people and communities, and gives their rights and needs precedence over any rights and needs claimed by corporations and the institutions of the state.
	Sustainability. The sustainable society celebrates the unity and diversity of all life and engages in a constant and conscious effort to balance human consumption and population with the needs of other life and the regenerative capacities of the eco-system. It embraces the natural obligation of human societies to protect the well-being of future generations of all species by maintaining earth's natural capital and recognizing the rights of other species to share in the planet’s ecological space.

In the belief that voluntary citizen action is the necessary foundation of transformational change, the Forum works with and through other civil society organizations through alliance building, educational outreach, and the articulation of a shared vision. Its activities are carried out by:

	An International Secretariat that coordinates the Forum's worldwide activities under the supervision of the Forum's Board of Directors and carries primary responsibility for its research and public outreach through publication, presentations, and media.
	An international Advisory Board of leaders from the movement who share in the values of the Forum and advise on its activities.

The Forum works in close cooperation with the Positive Futures Network, which publishes YES! magazine, and with the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies BALLE. 

The Forum's history mirrors the recent history of what we now know as the pro-democracy or living democracy movement of a globalizing civil society. It has sought consistently to expose the fallacies and illusions underling much of the conventional wisdom underlying policies relating to economic growth, development, and governance. It's more recent focus has been on the dysfunctions of corporate globalization and life-centered alternatives to money-centered corporate rule. It recognizes the essential importance of critique, but also seeks to reach beyond critique to awareness that there are democratic, market based, ethical alternatives to the excesses of global capitalism. Its most recent initiative centers on strengthening civil society voices in global dialogues on  food and agriculture policy. 

The PCDForum's work is documented in various places, including its Books, which are available through their publishers or normal book trade outlets. Current articles, presentations, and papers will be found under Documents. Materials distributed through the PCDForum Information Service from 1990 to 1997 are located in the Archives section. Except for items identified as reprinted from published sources, materials posted on the PCDForum site may be freely reprinted with appropriate credits without further prior permission. For previously published materials please request permission from the indicated publisher. We request as a courtesy that a copy of any publication in which PCDForum material is reprinted be sent to the PCDForum International Secretariat, 10588 NE Byron Drive, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, U.S.A.

The PCDForum carries out its research and public outreach activities with a small voluntary staff and does not maintain facilities to respond to individual requests for information or research. Available PCDForum materials are posted to this Web site, which is generously maintained by the International Institute for Sustainable Development IISD, Canada, which bears no responsibility for the content. The views expressed are those of the individual authors. Editorial policies are those of the PCDForum. Neither are necessarily endorsed by the IISD.