Redefining Human Rights-Based Development : The Wresinski Approach to Partnership With the Poorest/Introduction

Contents

• Introduction
• Part I -PARTNERSHIP WITH THE POOREST -TOWARDS A CULTURE FOR OVERCOMING POVERTY
• Part II — REDEFINING WORK AND HUMAN ACTIVITY TO ENHANCE SOCIAL INTEGRATION
• Part III — FURTHER INITIATIVES THE WRESINSKI APPROACH – REDEFINING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT and Appendix

Introduction

a. Context and objectives of this paper

At the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995, the Governments of 186 countries committed themselves to the goals of eradicating poverty and achieving full employment and social integration. With unprecedented momentum, they adopted a Programme of Action that underscored the importance of social development for ensuring the well-being of all.

To fulfil their commitments, some governments have formulated policies and strategies in accordance with this Programme of Action. Now, five years later, the Governments have agreed to review the achievements they have made and the obstacles they encountered in implementing the three core issues agreed upon at Copenhagen. They intend to propose further initiatives in order to pursue, with renewed political will and means, the commitments they made.

This is the context in which the International Movement ATD Fourth World submits the present paper, five years after contributing proposals for the Copenhagen Summit under the title: "To reconsider human activity in order to fight poverty and exclusion."

The current paper is presented under the general heading "the Wresinski Approach.» It is inspired by the legacy of the late Fr. Joseph Wresinski (see box), founder of the Movement. It is also rooted in the day-to-day commitment of the full-time volunteers and members of the Movement alongside some of the poorest of the world’s citizens.

The first part of this paper will address the issue of partnership with the poorest, and with their organisations, constituting a key element of social development. Within this framework, their participation in the economic, social and cultural life of their societies will be looked at. The second part will attempt to redefine work and human activity so as to enhance social integration. Finally, proposals will be made for further initiatives towards the implementation of the Summit’s commitments.

Fr. Joseph Wresinski (1917-1988) founded the International Movement ATD Fourth World in 1957. He authored the report Grande pauvreté et précarité économique et sociale (Chronic Poverty and Lack of Basic Security), which was commissioned by the Economic and Social Council of France, and later adopted by this council, of which he was a member. This report paved the way for substantial work undertaken by the UN Commission for Human Rights, the European Union, and the Council of Europe. It also paved the way for the law against social exclusion that was adopted by France in July 1998. In 1987, Fr. Wresinski launched the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (17 October), later recognised by the UN General Assembly.

Born into poverty, Joseph Wresinski established major landmarks throughout his life in the fight against the worst forms of poverty, in collaboration with other partners and the very poor themselves. He also developed a blueprint for a civilisation without exclusion based on his work in the field of human activity, a civilisation with the contributions of all people, and for the benefit of all.

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In this paper, progress in eradicating poverty and achieving full employment and social integration will be reviewed in the light of the experience of people living in extreme poverty. Therefore, prior to developing the issue of partnership and proposing a redefinition of human development, it may be useful to present an overview of the background of poverty eradication. Some of the terminology that will be used throughout this document will be explained – extreme poverty, the poorest, and partnership.

b. Eradication of poverty: an overview of the current situation

• High speed globalisation and its effects on poverty

The current world situation presents a paradox. While high-speed globalisation is broadening opportunities for a better life for many, it has also endangered the livelihoods of the poor, thus increasing poverty and social exclusion and worsening the health of many people around the world. Progress in communication and information technologies holds out the promise of universal access to knowledge, while half of the inhabitants of the planet have never made a telephone call.

While acknowledging the progress made in many parts of the world, we must keep clearly in mind that development will not benefit all if our practices are not improved. If current trends continue, the world will not meet the International Development Goal of halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015, nor will it meet the Universal Primary Education Goal of reducing adult illiteracy by three quarters by 2015.^[1]

One hundred million more people live in poverty today than a decade ago. Half of humanity – 3 billion of the total 6 billion – live on an income of less than $2 a day, and 1.3 billion live on less than $1 a day, in a global economy of 25 trillion US dollars. One and a half billion people still lack access to safe water, and 2.4 million children die each year of waterborne diseases. One hundred and twenty-five million children still lack access to primary school.

Prospects in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa are not promising, as evidenced by the declines in adult literacy and in the educational attainment of children. Malnutrition and infant mortality rates are worsening, while standards of health and average life expectancy have been dramatically hurt by the HIV-AIDS pandemic.

Due to the financial crisis in Southeast Asia, many countries have lost in a few months most of the benefits of the economic gains of the past two decades. Setbacks in reducing poverty have been noted in countries where growth was negative. Even where growth does start again, the poor will not automatically recoup their lost positions. "Neither moderate growth (up to four per cent per capita) nor high growth (above four per cent) was any guarantee of poverty reduction."^[2]

Poverty and social exclusion are not only southern phenomena. They affect economies in transition. They also affect industrialised countries, where 30 million people are unemployed. Of the European Union’s 400 million inhabitants, 60 million live under the poverty line (which is put at 50 percent below a country’s average income), and 2.7 million are homeless.

Whether in Africa, Asia, Europe or elsewhere, in every community wounded by poverty, we continue to see countless efforts being made to emerge from this situation, both by public officials and by the people in civil society – community groups, local associations and civic leaders. The current crises make it all the more important to pay tribute to the courage of these efforts, which generally go unacknowledged.

• The world’s perception of extreme poverty is evolving

Whereas poverty was once considered inevitable, there is recognition today that the world has the resources and the capacity to eradicate absolute poverty.^[3]

A factor of progress in this regard is a shift in the comprehension of extreme poverty. Grassroots groups and non-governmental organisations have long advocated a comprehensive approach to extreme poverty. They introduced the understanding that extreme poverty is multidimensional, not only limited to income, but also affecting livelihood, health, education and housing, as well as social, cultural and political participation.^[4] This understanding is gaining currency. For example, the Human Development Report of UNDP introduces into world discussion the concept of human poverty that focuses on the "denial of opportunities and choices most basic to human development – to lead a long, healthy, creative life and to enjoy a decent standard of living, freedom, dignity, self-esteem, and the respect of others." That report thus considered the poorest people «not as passive victims but as leading actors struggling against a process of impoverishment."^[5]

This multidimensional approach to poverty is paralleled by an integrated understanding of human rights, in which civil and political rights are indivisible from social, economic and cultural rights. In adopting the Final Report on Human Rights and Extreme Poverty,^[6] the United Nations helped advance this understanding – that extreme poverty is an affront to human dignity and a denial of human rights and, therefore, that freedom from poverty is an integral and inalienable human right. Also in 1996, the United Nations inaugurated in the garden of its headquarters a replica of a commemorative stone^[7] engraved with the following statement signed by Joseph Wresinski: "Wherever men and women are condemned to live in extreme poverty, human rights are violated. To come together to ensure that these rights be respected is our solemn duty.» This understanding that poverty violates human rights means that not a single person can be left out in the drive to completely eradicate poverty.

A major change has also occurred in mainstream development thinking through the recognition that reducing poverty is not an automatic by-product of economic growth. «Development must move beyond economic growth to encompass important social goals – reduced poverty, improved quality of life, enhanced opportunities for better education and health, and more.»^[8]

As a consequence of these changes, today’s approach to overcoming poverty recognises that poverty and social exclusion cannot be tackled through single-faceted measures or supposedly immediate solutions. Eradicating poverty requires long-term, cross-sectoral action: not only must it encompass development strategy, but it must also be a priority of all public policies.

c. Identification issues : What is extreme poverty? Who are the poorest?

Several terms are used in the international community to refer to extreme poverty, such as «absolute poverty,» «acute poverty,» «deep poverty.» The Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action uses the terms «absolute poverty» or «extreme poverty,» as distinct from «overall poverty.»

The multidimensional aspect of poverty and of its consequences has been underscored in the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action. Poverty has various manifestations, including lack of income and productive resources sufficient to ensure sustainable livelihoods, hunger and malnutrition, increased morbidity and mortality from illness, limited or no access to education and other basic services, homelessness and inadequate housing, unsafe environments, and social discrimination and exclusion. It is also characterised by a lack of participation in decision-making and in civil, social and cultural life. The obvious characteristic of life in extreme poverty is therefore an accumulation of mutually reinforcing types of insecurity. Not only do these types of insecurity have unavoidable effects on each other but, as they increase and intensify, exclusion becomes worse and starts to erode family and social life.

Various definitions of poverty have been advanced in order to better target and thus better reach the populations for which policies are set up. The following definition, proposed as early as 1987 and subsequently taken up by several national authorities and the international community, offers a clear understanding of the cycle of poverty and of the ways to overcome extreme poverty:

"The lack of basic security means the absence of one or more of the factors that enable individuals and families to assume basic responsibilities and to enjoy fundamental rights. Such a situation may vary in extent, its consequences can vary in gravity and may to a greater or lesser extent be irreversible. The lack of basic security leads to chronic poverty when it simultaneously affects several aspects of life, when it is prolonged and when it severely compromises people’s chances of regaining their rights and of reassuming their responsibilities in the foreseeable future."^[9]

This definition clarifies both the similarities and the differences between situations of poverty and situations of extreme poverty; both situations appear to be due to similar phenomena, varying essentially in number, extent and duration. It also pinpoints the continuum between poverty and extreme poverty; the persistence of multiple types of insecurity over a long period, sometimes several generations, can contribute to the deterioration of a situation of poverty into one of extreme poverty.

In this regard, the term «the poorest» is used in this document to mean more than designating the population on the lower extreme of a poverty-wealth axis. It also refers to the people hardest to reach within a poor community, the families whose participation in a project is crucial.^[10] Identifying «the poorest» implies a process of questioning: Who are the poorest? Why are they not reached? How can they be reached? This questioning becomes the guideline for planning community development and for improving projects so that they include all. (See box.)

Indicators of Extreme Poverty

Wherever ATD Fourth World runs projects, it tries to identify those families who are the most vulnerable because of extreme poverty compounded by isolation or exclusion from their own community. It gives priority to these families in the sense that they become «reference» families for the programmes to be designed and carried out. This is a key tool to ensure that a given project will affect the root causes of exclusion.

:The projects run by ATD Fourth World in Guatemala illustrate the effort of focusing on the poorest. Among the 300 families who regularly took part in projects in 1997, twenty were considered «reference» families. The reasons for this choice are illustrated through the lives of six of them. One family lives in a hamlet (aldea) in the east of the country. The other families live in the capital, with one of them camping alongside the railroad tracks and another one in front of a public dump. Although many other families live in similar conditions in these same marginalised areas, these families are worse off than their neighbours, as evidenced by the following facts.

In the hamlet where one of these families lives, municipal projects have provided electricity and running water in the last two years. This family, however, was the only one that did not benefit from either project. During the first project, they simply were not taken into account by the community. For the second, they could not afford the participation fee.

In one of the families living in the capital, the mother gave birth to a baby in a hospital in 1997. After a few days, she was told that that her baby daughter had been transferred elsewhere, without any explanation, and that she could not see her. Since that moment, the mother has found no trace of her daughter.

Among the four other families living in the capital, none of the children of school age attended school in 1996.

:These are not isolated facts, and additional ones could be cited. They show that, while many families live in poor conditions in the same areas, some of them are worse off than their neighbours. Even in the very poorest communities in this country, it rarely happens that a mother is prohibited from raising her own child. As for the family living in the hamlet, being the only one that did not benefit from two projectsthat were meant for the whole community indicates greater hardship for this family. Finally, concerning schooling, most parents in this capital manage, although with great efforts, to send at least one or two children to school despite dire poverty. Therefore, the non-attendance of any of the children of the four families mentioned above can be seen as an indicator of their absolute poverty.

It is more and more widely recognised that programmes designed to reduce poverty often miss those most in need. As early as 1989, a report by UNICEF indicated that 20% of the people for whom its programmes were designed were not reached.^[11] Many actors have made efforts to identify the causes of this and to remedy it. It is with this concern in mind that the Social Summit emphasised the need to acquire better quantitative and qualitative information about the poorest sector in any given society and to evaluate the persistence of poverty and the effectiveness of strategies to eradicate poverty from the qualitative standpoint.^[12]

This introduction has been intended to heed those concerns by bringing precision to the terminology that will be used throughout this document. Our work is guided by one essential requirement: the identification of those individuals, families or groups, who are or who shall be the focus of programmes and projects designed to end extreme poverty. The daily experience and thinking of these people form the standpoint from which analysis and proposals will be drawn in this paper.

1. Address by James D. Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank Group, to the Board of Governors, September 28, 1999.
2. UNDP Human Poverty Report 1998, "Overcoming Human Poverty.»
3. cf. Statement of commitment of the UN Administrative Committee on Co-ordination for action to eradicate poverty (E/1998/73)
4. See in particular the 1993 report "Fourth World families, actors of development," submitted to the UN Secretariat for the International Year of the Family, and subsequently published under the title This is How We Live – Listening to the Poorest Families, Fourth World Publications, Landover, Maryland, 1995, 174 pages.
5. UNDP Poverty Report 1998, «Overcoming Human Poverty,» page 14.
6. UN General Assembly Resolution 53/146 and UN Human Rights Commission Resolution 1996/23 adopting the Final Report on human rights and extreme poverty, submitted by the Special Rapporteur, Leandro Despouy (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1996/13). Work on the issue of human rights and extreme poverty has continued with the nomination of an independent expert, Anne-Marie Lizin.
7. The original stone was inaugurated on October 17, 1987, at the Plaza of Human Rights and Liberties (Trocadero) in France.
8. World Development Report 1999/2000, The World Bank Group.
9. cf. Final Report on human rights and extreme poverty (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1996/13). This definition was formulated by Fr. Joseph Wresinski, and adopted by the Economic and Social Council of France, in the Report "Grande pauvreté et précarité économique et sociale,» February 1987. (Translation In English, The Wresinski Report: Chronic Poverty and Lack of Basic Security, published in 1994.)
10. UNICEF uses the term «the poorest» to refer to groups that have not yet been reached by its programmes that aim at covering the entire population of poor people. See also «Methodology for identifying the poorest at local level,» Binayak Sen and Sharifa Begum, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, Dhaka, Bangladesh, published by ICO and WHO, Geneva; February 1998.
11. The State of the World's Children, New York, 1989, page 157
12. Copenhagen Programme of action, para 29/b and para. 83/h