Lifting the poverty curtain

From austerity to sustainability: what future do we want?

2011-12-04T15:15:00.001+01:00

The chorus of people warning governments that cuts and austerity are hitting the poorest hardest is becoming ever louder and wider. The UN's special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights calls on States to address without delay the growing inequalities between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots.’ “In several countries,” she warns, “disparities created by the crisis have been exacerbated by austerity measures put in place to facilitate recovery.” Meanwhile the Robert Schuman Foundation warns that austerity measures are affecting the poorest but especially young people who have become a new "lost generation" in Europe. And in the UK, The Institute for Fiscal Studies rasies concerns that the poor will be penalised and the better-off helped by the Chancellor's recent Autumn budget statement that continues the trend of taking away from lower-income families with children, and giving away to those in the middle and top of income distribution.

Three voices, looking at this issue from an international, regional and national perspective, and coming to the same conclusion: those who have least are paying the most in vain attempts to get the world back on what were already wobbly legs.

So what is needed to provide a more stable base for the world to get back up on its feet? In the lead up to next year's UN Conference on Sustainable Development - better known as Rio+20 - over 600 national governments, international organisations and NGOs have expressed their vision of what a sustainable future for all should look like. A compilation document of these proposals will soon be produced ahead of a preparation meeting for Rio+20 next week at the UN in New York. Whilst few of these will make their way into the summit's final outcome document, there is a broad movement - including the Beyond 2015 campaign - calling for all countries to adopt sustainable development goals, that puts the eradication of extreme poverty at its heart.

Even though it's highly likely that the final outcome from Rio+20 will be little more than a collection of vague and non-binding statements, it is interesting to note the link being made by Ban Ki-moon between the effects of the economic crises and a vision for a sustainable development for all: "Global challenges and crises are interconnected. Economic, social and environmental concerns are inseparable. And human rights are integral to them all. That is why we are placing sustainable development at the top of the international agenda[...]Rio+20, will offer a critical opportunity to chart a course to the future we want."

If we continue to chart a course that protects the rights of the haves and disregards the effects on a growing population of have-nots, the future will be anything but sustainable.

Shattered Families

2011-11-18T22:05:00.000+01:00

A dramatic report has woken me from my blogging slumber. "Shattered Families" outlines research carried out by the US based Applied Research Center. It found that over 5000 children were currently in foster care after their parents had been either detained or deported by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This despite countering US Immigration and Child Welfare laws and policies, not to say international conventions, based on the assumption that families will, and should, be united, whether or not parents are deported (NB: the US is alone with Somalia in not having ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child).

One mother deported to Mexico and separated from her 9-month old son, waited over a year to be reunited with him - by which time he had spend more time in foster care than with his birth mother. This family was fortunate. After a year, Child Protection Services draft a permanency plan, an outcome of which can be parental rights being terminated and the child being put up for adoption despite the parents possibly being in a position in their country of origin to be reunited with their child.

This is not the first time I have heard of children being separated from their detained parents. Under the UK's previous labour government, social workers were encouraged to remove children into foster care to force undocumented migrant families to return to their country of origin. The policy was overturned, largely because social workers refused to remove children who were not at rosk of harm.

And in my time working with families in chronic poverty in the UK, I saw too often children taken into care due to a lack of commitment, understanding and resources to keep families together. Yet when family-support organisations, such as ATD Fourth World, provided a long-term accompaniment to parents, they were able to demonstrate to social workers and family courts their capacity to care provide a safe and caring environment for their children.

It needs child welfare professionals, family advocacy organisations and also neighbours of these families to speak out against such practices which, as the report and video below state, shatter families.

Let there be light!

2011-07-25T11:41:00.001+02:00

How about this for a sustainable way to light your home in the Philippines? Nothing more than a plastic bottle, water, bleach and let there be light! (h/t Duncan Green). Though perhaps the question should be asked of whether a similarly inexpensive solution can be found to prevent people from having to live in windowless shacks in the first place...

Are you a human rights defender?

2011-07-22T20:37:00.008+02:00

Just seen this great video produced by the Mexican office of the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, encouraging people to "Declare yourself, I'm declaring myself" as human rights defenders. If the English subtitles don't show, run your mouse over the red "cc" button underneath the video and check the English subtitles.

Still on the theme of human rights, an attack on NGOs who support a human rights based approach in an essay by Pranab Bardhan featured in a blog post by Chris Blattman. Lots of rebuttals from the NGO community in the post's comments (including from me!). In my opinion, the essay seems to miss the point when it suggests that NGOs lack an understanding of the necessary trade-offs for development to materialise. The arguement goes that democracy should be left to play out in “party forums” and NGOs shouldn't interfere as their involvement can lead to decisions not being taken in the broader interest of society. Yet, one of the basic principles of a human rights based approach is to ensure the rights of the most vulnerable are respected – notably when such trade-offs are on the table, it typically leads to the poorest and most excluded people and populations losing out. This is the positive role NGOs should, and usually do, play in development. If democracy is left to play out in “party forums”, you can be sure that decisions taken in the broader interest of society, will be to the detriment of the most vulnerable.

Community Solidarity on Mandela Day

2011-07-14T15:41:00.002+02:00

In 4 days time on 18 July 2011, people are encouraged to celebrate Mandela Day by taking responsibility to change the world into a better place, one small step at a time, just as Mr Mandela did for more than 67 years. Once you've done your good turn on 18th July, you're then encouraged to "make every day your Mandela Day by doing some good for others."

Reading about Mandela Day, made me think just how many amazing people exist who are already taking responsibility for changing the world without knowing about the celebration of this Day. Not your much maligned "whites in shining armour," but people from all walks of life, including those who have to fight to provide a livelihood for themselves and their family yet consider it a priority to show solidarity with others in their community which "development" projects risk leaving behind.

It especially made me think about a short clip I saw recently, from the ATD Fourth World series "Unknown Volunteers" to commemorate International Year of Volunteers +10.

Do take just a couple of minutes to watch this fantastic portrayal of community solidarity which echoes Nelson Mandela's rallying call when he said that "it is in your hands to make a difference."

The Hills of Hope from ATDENG on Vimeo.

A potential step forward for those who are furthest from claiming their rights

2011-06-26T23:32:00.000+02:00

I'm just back from the United Nations in Geneva where over 100 representatives from Members States, United Nations' bodies 2011 discuss ways in which to take forward the work on Draft Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. The basis for the meeting's discussion was the progress report produced by the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. The meeting represented an opportunity for stakeholders to take part in a formal consultation exercise to feed into the drafting process of the Guiding Principles.

The Draft Guiding Principles, set to be adopted by the United Nations in 2012, is the first attempt to bring together accepted human rights norms in one text and offers action-orientated steps for practitioners and policy-makers to follow in order to ensure people in extreme poverty can claim and enjoy equal enjoyment of rights, thus furthering the fight against poverty and exclusion.

I was there re representing ATD Fourth World, alongside Florence Tissières, an activist experiencing poverty herself, who is involved in supporting families in the Geneva area who struggle to have their rights respected. She had been invited by the organisers to take the floor and explained that what was needed from the point of view of people in poverty was to look than only the financial aspects. "All the consequences that emanate from surviving against poverty should be taken into account – illness and poor health, debt, exclusion etc. A comprehensive approach is necessary if we want to fight poverty effectively." In conclusion she stated that, "The global fight against poverty never moves fast enough. We expect States to take this report seriously as its content represents a potential step forward for those who are furthest from claiming their rights."

During the two days discussion, participants discussed what needed to be improved in a final text of the Draft Guiding Principles and what was missing that should be incorporated into a final version. Topics addressed ranged from the right of each country to have the means and resources to develop, the effects of corruption on people in extreme poverty and the conditions to be considered in order for the poorest in society to participate meaningfully in anti-poverty strategies.

These kinds of discussion often risk becoming highly technical and forget who the intended beneficiaries of their work. I was fortunate enough to be able to take the floor and recall the participants present of the words of doña Silvia Velasco from a very poor community in Peru, who after the consultation in Geneva in 2009 stated that, "We have sown a seed in the ground so that in the future, our children no longer live in the same poverty as us and so we can reap the fruits of this seed, because they represent the world's future."

The results of this experts' consultation seminar, as well as the written contributions that have been received, will be submitted for revision to the Human Rights Council in March 2012 and will inform the Special Rapporteur in her submission of a final version of Draft Guiding Principles to the Council for adoption in September 2012. In her closing remarks, the Special Rapporteur recalled that, "The timeline must be looked at from the perspective of people in extreme poverty - we must avoid further delay."

In his closing statement, the Ambassador of Morocco said that, "Wherever there is extreme poverty, dignity is swept aside: it's a black zone, without rights. We have lost enough time – 20 years ago ATD Fourth World introduced this idea, and I thank them for it. It's taken 10 years for us to elaborate these Guiding Principles. The essential has been done, we have to finalise them and put them into practice."

It's up to us as civil society organisations to not let States off the hook and see that his words come to fruition.

Don't blame the poor for our countries' woes

2011-05-21T10:12:00.000+02:00

A politician in France, the country of the "droits de l'homme", is questioning the rights afforded to people living in poverty. Europe Minister, Laurent Wauquiez, is proposing to cut benefits to social security claimants, wrongly claiming (and since rebuked by his own party) that it was possible for couples where neither is working can receive more in benefits than a household where there is a person in work. He has also decried the "assistance" culture created through social security benefits as a "cancer on French society".

How easy it is to attack those who are among society's most vulnerable when things get tough. And France is by no means alone in doing this. Take David Cameron's headline grabbing statement last month about disability benfit claimants that led to the Daily Mirror stating,"People who are too fat to work are biting a huge hole in the country's finances." Closer inspection of the Government's own figures of the number of people claiming disability benefits due to obesity puts the figure at a whopping 1800 people, just over 0.001% of total government spending.

It made me think of a new joint publication between ATD Fourth World and the Forum for a New World Governance, entitled "Extreme Poverty and World Governance". One of the most interesting points in it for me is how it is so easily to manipulate opinion and turn it against the poor. "Fear is at the root of the processes operating to make evil and social injustice acceptable. This means that the violence, sometimes in its extreme form, imposed on certain categories of people ends up being seen as normal." (...) "Long-standing prejudices distinguishing the "deserving poor", who have to be helped, from the "undeserving poor", who have to be punished, and encouraging the belief that all societies have a scrapheap, help to legitimize the violence meted out to the groups of people disqualified in this way."

To combat this, the book suggest that this vision of people living in poverty can be turned around when there is "an inner recognition of the suffering, fragility and hopes of the people who endure extreme poverty" (...) "an alliance with those people, a commitment to take action on their behalf."

The fact that 5000 people marched in London today to protest against benefit cuts, added to the hundreds of thousands who marched in March, demonstrates that an alliance does exist which refuses to accept that people living in poverty should be made scapegoats by politicians looking for easy soundbites for front-page headlines.

A day without dignity

2011-04-04T22:34:00.001+02:00

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world," So begins the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed in 1948 by the founding member states of the United Nations.

April 5th has been suggested as "A day without dignity" as a counter to the TOMS campaign "A Day Without Shoes."

Dignity is central to our sense of wellbeing. Yet it is a concept denied all too often to people living in poverty. When people living in poverty were asked their views on the Draft Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, the demand for equal dignity was central to their vision of how to combat poverty. In the resulting report, what comes through is that extreme poverty cannot be resolved through charity, and aid should not destroy the dignity nor the creativity of recipients:

“We don’t want the local authorities to come into our communities, into our village just to bring us second-hand clothes. We don’t want them to give us gifts. What we want are respectable jobs – work that allows us to live like normal human beings.” (Cusco, Peru)

"Aid must not destroy human dignity and creativity. It requires taking the time to talk with the person in order to understand what they want. We have to avoid repeating the mistakes of donors who decide what people should do." (Dakar, Senegal)

In the 21st Century, surely we can do better than taking off our shoes and giving them to charity. Poverty is a cause, and a consequence, of violations of human rights. Rather than go without our shoes, we would do better to imagine going without the right to housing, decent work, education, water and sanitation, food, citizenship, legal assistance...and, fundamentally, having your opinion in how to eradicate poverty taken into account.

Guiding a path to a world without poverty

2011-04-03T15:41:00.000+02:00

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has just published a consultation to seek views on the Draft Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights.

Yet another set of guidelines? Allow me to raise my voice to be heard above that of the cynics among you to reveal how these guiding principles can offer real progress in the fight against extreme poverty.

Firstly, real effort has been made to seek to views of people experiencing poverty. Organisations, including ATD Fourth World, have worked with groups of people living in poverty to ensure the guiding principles correspond to the challenges they face and the solutions they deem effective.

Secondly, they recognise that extreme poverty in itself constitutes a violation of human dignity and that for its effective eradication, priority attention should be given to the poorest and most excluded in society.

And thirdly, these guidelines are not a simple theoretical wishlist. They clearly define the responsibilities of duty bearers (government authorities) and provide a common point of departure for action by all those involved in the fight against poverty, whether from the public, private or NGO sector, based on the realities of the situation of persons living in extreme poverty.

The consultation will run to June 2011 and a report will be presented to the Human Rights Council in early 2012. The report will be used to finalise the Guiding Principles, which will be presented to the Council for adoption in September 2012.

The greater the response to this consultation, the more it will persuade the Human Rights Council of the importance of these Guidelines to the fight against poverty, thus facilitating the path toward their eventual adoption.

One concrete action that people can take is to encourage their Government to respond to the consultation, as well as civil society organisations of which they are members. More information is available on the ATD Fourth World website.

Fetching water versus fetching a cuppa

2011-03-26T08:27:00.001+01:00

I got sent the other day a very revealing email concerning Water Aid's "End Water Poverty" campaign (h/t Laura Cowley). It has some interesting facts about how the average Brit spends his or her time. Did you know for example that we spend about six hours a week drinking tea and coffee? That’s the same amount of time it itakes on average to make two trips to collect water in sub-Saharan Africa.

Something to bear in mind the next time you trapse to the kitchen to put the kettle on... There's more on their campaign, as well as a petition to end water poverty, on their website.

All you can farm for $200 a week

2011-03-25T00:35:00.006+01:00

I came across this video below from the Guardian website on Duncan Green's blog. An Indian company has bought an area of land the size of Wales in south-west Ethiopia for which it pays the Ethiopian government just over US$200 a month. Most of the workers receive less than US$1 and the food produced will be exported to India. And this in a country where a large proportion of the population are still dependent on foreign food aid.

Is this just an inevitable consequence of globalisation, where the interests of large corporations supercede those of the indigenous population? Can private sector companies be held to account to ensure they give due regard to international human rights norms? Relevant to this issue, Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights will be considered by the UN's Human Rights Council this June. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, has also issued a call to consider a set of eleven human rights principles regarding "land grabbing".

The land grab phenomenon thows up a lot of questions regarding the fight against poverty and for sustainable development. Anyone got any answers?

Link to game

2011-03-07T20:40:00.000+01:00

For some reason the link to the game I refered to in my post yesterday was down. Today it's working - you can check it out here.

Look forward to your comments after you've given it a look.

Can you turn Haiti into a game?

2011-03-06T12:15:00.000+01:00

With spring in the air, time for this blog to emerge from hibernation...

And what better way than a moral question. I came across on the Global Poverty Project website a game which has been developed by a group of children from Brooklyn, NY who are involved in a project to develop online games run by Global Kids Online Leadership program. The game I came across is called, "Ayiti: The Cost of Life" and it involves "Helping the Guinard family to make ends meet and get ahead in their poverty-stricken homeland, Haiti. In this sometimes tragic and always challenging simulation game, you help the parents, Jean and Marie, and their children, Patrick, Jacqueline, and Yves, make decisions about work, education, community building, personal purchases, and health care that might brighten their future."

According to Global Kids' website, "During the 2005-2006 school year, Global Kids Youth Leaders in the Playing for Keeps program at South Shore High School gained leadership, research, and game design skills while producing a socially conscious online game, Ayiti: The Cost of Life (CostofLife.org). The youth chose to design a game that focuses on the issue of poverty as an obstacle to education and uses the country of Haiti as a case study. The game and its associated curriculum were released through UNICEF’s Child Alert: Haiti website(...) Since it was released in October 2006, hundreds of thousands of people have played Ayiti. The game and the after school component are being evaluated by the Center for Children and Technology."

I played the game to see what it was about (this morning the link is down for some reason). The game is user friendly and has been well designed by the kids. But no matter how hard I tried, the Guinard family kept dying on me, one by one, as I ran out of money and they got too sick to work or go to school.

The game certainly made me think about the challenges extreme poverty brings to a family in Haiti: health, education, lack of money and decent work, hurricanes. There are even pop ups occasionally telling you it's Carnival and how happy the community are to celebrate, so you get small glimpses of the culture.

The game also made me think about what Haitian kids would think of this game about trying to keep alive and flourish their fellow citizens. I couldn't find anywhere on the website reaction from Haitians.

It also made me think about the extent to which it is fair for people to learn about a country based principally on its hardship. What you come away with from the game is how harsh and fragile life is in the country. More often than not, the game will end in the death of the family after about 15 minutes play, in which time 2 or 3 years have gone by in the life of the family.

What's missing is a real insight into how people really live to really do justice to the struggle of the Haitians (or any people come to that). How do Haitian children spend their day, how do they help their family, what games do they play, what are their hopes and dreams?

I think it's a great idea to learn about a country through a game. But my question is whether it is morally acceptable to learn about a country through a game in which people die?

Time for people living in poverty to have a voice on the MDGs

2010-11-09T22:28:00.001+01:00

Two interesting blog posts drew my attention the last couple of days. Firstly from the Guardian's Poverty Matter blog is an article on the need for a new set of MDGs that apply to all countries. I couldn't agree more with the view that, "The MDGs development targets (MDGs 1-7) apply only to "developing countries", leaving the entirely false implication that "developed countries" no longer have anything to improve on. Next time we draw up some global targets, all countries should be treated the same, all with targets to meet at home, and all with a responsibility to offer help and solidarity abroad."

ATD Fourth World has long argued the same point and is in the process of drawing up a project that will give people living in the most extreme poverty in "developing countries" the chance to have their say on the impact the Goals have had on their lives to date. The project will also include people living in long-term poverty in Europe and North America their opportunity to have a say on what poverty eradication targets have meant to them (the EU for example set a target in 2000 to make a decisive impact on poverty). The project also aims to enable people living in poverty to point the way forward so that the successor to the MDGs post-2015 has more success in reaching those experiencing the severest poverty.

Whilst working on this project proposal today, I came across a blog post that publicised a Village in Action Conference that seeks to build a platform for villages to be heard in order to,"Contribute not only our voices to the discussion, but to also showcase what we are already doing to advance our own communities." The first Conference will take place in Uganda on 27 November. This initiative came about due to frustration that debate on the MDGs, particularly during the September summit, is devoid of the voice of those who stand lost to gain from them.

I look forward to reading what the people from this Ugandan village have to say about what they are doing to achieve the MDGs. Between now and 2015, we will need plenty more initiatives that do not see people in poverty as mere "beneficiaries" but actors of change whose knowledge cannot go untapped if we want to make that decisive impact on extreme poverty in all countries in the world.

Small acts of resistance

2010-10-27T22:41:00.003+02:00

I came across today on Duncan Green's blog what seems like a really inspiring book called "Small acts of resistance: How courage, tenacity and ingenuity can change the world." The book has its own website where you can also submit your own stories of resistance.

Some of the examples included on the website from the book give pinpoint examples of how ordinary citizens took very simple actions to bring about change. For example, football supporters in Uruguay during the military dictatorship mumbled the national anthem until it came to the line, "May tyrants tremble!" which they shouted with all their might, before continuing to mumble the rest. The Generals couldn't arrest a whole football stadium nor could they accept the humiliation of removing this line from the national anthem. The people had found a way to express their opinion.

Those of us committed to creating a fairer world by eradicating poverty should also submit our stories of acts of resistance. So often we're faced with the question, "So what have you done that's improved people's lives?" Often our responses are so long-winded and complex, that potential supporters have moved on to the next, more readily understandable cause.

We should take up the author's invitation to submit our small acts of resistance. We are witness to them everyday by people living extraordinarily difficult lives who, despite all the odds, demonstrate courage, tenacity and ingenuity to survive extreme poverty. To inspire you, here's a video presentation of the book.

Small Acts of Resistance Final from Small Acts on Vimeo.

A world where money is more important than people

2010-10-23T18:51:00.002+02:00

I was in Strasbourg this week, accompanying a group of young people from across Europe to meet Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General. Some of the guys who made up the delegation continue to have a difficult life, struggling to find work or their place on a worthwhile training course. And struggling to find their place in a society that tends to value people's worth in economic more often than human terms. Others have had more opportunities but are committed to creating a society which gives those same chances to everyone whatever their background.

It was uplifting to join them as they delivered their Appeal for a fairer world to Ban Ki-moon and the European Parliament President. This Appeal is the fruit of a process that has brought European young people together over the past year, in which each person was listened to and each point of view was respected. The Appeal asks Europeans of all ages and backgrounds to express their solidarity with young people who are among the over 80 million who live in poverty across the continent.

"As young people from across Europe and in solidarity with young people the world over, we live in a world where money is more important than people. This world excludes some of us and breaks others. It leaves us feeling disgusted and angry. (…) We are of all ages and from across Europe. We dream of a fairer world. We must come together to make it possible."

The high that the young people were on after the event was infectious. As one of them put it, "When we began the process of writing this Appeal, I could never have imagined that we would end up reading it to the UN Secretary-General!"

It is easy to be cynical about such encounters between dignitaries and "ordinary citizens". I honesty got the feeling that Ban Ki-moon was genuinely touched and impressed by the commitment of this group of young people. In his very spontaneous response, he congratulated them on their leadership in tackling questions of poverty and encouraged their expression of solidarity to build a world free from poverty.

Those of us accompanying the delegation must now ensure that the Appeal's strong message of a dream for a fairer world is reinforced by reminding world leaders and decision makers of the expectations young people have for them to stand by the commitments they have made to make that dream a reality.

European youth appeal to the UN Secretary-General for a fairer world from ATDFRA on Vimeo.

Break the silence: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

2010-10-16T23:40:00.003+02:00

Tomorrow is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. I'll be heading to the Plaza of Liberties and Human Rights, at the Trocadero in Paris to join thousands of others to who share my refusal to accept that over a billion of our fellow citizens be condemned to a life of extreme poverty. The Plaza were over 60 years ago the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed to herald, "Freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people."

What will it take to spur us to take a stand against the injustice of poverty and make this proclamation more than rhetoric? For President Piñera of Chile, it was the plight of the 33 miners which led him to state his country will could now undertake the challenge to be the first in Latin America to defeat poverty.

It shouldn't need 33 courageous men to spur us to end poverty. The rallying call has come from many great figures in history over the years. From Victor Hugo, who in addressing the French Parliament in 1849 said, "I am among those who think and affirm that poverty can be destroyed." Or more recently, Nelson Mandela, who, now free, reminded us that the poor are not: "They are trapped in the prison of poverty. It is time to set them free."

Yet since the onset of the global economic crisis, nearly 70 million more people have been condemned to extreme poverty. And this just ten years after the international community pledged to, "Spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty."

Poverty can and must be eradicated. Tomorrow, people in different corners of the globe, including those who experience poverty first-hand, will express the conviction of Joseph Wresinski that, "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."

Below is a video from the director general of ATD Fourth World with his meesage for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

What will you be doing tomorrow?

Message from Eugen Brand, Director General of the International Movement ATD Fourth World on the occasion of the International D from ATDFRA on Vimeo.

Gross national happiness

2010-09-26T22:18:00.002+02:00

As world leaders come away from the UN in New York following this week's MDG summit and opening of the General Assembly, is anything likely to change for the people whose lives the MDGs are intended to improve? Let's be honest, given that the community of nations pledged 10 years ago to, "spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty," they were hardly likely to shrug their shoulders and back away from such promises. But are we any closer now to delivery on these promises?

What positives can we take away from the summit to reassure people across the world whose lives have gone unchanged, or become more difficult, since 2000? Aside the usual rhetoric of "must do better", there were some departures from the standard script. Presidents Sarkozy and Zapatero spoke passionately about the need to introduce a tax on international financial transactions to fund progress towards the MDGs. But with the continued lukewarm response from the US in particular, this is unlikely to see the light of day any time soon. The Swiss government's representative focussed on the need for a human rights approach to achieving the MDGs, a tool woefully absent from the framework to date. And there is finally some mention in the summit's outcome document of the need to respect, protect and promote human rights in order to reach the Goals. But no mention of how this will be fulfuilled.

My highlight though was the speech from the Prime Minister of Bhutan. He called on the voluntary adoption of a ninth MDG: happiness. Bhutan has long rejected mainstream development paradigms, opting to meaure its country's progress not by improvements in Gross National Product, but Growth National Happiness. Interestingly, the Bhutanese rightly point out that the MDG framework does nothing to tackle poverty and inequality in the developed world. Goals towards achieving happiness, they point out, would be equally relevant and valuable for the global north.

Below you can view the Bhutan Prime Minister's address. This concept is not to be dismissed out of hand. The wonders of economic growth, even before the crisis, have been unable to eradicate poverty and achieve full enjoyment of all human rights for all. Despite the laughter in the General Assembly from some quarters that accompanied Bhutan's idea, there is surely something to gain from taking a closer look at Gross National Happiness.

The science of motivation

2010-09-05T11:09:00.001+02:00

Just came across a great post on the Owen Abroad blog. It's a presentation by the economist Dan Pink about the science of "motivation".

Two interesting things emerge for me. Firstly in the NGO sector, we should traditionally be solely driven by purpose rather than financial reward. Rather than salaries being high enough that people don't need to worry about the money and thus perform better, they can also be low enough (especially in the case of volunteers) that financial again is completely removed from the equation. But what happens in the new era of NGOs where CEOs are paid $150,000 and upwards? And even if there's no danger of a profit motive becoming detached from a purpose motive, does financial reward in the NGO sector introduce other dangers?

Secondly, what can this science tell us about policy-making that is driven by a carrot and stick reward system. "Conditionality" is a major driver of social welfare in both the global north (receipt of welfare being attached to a commitment by the beneficiary to seek work for example) and south (entitlement to conditional cash transfers dependent on children being in full-time education).

From this study, should policy-makers' use of motivation to get the best outcomes (for beneficiaries and taxpayers) also be challenged?

Revealed: the face of Tory Britain

2010-08-29T16:54:00.014+02:00

Photo: Rex Features

If you're not familiar with the UK, you may be wondering who this man is.

A newly cast "Dracula"? A villain in a forthcoming Bond film?

No, it's George Osborne, one of the faces of the new "compassionate conservatism" and the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer (equivalent to Finance Minister).

A recent Guardian newspaper article ran this photo with a story on an analysis of the UK Government's austerity measures carried out by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a well respected and independent non-profit research institution. They have shown that despite the Con-Dem coalition's best claims of fairness, the welfare cuts mean working families on the lowest incomes – particularly those with children – are the biggest losers. This amounts to the poorest 10% of families losing over 5% of their income as a result of the budget compared with a loss of less than 1% for non-pensioner households without children in the richest 10% of households.

No one with any sense doubted for a second Tory promises to be the new "champions of the poor." What is galling, for fools such as myself who voted for the Libdems in May, is Nick Clegg and co's propping up of Tory policy that would have had Margaret Thatcher twirling her handbag in joy.

Dragons who risk fanning the flames

2010-08-25T00:04:00.001+02:00

Just stumbled across this video of James Caan in Pakistan (those in the UK will know him as one of the "Dragons" from the TV show Dragon's Den, a show in which entrepreneurs invite people with business propositions to make a pitch and then decide whether to invest their money).

I'm willing to stand corrected, but the news report gives the impression that he's flown into his native Pakistan with a fistful of pounds to sort the food distribution problem single-handed.

"The food ends up going to the fittest," he insightfully reveals at the end. What did he expect when roaring into the flood hit areas with a lorry full of supplies? That he would automatically be able to identify and reach those most in need?

Why is that so many individuals in these situations believe they can do better than Governments or aid agencies who have years of experience is such complex logistical operations?

Tales of the unexpected

2010-08-22T22:38:00.002+02:00

I'm in that post-holiday limbo, when the children are yet to go back to school and I delude myself that I will be able to catch up with work and the kids will look after themselves. Working from home does have its advantages though, such as having the radio on in the background without having to worry about whether it will bother anyone.

This morning's Radio 4 background came into the foreground as I listened with increasing interest to Kathy Burke's choice of Desert Island Discs. She spoke about her challenging childhood, brought up on a council estate in north London, mother dying when she was 2, father with drink problem... all the ingredients for future "anti-social behaviour" and "problem families", justifications that were so often thown up by New Labour for the next wave of draconian initiatives.

Except Kathy Burke went on to become an acclaimed actress, winning a best actor award at Cannes. Which begs the question, what is it that leads to some people overcoming childhood disadvantage in adulthood (not necessarily measured by how many film awards you win) whilst others continue to experience as adults poverty and social exclusion?

Many studies have focused on identifying factors which enable resilience and thus either prevent families falling into extreme poverty or from children experiencing the same outcome as adults as their parents. One study, with the snazzy title of Tales of the Unexpected, conducted by social policy and public health experts in the UK, defined resilience as "the process of achieving positive and unexpected outcomes in adverse conditions."

Unfortunately, public policy generally has very low expectations of the resilience of families living in pòverty. Yet, in working with such families for 8 years in the UK, I was constantly amazed by the fortitude shown by many parents, especially to keep their children out of the care system.

Such a shame then that the Coalition Government seems to be following the New Labour pattern in side-stepping evidence based policy-making when it suits in favour of gimicky measures to grab tabloid headlines. The latest being the resurfacing of plans to withhold benefits from anyone refusing treatment for drug or alcohol addiction. This despite the social security advisory committee finding back in May that withdrawing benefits from drug users would lead them into crime and prostitution.

Not all kids living on north London council estates can go on to receive an award at Cannes. But surely it pays to raise our expectations of the height children and adults living in poverty are able to reach if we understand and trust in their capacity to achieve the unexpected.

A lesson in presentation (using Ikea boxes!)

2010-07-20T13:00:00.001+02:00

Great post today from Duncan Green on his blog which gave me the pleasure to discover Hans Rosling. What a joy to watch. If only all those who presented in seminars and conferences (me included!) could be so entrancing! Rather than being an onerous task we feel compelled to put ourselves through in the hope of retaining one hundredth of what is said, a Rosling lecture is a lesson in communicating ideas.

That said, he is an economist, and as often occurs in this discipline, at times he leaves me a little cold. Watch it and let me know your opinion, but his way of talking about child mortality is unpleasantly unemotional at times.

In any case, happy watching and learning!

Supporting and not undermining community solidarity

2010-07-14T13:12:00.014+02:00

One of the pleasures of working at the headquarters of an international organisation is that you frequently meet people from, or living in, the world over. Today, I had the opportunity to spend time with a colleague based in Ougadougou in Burkina Faso.

One thing that struck me was the delicate balance to be achieved between developing a project with families living in extreme poverty and not upsetting the community solidarity that is the social fabric of Burkinabé society. For example, a family receives a micro-grant from a foregin NGO that they may use to buy a bicycle, for example, with the overall goal of generating income. If they fail to prosper as a result of the grant, the next time they are in need of community support, they may face a negative reaction: "You asked les blancs for help but you still didn't manage. Now it's your problem." (If you read French, then see this excellent blog post about solidarity networks in Burkina Faso).

All the more important then for projects to be developed in partnership with those who are too often seen crudely as "beneficiaries". This may take over a year to develop to ensure the conditions of trust are in place that will respect family and community ties. In the example shared by my colleague, a relationship is built up,using books and story-telling as a medium, with a young person, part of a group of youths living in the street in the city. He is invited with others to participate in skill-sharing activities - the “Courtyard of 100 Trades” - a workshop to introduce the youngsters to certain trades. The relationship ultimately leads on to a dialogue with the children’s families, as frequently young people will express a desire to return to their community . The aim at this point is to initiate and support plans for a shared future for the young person and their family. A dialogue is facilitated with the family over the space of several months to understand the support the direct and extended family can offer to ensure the young person's return is a success. In such circumstances, where the family and community dynamic has been understood, the conditions are created for a micro-grant to be made that compliment, rather than replace community solidarity.

And what's more, supporting a young person to return to his community is in harmony with traditional values. As the Mossi saying goes, "You must travel to know the elephant, but then return to explain what it is like."
Photo: ATD Fourth World

Communicating

2010-07-05T01:32:00.001+02:00

This week I will be taking part in an internal training session on communication. In order to introduce ourselves to the other participants, everyone has been asked to use something other than a first-person verbal presentation.

That gave me the idea to ask my most loyal and ardent fans - my kids - to describe who I am. You'll find the result below!

There's more to Haiti than the US Military

2010-07-02T00:21:00.001+02:00

I just came across this short documentary from US National Public Radio about issues concerning food aid and its effects on the local economy.

It's an intersting piece but it left me thinking: what's the decision-making role of Haitians in the reconstruction of their country? The US Military is rebuilding the port, the World Food Programme is responsible for decisions concerning food aid. Is it uniquely foreigners who are taking action to get the country back on its feet? Again forgotten are the daily efforts of the Haitian people for daily life not simply to return to normal, but to build a more country more inclusive and equal than before.

It's another missed opportunity by the media to show that the Haitians are not passive in the wake of the tragedy that befell their country. On the contrary, they seek ways to show their solidarity with their fellow citizens. The organisation I work for bears witness to this, with numerous young people from the community in the Grand Ravine area in which the run projects offering their time to volunteer to support the more disadvantaged members of their community. Their local knowledge has been particularly vital in ensuring that the most isolated and excluded people in the neighbourhood are aware of programmes such as the "cash for work" initiative.

So a plea to the media: focus on the large-scale efforts undertaken by the UN, US Military and the like, but also put the spotlight on the more conspicuous, yet in many ways more far-reaching, undertakings of Haitians to ensure none of their citizens remain left behind.

(Photo: ATD Fourth World)

France: The farce continues!

2010-06-24T12:07:00.003+02:00

Today a colleague was supposed to be meeting President Sarkozy, alongside numerous other NGOs, at the Elysée ahead of his participation in the G8 and G20 in Canada next week. Among other things on the agenda was France's position regarding the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), decisions on the progress of which are due to be taken following the September High-level summit at the UN in September.

However, "Sarko" has cancelled as he has more pressing matters to discuss, notably with Thierry "la main" Henry, who was granted a meeting with the President yesterday to discuss the farce which is French football.

Far be it from me to question the priorities of a President, but I happen to think that the millions of people whose lives and livelihoods are dependent on the extent to which Heads of State are properly informed of progress on the MDGs, would probably have prioritised differently.

If you are in any doubt as to the urgency of achieving the Goals that 189 Heads of State set themselves in 2000, then read this Time magazine article.

Has anyone got Thierry Henry's email so that he can read the article out loud to Sarko?

Farewell to a champion of Human Rights (... and rugby, catapults and 2CVs)

2010-06-16T00:01:00.012+02:00

Yesterday, people living in extreme poverty lost a great friend. His name won't appear in newspapers. It won't even appear on his grave. In solidarity with all those whom he accompanied in over 40 years of combat for extreme poverty to be recognised as a violation of human rights, our friend asked to be buried alongside those whose passing, in death as in life, goes unrecognised.

My friend had a knack for engaging people from all backgrounds in his combat, myself included. I was fortunate to have spent a month sharing an apartment with him in Brussels and found his enthusiasm for human rights contagious (not to mention rugby, catapults and 2CVs).

I was not alone. In the English city of Hull, he gathered around him people intrigued as to how they could support this effusive Frenchman: some marked by long-term poverty themselves, others drawn to this cause by such demonstrative displays of conviction that poverty can and must be eradicated.

In 2002, he stood alongside elected officials and members of ATD Fourth World from Hull, other cities across the UK and from other European cities, to inaugurate, in the city's Northern Cemetery, a commemorative headstone for all those who had died and had been buried in nameless graves.

Henri Bossan: your name may not be engraved in your final resting place. But it will be forever remembered by all of us whom you inspired to fight for the human rights of every person condemned to live in extreme poverty.

Le "vivre ensemble"

2010-06-11T17:03:00.003+02:00

For the last few days I've been working and welcoming members of the organisation I work for who have come to France for our AGM. It's riveting to hear the diversity of their experiences, coming from as far afield as Peru to Philippines and Dublin to Dar Es Salam.

One of the main themes discussed was that of the right of people living in extreme poverty to participate and have a place at the table on discussions that directly affect them at the local, national and international level. We were fortunate to be able to attend a seminar on a French project concerning "Working, Learning and Living Together." A particularly dynamic expression of participation came from 3 women who are neighbours in an inner-city housing estate in the Parisian suburbs. Two were rehoused there with their families from having lived in bed and breakfasts and hostels. One chose to live there, as part of her commitment as a "full-time volunteer" to share and better understand the lives of people living in long-term poverty.

What was so interesting about this exchange was how genuine it was - an expression of the encounter between 3 women from diverse backgrounds but with a shared commitment to overcome extreme poverty. A positive expression of what the French call "le vivre ensemble" (poorly translated as "community relations"). The mums who'd previously been homeless before arriving at this housing project spoke of how initially they were just relieved to finally have a place to call their own. "Even if there had been a huge hole in the floor, I was just so happy to have my own front-door key and not have to worry about where we could cook a meal, what the social workers were thinking and whether they'd come to take the kids away." This was then a first step to getting involved in the community and having the courage to attend local participatory forums to speak out about issues that affect their lives - schooling, parenting, but also wider issues such as work or the environment.

Eradicating poverty doesn't only have to be about time-limited projects with concrete outputs and outcomes. It also passes through a coming together of people willing to learn and spend time to get to know people living in poverty. The local authority in this Paris suburb now wants to pull down the housing estate and build houses for "the poor".

Is the solution to build a new ghetto? Or to find news ways to promote and support efforts for a more sustainable and harmonious "vivre ensemble"?

After the bulldozers

2010-06-01T22:43:00.001+02:00

In my last post I spoke of how people living in extreme poverty are often displaced from their homes and livelihood in the name of "development". Surfing the blogosphere, I just came across on the Africa is a Country blog this short film by Charles “Stretch” Ledford, a University of Miami communications student and working photographer. Sadly, it illustrates all too well how the rights of people living in poverty can be so easily dispensed with. It makes the campaigns of organisations such as Amnesty International to raise awareness of the one billion people in the world who live in slums all the more pertinent.

Ajelogo: After the Bulldozers from Stretch Ledford on Vimeo.

The World Cup is approaching, but not for the poorest

2010-05-30T22:19:00.002+02:00

My 3 year-old son asked to put on his England football top on today after seeing our neighbour's son with his Brazilian football shirt on this afternoon. It seems World Cup fever is heating up with less than 2 weeks to go now. I asked a Burkinabé colleague recently who he'd be supporting given that his country would not be there. "Whichever African team is playing of course!" This sense of pan-African solidarity is utterly foreign to the majority of Europeans. It is difficult to imagine a Scot supporting England or a Belgian supporting France. Anyone but more like!

This sense of solidarity and excitement about the World Cup is not universal, particularly among some of those on whose doorstep it will take place. For many of South African's poorest citizens, who sustain their livelihood through street vending, the World Cup should have been a windfall opportunity to provide for themselves and their family. Instead, as the BBC recently reported, street vendors will have to apply for expensive permits, for which, in the words of one street trader,

"We are being made to jump through hundreds of hoops so we can do for a month what we have been doing here for years - and that's selling at the stadium. Now I know it is just a reminder that the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer."

Of course, creating conditions that discriminate against the poorest is not unique to the staging of a World Cup, nor to South Africa. The most vulnerable people and groups frequently miss out on the benefits of development because they need extra support in order to claim their rights and take advantage of the opportunities on offer.

Relocation projects from shanty or squatter settlements frequently fail to benefit the poorest families as it places them too far their source of income for it to remain feasible for them to remain, forcing them to return to illegal, and indecent dwellings. Or employment training which spend weeks on giving job seekers such skills such as preparing a CV - the problem being that those in most need of finding work have no formal work experience to add to their curriculum vitae.

In this case, a solution could have been found for those have been earning a living from this trade prior to the World Cup by easing the rules and expense to obtain permits.

South Africa has one of the most progressive constitutions in the world in its recognition of social and economic rights. Unfortuntely, it appears these do not apply from 11 June to 11 July.

Beware: hacks at work!

2010-05-28T23:55:00.001+02:00

It's impossible to live in France and work in the poverty field without hearing at least twice a day about the economist Esther Duflo. If you haven't heard of her, she's best known for her work in showing which kinds of policies work best to eradicate poverty. Her evaluation of the impact of removing user-fees to access basic services are much quoted by those advocating their removal.

So it was quite a surprise to read on Amanda Taub's excellent blog Wronging Rights that research she's published, quoted by the influential NY Times contributor, Nicholas Kristof, reports that if the poorest families spent as much money educating their children as they do on wine, cigarettes and prostitutes, their children’s prospects would be transformed.

This article particularly struck me as a colleague only just recently mentioned Kristof as a journalist with whom it may be possible to work given his interest in poverty issues.

I won't go any further in order to encourage you to read Taub's blog. But be warned of influential journalists with a cause to push misinterpreting research to suit their arguments!

Will we learn from the lessons of the past

2010-05-28T00:57:00.005+02:00

I was listening on the BBC World Service the other day to a Kenyan journalist talking about the Eurozone crisis. When asked about what the Kenyan people thought about the austerity measures being brought in under pressure from the IMF, he said that it brought an ironic chuckle to many. Kenya, like many of the poorest countries around the world,had re-introduced user charges in the 1980s for education and healthcare under IMF backed structural adjustment programmes. These measures naturally disproportionately affected the poorest people.

Such as Walter, 12, and his younger brother Charles. When they're sick, they wait for it to finish because they can't afford the hospital fees. "Sometimes there is not enough food so we go to sleep hungry; The other problem is clothes- we don’t have clothes to wear to church.. or shoes. And sometimes we can’t afford the fees for our exams at school."

Already in Europe, it is the poorest people who are seen as the easiest target for budget cuts. In Ireland, there's been talk of cutting the minimum wage. Child benefit was already cut in 2009 to make savings.

To preempt budget cuts disproportiantely affecting people experiencing poverty in the UK, Church Action on Poverty is encouraging people to write to David Cameron to ensure that people in poverty do not pay the price of a defecit they did not cause.

photo: MSF

Beggars can be choosers

2010-05-26T23:03:00.004+02:00

I came across this video on the Guardian website the other day, a shocking piece of television from Spain.
If you don't speak Spanish, here's a short resumé. The "journalist" is talking with Atlético de Madrid fans in Hamburg the day of a European football final. He spots a homeless man and encourages fans to show their generosity to "make the man happy". The bemused man is incredulous when, egged on by the "journalist", fans begin putting coins, mobile phones and visa cards in front of him, much to the amusement of the presenters back in the studio.

It says a lot about our society when a homeless person becomes nothing more than a source of derision, with the resulting effect construed as legitimate entertainment by broadcasters.

When does a person living on the streets stop having a name and become "el mendigo" - the beggar? Welfare mum? Street kid? Asylum seeker?

Recently, ATD Fourth World in London launched a photography exhibition called "The Roles We Play" as part of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion . It aims to recognise the contribution of people in poverty and challenge negative attitudes towards vulnerable and excluded families.

Amanda, left, has a name other than poor: neighbour, wife, mum, citizen. It is possible to go beyond a mere tag to meet and understand people living in poverty. I'd be very interested to hear about other projects giving people in poverty something more than a label.