An analysis whether the objectives of exchanging ideas has been met.
By Olivia Phiri and Kiss Abrahams

The second Southern Africa Social Forum has been a platform for sharing of many issues affecting people of the southern African regions from various backgrounds, the participation at this forum has shown evidence of the participation of the grassroots with ordinary citizens and technocrats from NGO’s meeting in workshops to debate issues.
Nelson Banda from the Zambian National Women’s lobby said the was an eye opener for many activists such as myself who believe in bringing the interests of the sub region’s people’s to the fore.
‘ I’m particularly impressed that issues tackled border on the advancement of women which my organization advocates for, it would be ideal for government officials to attend the event so that they learn from the people at the event,’ said Banda
Briggs Bomba a Zimbabwean youth said, “There is need for the social forum process to move away from its image of being a talk shop, it must transform itself into an action oriented platform”.
These sentiments are constantly being echoed at social forum events by proponents of the restructuring of the forum space, it is a contentious issue among participants because many argue that the principal of the forum which states that The World Social Forum (WSF) is not an organization, not a united front platform, but “…an open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and inter-linking for effective action, by groups and movements of civil society that are opposed to neo-liberalism and to domination of the world by capital and any form of imperialism, and are committed to building a society centered on the human person”.
Is not enough for the benefit of social change which is desired of the governments by the civil society, they are of the view that the forum should shift to being an action centered entity.
The event on the whole seems to have achieved the objective of getting the people to share their experiences.