tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27021476140885247632024-03-13T04:53:19.597+01:00Lifting the poverty curtainMatt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-45912683309255433912013-10-28T04:26:00.001+01:002013-10-28T04:26:09.968+01:00Dignity: A compass to show us the way<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
(first posted on <a href="http://togetherindignity.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/dignity-a-compass-to-show-us-the-way/">Together in Dignity </a>blog)</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
At the end of September, the General Assembly of the United Nations held a special event on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The eight MDGs were launched in 2000 in order to provide a framework for the international community to eradicate poverty, ranging in thematic areas from poverty and hunger, education, health, the environment and targets for international cooperation. Although progress has been made, this has not been universal and many countries will fall short of reaching the targets set. While the international community has not thrown in the towel, debate among governments at the national and international level, as well as within civil society, is already well underway to consider what should replace the MDG framework come its deadline in 2015.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
It was within this context that ATD Fourth World launched a<a href="http://www.atd-fourthworld.org/Towards-Sustainable-Development.html" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(254, 119, 147); background-color: transparent; color: #2e6eb0; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> participatory research project</a> to bring to this debate the experience and knowledge of people living in extreme poverty. Across twelve countries and involving over 2000 people, <a href="http://www.atd-fourthworld.org/IMG/pdf/Working_Paper_ATD_Fourth_World_Participatory_Research_June_2013.pdf" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(254, 119, 147); background-color: transparent; color: #2e6eb0; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">a working paper</a> resulting from the project was launched at an international seminar in June 2013.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
So how does the current status of the debate at the international level concur with the findings that have come directly from people living in extreme poverty? The Outcome Document that was adopted at the special event states that a future development framework should “promote peace and security, democratic governance, the rule of law, gender equality and human rights for all.” and reaffirms the “central imperative of poverty eradication, commitment to freeing humanity from poverty and hunger as a matter of urgency.”</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Certainly the promotion of human rights is welcomed by people living in poverty. Participants at one of the seminars held during the project in Mauritius stated that “all human rights must be implemented” to enable the inclusion of people in extreme poverty in society. Participants in Brazil spoke of the need to, “think together and keep uniting as colleagues in order to have our rights respected.” But promotion is not enough, it is, as the Mauritian colleagues stressed, implementation that is essential because it is the essential means to ensure what many people in poverty spoke about over and over again in the research: dignity. This can be best encompassed by a statement from a Brazilian participant: <i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </i>“Dignity (…) it should be a compass to show us the way.”</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Within a national context, ATD Fourth World in Bolivia has worked closely with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to produce a series of documentaries which reveal the experience and knowledge of people living in extreme poverty. One such documentary is entitled “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2gYI_eTbD7FfSHGyJABSGw" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(254, 119, 147); background-color: transparent; color: #2e6eb0; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Voces de Dignidad</a>” (Voices of Dignity) and demonstrates the discrimination that people in poverty face, particularly in their quest for decent work.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Over the course of the next two years, in the run up to the adoption of the next development framework in September 2015, ATD Fourth World will continue to make known the knowledge that the most vulnerable in our societies have produced. This is vital in order to provide to those who represented us at the UN a clear picture of what people in extreme poverty, who also belong to the “we, the peoples of the United Nations”, know to be essential in creating a sustainable development that leaves no one behind.</div>
Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-24074304813417398322013-09-24T19:10:00.000+02:002013-09-24T19:11:37.772+02:00Mobilizing the commitment of youth<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>(originally posted on <a href="http://togetherindignity.wordpress.com/category/matt-davies/" rel="nofollow">Together in Dignity </a>blog)</i></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.atd-quartmonde.org/local/cache-vignettes/L300xH200/arton2291-2f63f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.atd-quartmonde.org/local/cache-vignettes/L300xH200/arton2291-2f63f.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: ATD Fourth World</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
I was recently invited by the<a href="http://www.atd-fourthworld.org/" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(254, 119, 147); background-color: transparent; color: #2e6eb0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="The Second Line"> ATD Fourth World</a> team in Haiti to spend a week with them to know more about the work they are doing and get to know the active members of ATD Fourth World in the country. I had not traveled to Haiti before. Yet it is a country that we cannot help having images and visions of in our minds given the media exposure it receives – due to political unrest and since 2010 due to the devastating earthquake.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
My flight to Port-au-Prince was through Miami. Talking to people at the long immigration and security queues, many of them had been to Haiti as US Armed Forces personnel. “Watch out for the mosquitoes,” was the most common advice shared.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
What I was not prepared for was the sight that met me at the departure gate: groups of teenage Americans, dressed in their shorts and branded sneakers, iPhones and tablets in hand and speakers on ears. Along with accompanying adults, they were off to Haiti during the summer break as part of their church group. I sat next to one of the adults on the plane, who was part of a church running an orphanage. Another I spoke to was part of a San Franciscan church group building a school with a local pastor in the Haitian countryside. For their month in the country, they were bringing all their food provisions with them.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
There has been a lot of debate over the influx of foreign aid organisations and churches coming to Haiti since the earthquake. Much of that is very critical, due to its short-termism and it being driven by outside agendas rather than in partnership with local people. Another effect is its influence on the need for Haitians to speak English to find work. It was revealing that a number of the young Haitians who are involved in projects with ATD Fourth World speak English. One works with a US church group, others see learning English as a vital skill in order to find work with such groups who require interpreters. Of course, there is a lot of positive to be gained from learning another language: it is rather the hegemony of the English language that raises a number of questions.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Leaving Haiti after a fascinating week which enabled me to begin learning about Haiti and about the work ATD Fourth World is doing there, the plane was once again full of young Americans heading home. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to speak to any of them. It is a concern what they bring to such a complex situation in the country given their very young age and short amount of time they spend there. On the other hand, it would be interesting to know what drives them to give up their comfort for a month or so and go to a place they know very little about.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
In ATD Fourth World we speak a lot of mobilising young people’ passion for a fairer world by offering them a space in which they can develop a commitment alongside people living in extreme poverty. What will become of the commitment of these youngsters who head to Haiti every summer in 5 or 10 years time? Or the thousands of young Brits who head off on “gap-years”? Can their commitment to people they know little about also be channeled into mobilising for a fairer society in their own neighbourhoods, schools, places of work? It is our task, in all our countries, to continue to mobilise young people’s enthusiasm and energy for positive change, by giving them the chance to act towards long-term change against extreme poverty.</div>
Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-81315437430993431062012-09-25T15:11:00.001+02:002012-09-25T15:15:19.873+02:00Adopting Guiding Principles on extreme poverty places human rights at the centre of post-2015 development agenda - ATD Fourth World<br />
<div class="spip">
(published on ATD Fourth World website)<br />
<br />
On 27th September, the UN Human Rights Council is set to adopt by consensus <b class="spip">Guiding Principles on
Extreme Poverty and Human Rights</b> [<a class="spip_note" href="http://www.atd-fourthworld.org/Adopting-Guiding-Principles-on.html#nb1" id="nh1" name="nh1" title="[1] The full text is available at http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCoun">1</a>]. Through its adoption, member states of the Human Rights Council
will affirm that eradicating extreme poverty is not only a moral duty but also a legal obligation under existing
international human rights law.</div>
<div class="spip">
<br /></div>
<div class="spip">
Their adoption is timely, given the <b class="spip">inaugural meeting of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel of
Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda</b>. It is imperative that the High-Level Panel draw
on tools such as the Guiding Principles to ensure their recommendations regarding the vision and shape of a
Post-2015 development agenda lead to the full realization of human rights for all.</div>
<div class="spip">
<br /></div>
<div class="spip">
The objective of the Guiding Principles is to provide guidance on how to apply human rights standards in
efforts to combat poverty. They are intended as a tool for designing and implementing poverty reduction and
eradication policies, and as a guide to how to respect, protect and fulfill the rights of persons living in extreme
poverty in all areas of public policy. They are global in scope, recognizing that extreme poverty is a
phenomenon which affects all countries.</div>
<div class="spip">
ATD Fourth World initially called on the United Nations to consider extreme poverty itself as a violation of
human rights in 1982, collecting 300,000 signatures that were delivered to the then Secretary-General. With
the support of leading human rights experts, committed governments, and other human rights NGOs, this
eventually led to the Human Rights Council’s predecessor body deciding that a rights-based approach to the
fight against poverty would be a powerful tool in the eradication of extreme poverty. The Council then
mandated the Special rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Magdalena Sepúlveda, to finalize
the Guiding Principles for their adoption during the current Council session.</div>
<div class="spip">
<br /></div>
<div class="spip">
Through its long-term grassroots presence and action
alongside the most marginalized populations, ATD
Fourth World has understood that the first step in moving out of poverty
and exclusion is when people can
effectively claim their rights. The Guiding Principles draw on existing
international agreed human rights
norms and principles that States have already signed up to, such as the
Universal Declaration on Human
Rights or the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. Yet
too often an implementation gap exists
between countries signing up to guaranteeing a right - to health,
education or participation in decisionmaking - and their effective
realization by their most marginalized citizens. The consequence of this
is
evident, for example, in efforts to achieve the MDGs falling short for
many millions of the poorest people.</div>
<div class="spip">
<br /></div>
<div class="spip">
Commenting on their imminent adoption, Matt Davies, head of international policy and advocacy at ATD
Fourth World said, "<i class="spip">With these Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, we have a tool
which identifies the obstacles people in extreme poverty face in benefiting from anti-poverty policies and
services, and importantly, guidelines on how to address this situation. We call on those directly involved in
discussions on developing the post-2015 agenda, including the High Level Panel, to draw on the content of
these Guiding Principles to develop recommendations that will ensure nobody is left behind by the successor
framework to the MDGs.</i>"</div>
<div class="spip">
<br /></div>
<div class="spip">
<a class="spip_out" href="http://www.atd-fourthworld.org/Contact-us.html?id_mot=110#form">Press contact: Jo-Lind Roberts: </a></div>
<div class="spip">
For more information on the Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights see <a class="spip_in" href="http://www.atd-fourthworld.org/Moving-towards-the-adoption-of.html">http://www.atdfourthworld.
org/Moving-towards-the-adoption-of.html</a></div>
Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-11674481476843990592011-12-04T15:15:00.001+01:002011-12-04T16:48:17.326+01:00From austerity to sustainability: what future do we want?The chorus of people warning governments that cuts and austerity are hitting the poorest hardest is becoming ever louder and wider. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The UN's <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=11497&LangID=E">special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights</a> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">calls on States to address without delay the growing inequalities between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots.’ <i>“In several countries,</i>” she warns, “<i>disparities created by the crisis have been exacerbated by austerity measures put in place to facilitate recovery</i>.” </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Meanwhile the <a href="http://www.robert-schuman.eu/index.php?lang=en">Robert Schuman Foundation</a> warns tha<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">t a</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">usterity measures are affecting the poorest but especially young people who have become a new "<i>lost generation</i>" in Europe. And in the UK, The <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/osbornes-impact-laid-bare-the-rich-get-richer-and-the-poor-get-poorer-6270235.html">Institute for Fiscal Studies</a> rasies concerns that t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;">he poor will be penalised and the better-off helped</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> by the Chancellor's recent Autumn budget statement that continues the trend<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> of </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">taking away from lower-income families with children, and giving away to those in the middle and top of income distribution.</span></span><br />
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">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. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">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 <a href="http://www.uncsd2012.org/">UN Conference on Sustainable Development</a> - 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 <a href="http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/index.php?page=view&type=510&nr=118&menu=20">Beyond 2015</a> campaign - calling for all countries to adopt sustainable development goals, that puts the eradication of extreme poverty at its heart. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">Even though it's highly likely that</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> 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 <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=40608&Cr=sustainable+development&Cr1=">Ban Ki-moon</a> between the effects of the economic crises and a vision for a sustainable development for all: "</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f2f2fc;"><i>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.</i>"</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f2f2fc;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
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.</div>Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-85835703696693242082011-11-18T22:05:00.000+01:002011-11-18T22:05:21.700+01:00Shattered FamiliesA dramatic report has woken me from my blogging slumber. "<a href="http://www.arc.org/shatteredfamilies">Shattered Families</a>" 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).<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
This is not the first time I have heard of children being separated from their detained parents. Under the UK's previous labour government, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/feb/22/immigrationandpublicservices.immigration?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">social workers were encouraged to remove children</a> 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.<br />
<br />
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 <a href="http://www.atd-fourthworld.org/Skills-for-Life.html">ATD Fourth World</a>, 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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XZrI35EmBRc" width="560"></iframe>Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-19652804068567908892011-07-25T11:41:00.001+02:002011-07-25T11:42:08.962+02:00Let there be light!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...<br />
<br />
<object data="http://www.reuters.com/resources_v2/flash/video_embed.swf?videoId=216968892" height="259" id="rcomVideo_216968892" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="460"> <param name='movie' value='http://www.reuters.com/resources_v2/flash/video_embed.swf?videoId=216968892'></param><param name='allowFullScreen' value='true'></param><param name='allowScriptAccess' value='always'></param><param name='wmode' value='transparent'><embed src='http://www.reuters.com/resources_v2/flash/video_embed.swf?videoId=216968892' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' allowfullscreen='true' allowScriptAccess='always' width='460' height='259' wmode='transparent'></embed> </object>Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-53676614664422892862011-07-22T20:37:00.008+02:002011-07-22T23:30:09.191+02:00Are you a human rights defender?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.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="286" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/t6zizschxCY" width="450"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Still on the theme of human rights, an attack on NGOs who support a human rights based approach in an <a href="http://www.bostonreview.net/BR36.4/pranab_bardhan_who_represents_the_poor.php">essay</a> by Pranab Bardhan featured in a <a href="http://chrisblattman.com/2011/07/20/the-problem-with-ngos-and-the-rights-based-approach-in-development/">blog post</a> 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 <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0d0d0d; line-height: 20px;">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, o</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0d0d0d; line-height: 20px;">ne 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.</span></span>Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-65596484169188368892011-07-14T15:41:00.002+02:002011-07-14T23:15:03.772+02:00Community Solidarity on Mandela DayIn 4 days time on 18 July 2011, people are encouraged to celebrate <a href="http://www.mandeladay.com/static/faqs">Mandela Day</a> by<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">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 <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">good turn on 18th July, you're then encouraged to</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> "<i>make every day your Mandela Day by doing some good for others</i>."</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">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 "<a href="http://goodintents.org/media-and-charitable-advertising/whites-in-shining-armour">whites in shining armour</a>," but people </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">from all walks of life, including those who have to fight to</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"> 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. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">It especially made me think about a short clip I saw recently, from the ATD Fourth World series <a href="http://www.atd-fourthworld.org/-Unknown-volunteers-.html">"Unknown Volunteers</a>" to commemorate International Year of Volunteers +10. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">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 "<i>it is in your hands to make a difference.</i>"</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="285" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/25390666?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="400"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/25390666">The Hills of Hope</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user515178">ATDENG</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-23333978478380333232011-06-26T23:32:00.000+02:002011-06-26T23:32:47.961+02:00A potential step forward for those who are furthest from claiming their rightsI'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 <a href="http://www.atd-quartmonde.org/regions/Moving-towards-Guiding-Principles,2227.html">Draft Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights</a>. The basis for the meeting's discussion was the <a href="http://www.atd-quartmonde.org/regions/IMG/pdf/A.HRC.15.41.pdf">progress report</a> 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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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. "<i>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</i>." In conclusion she stated that, "<i>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.</i>" <br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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, "<i>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.</i>" <br />
<br />
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."<br />
<br />
In his closing statement, the Ambassador of Morocco said that, "<i>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.</i>"<br />
<br />
It's up to us as civil society organisations to not let States off the hook and see that his words come to fruition.Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-34662310696602855712011-05-21T10:12:00.000+02:002011-05-21T10:12:22.899+02:00Don't blame the poor for our countries' woesA 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".<br />
<br />
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 <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/2011/04/21/drug-addicts-alcoholics-and-the-obese-cost-taxpayers-400million-a-year-in-incapacity-benefits-115875-23075937/">Daily Mirror</a> stating,"<i>People who are too fat to work are biting a huge hole in the country's finances.</i>" 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.<br />
<br />
It made me think of a new joint publication between ATD Fourth World and the Forum for a New World Governance, entitled "<a href="http://www.world-governance.org/spip.php?article662">Extreme Poverty and World Governance</a>". 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. "<i>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</i>." (...) <i>"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."</i><br />
<br />
To combat this, the book suggest that this vision of people living in poverty can be turned around when there is <i>"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."</i><br />
<br />
<br />
The fact that <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/may/11/disabled-marchers-thousands-benefits-protest">5000 people marched in London today</a> 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.Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-54787728072769907022011-04-04T22:34:00.001+02:002011-04-05T10:21:32.840+02:00A day without dignity<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>"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," </i>So begins th<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">e </span><a href="http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml" style="color: #333333;">Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">, signed in 1948 by the founding member states of the United Nations. </span></span><br />
<br />
April 5th has been suggested as "<a href="http://goodintents.org/in-kind-donations/a-day-without-dignity">A day without dignity</a>" as a counter to the TOMS campaign <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">"</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/blake-mycoskie/one-day-without-shoes-its_b_523190.html" style="border-width: 0px; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A Day Without Shoes</a>."</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">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 <a href="http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/poverty/consultation/index.htm">Draft Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights</a>, the demand for equal dignity was central to their vision of how to combat poverty. In the resulting <a href="http://www.atd-quartmonde.org/IMG/pdf/Dignity_in_the_Face_of_Extreme_Poverty-Final.pdf">report</a>, what comes through is that e</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">xtreme poverty cannot be resolved through charity, and aid should not destroy the dignity nor the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">creativity of recipients:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">“We don’t want the local authorities to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">come into our communities, into our village just to bring us second-hand clothes. We don’t want them </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">to give us gifts. What we want are respectable jobs – work that allows us to live like normal human </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><i>beings.</i>” (Cusco, Peru)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><br />
</span><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">"Aid </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">must not destroy human dignity and creativity. It requires taking the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">time to talk with the person in order to understand what they want. We have to avoid repeating the </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><i>mistakes of donors who decide what people should do."</i> (Dakar, Senegal)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">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. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><br />
</span>Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-5380660825459491342011-04-03T15:41:00.000+02:002011-04-03T15:41:45.962+02:00Guiding a path to a world without povertyThe Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has just <a href="http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/poverty/consultation/index.htm">published a consultation</a> to seek views on the Draft Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Firstly, real effort has been made to seek to views of people experiencing poverty. Organisations, including ATD Fourth World, <a href="http://www.atd-quartmonde.org/Dignity-in-the-Face-of-Extreme.html">have worked with groups of people living in poverty</a> to ensure the guiding principles correspond to the challenges they face and the solutions they deem effective.<br />
<br />
Secondly, they recognise that extreme poverty in itself<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> 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.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">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. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">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. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">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. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">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 <a href="http://www.atd-quartmonde.org/Moving-towards-Guiding-Principles,2227.html">ATD Fourth World website.</a></span>Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-84578869651314776652011-03-26T08:27:00.001+01:002011-03-26T08:27:28.278+01:00Fetching water versus fetching a cuppaI 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 <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">w<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">e spend about</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span style="color: #333333;">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. </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span style="color: #333333;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><span style="color: #333333;">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<a href="http://www.wateraid.org/uk/get_involved/campaigns/take_action_now/default.asp"> petition</a> to end water poverty, on <a href="http://www.wateraid.org/international/about_us/newsroom/9636.asp">their website</a>.</span></span></span>Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-355578899820076772011-03-25T00:35:00.006+01:002011-03-25T09:45:35.591+01:00All you can farm for $200 a weekI came across this video below from the Guardian website on <a href="http://www.oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/?p=4793">Duncan Green's blog</a>. 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.<br />
<br />
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, <a href="http://www.business-humanrights.org/SpecialRepPortal/Home/Protect-Respect-Remedy-Framework/GuidingPrinciples">Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights</a> will be considered by the UN's Human Rights Council this June. The<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 21px;">United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, has also<a href="http://www.srfood.org/index.php/en/component/content/article/127-human-rights-principles-to-discipline-land-grabbing"> issued a call</a> to consider a set of eleven human rights principles regarding "land grabbing".</span></span><br />
<br />
The land grab phenomenon thows up a lot of questions regarding the fight against poverty and for sustainable development. Anyone got any answers?<br />
<br />
<object height="370" width="460"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.guardian.co.uk/video/embed"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="flashvars" value="endpoint=http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/video/2011/mar/21/ethiopia-land-rush/json"></param><embed src="http://www.guardian.co.uk/video/embed" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="460" height="370" flashvars="endpoint=http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/video/2011/mar/21/ethiopia-land-rush/json"></embed> </object>Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-69885560476455922092011-03-07T20:40:00.000+01:002011-03-07T20:40:23.966+01:00Link to gameFor 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<a href="http://ayiti.globalkids.org/game"> here</a>.<br />
<br />
Look forward to your comments after you've given it a look.Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-20118608020591756232011-03-06T12:15:00.000+01:002011-03-06T12:15:08.072+01:00Can you turn Haiti into a game?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">With spring in the air, time for this blog to emerge from hibernation...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And what better way than a moral question. I came across on the <a href="http://www.globalpovertyproject.com/blog/view/328">Global Poverty Project website</a> 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 <a href="http://olpglobalkids.org/p4k.htm">Global Kids Online Leadership program.</a> The game I came across is called, "<a href="http://costoflife.ning.com/">Ayiti: The Cost of Life</a>" and it involves "<i>H</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><i>elping 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.</i>"</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">According to Global Kids' website, "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; line-height: 18px;">During the 2005-2006 school year, Global Kids Youth Leaders in the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; line-height: 18px;">Playing for Keeps</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; line-height: 18px;"> program at South Shore High School gained leadership, research, and game design skills while producing a socially conscious online game, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Ayiti: The Cost of Life</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; line-height: 18px;"> (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. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><i>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>"</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">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. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">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.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">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.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">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. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">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? </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">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?</span></span>Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-49532354098708209522010-11-09T22:28:00.001+01:002010-11-09T22:29:36.334+01:00Time for people living in poverty to have a voice on the MDGs<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Two interesting blog posts drew my attention the last couple of days. Firstly from the Guardian's Poverty Matter blog is <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2010/nov/03/millennium-development-goals-inequality">an article</a> on the need for a new set of MDGs that apply to all countries. I couldn't agree more with the view that, <i>"T<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;">he 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."</span></i></span><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">ATD Fourth World has long argued the same point and is in the process of drawing up a <a href="http://www.atd-quartmonde.org/IMG/pdf/short_ouline_for_BKM.pdf">project</a> 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 <a href="http://www.2010againstpoverty.eu/extranet/About_the_Year/factsheet_EY2010_en.pdf">set a target in 2000</a> to make a <i>decisive impact on poverty). </i>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. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Whilst working on this project proposal today, I came across a <a href="http://www.aviewfromthecave.com/2010/11/voice-of-voicelessvillages-in-action.html">blog post</a> that publicised a<a href="http://villagesinaction.com/"> Village in Action Conference</a> that seeks to</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> build a platform for villages to be heard in order to</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">,"<i>C</i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 22px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">ontribute</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 22px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 22px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">not only our voices to the discussion, but to also showcase what we are already doing to advance our own communities." </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">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.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">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. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
</span>Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-35462857762088312942010-10-27T22:41:00.003+02:002010-10-28T11:22:34.395+02:00Small acts of resistanceI came across today on <a href="http://www.oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/">Duncan Green's blog</a> 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 <a href="http://www.smallactsofresistance.com/">website</a> where you can also submit your own stories of resistance.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="265" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/14605785" width="400"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/14605785">Small Acts of Resistance Final</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user4560774">Small Acts</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-44520428347859777422010-10-23T18:51:00.002+02:002010-10-25T11:37:08.469+02:00A world where money is more important than peopleI 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.<br />
<br />
It was uplifting to join them as they delivered their <a href="http://www.atd-fourthworld.org/IMG/pdf/appel_anglais_version_europe-3.pdf">Appeal</a> for a fairer world to Ban Ki-moon and the European Parliament President. This Appeal<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">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. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">"<i class="spip">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.</i>"</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The high that the young people were on after the event was infectious. As one of them put it, "</span><i style="font-family: inherit;">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!"</i><br />
<i style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</i><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">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 </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">congratulated them on their leadership in tackling questions of poverty and encouraged their expression of solidarity to build a world free from poverty.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
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.<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="300" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/16024804" width="400"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/16024804">European youth appeal to the UN Secretary-General for a fairer world</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user510798">ATDFRA</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-57570809904147189532010-10-16T23:40:00.003+02:002010-10-25T11:39:27.349+02:00Break the silence: International Day for the Eradication of PovertyTomorrow 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 <a href="http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml">Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a> was signed to herald, "<i>F</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>reedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people."</i></span><br />
<br />
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 <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2010/oct/12/chilean-miners-rescue-live-coverage">first in Latin America to defeat poverty.</a><br />
<br />
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> "I am among those who think and affirm that poverty can be destroyed."</i> Or more recently, Nelson Mandela, who, now free, reminded us that the poor are not: <i>"</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>They are trapped in the prison of poverty. It is time to set them free."</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">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 <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/bkgd.shtml">pledged</a> to,</span> "<i>Spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty."</i><br />
<br />
<i></i>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 <a href="http://www.atd-fourthworld.org/Father-Joseph-Wresinski.html">Joseph Wresinski</a> that, "<i>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.</i>"<br />
<br />
Below is a video from the director general of <a href="http://www.atd-fourthworld.org/">ATD Fourth World </a>with his meesage for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.<br />
<br />
What will you be doing tomorrow?<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="295" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/15878146" width="400"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/15878146">Message from Eugen Brand, Director General of the International Movement ATD Fourth World on the occasion of the International D</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user510798">ATDFRA</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-28945587710906503332010-09-26T22:18:00.002+02:002010-11-11T12:45:53.323+01:00Gross national happinessAs 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 <a href="http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.pdf">pledged 10 years ago</a> to, "<i>spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty,</i>" 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?<br />
<br />
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 <a href="http://www.leadinggroup.org/article736.html">tax on international financial transactions</a> 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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<object height="270" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/swfs/player.swf" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="bgcolor" value="000000" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="flashvars" value="file=ga/65/2010/ga100920am2-orig.flv&image=http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2010/09/full/ga100920am2bhutan.jpg&autostart=false&controlbar=over&start=6648&duration=7196&dock=true&stretching=uniform&streamer=rtmp://cp8784.edgefcs.net/ondemand" /><embed src="http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/swfs/player.swf?file=ga/65/2010/ga100920am2-orig.flv&image=http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2010/09/full/ga100920am2bhutan.jpg&autostart=false&controlbar=over&start=6648&duration=7196&dock=true&stretching=uniform&streamer=rtmp://cp8784.edgefcs.net/ondemand" width="480" height="270" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"/></embed></object>Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-40062398699844245232010-09-05T11:09:00.001+02:002010-09-05T16:06:10.254+02:00The science of motivationJust came across a great post on the <a href="http://www.owen.org/">Owen Abroad</a> blog. It's a presentation by the economist Dan Pink about the science of "motivation".<br />
<br />
<br />
<object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/u6XAPnuFjJc&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/u6XAPnuFjJc&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<br />
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?<br />
<br />
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).<br />
<br />
From this study, should policy-makers' use of motivation to get the best outcomes (for beneficiaries and taxpayers) also be challenged?Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-58955185202442293422010-08-29T16:54:00.014+02:002010-09-05T16:05:46.187+02:00Revealed: the face of Tory Britain<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/8/24/1282674686190/Chancellor-George-Osborne-006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/8/24/1282674686190/Chancellor-George-Osborne-006.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Rex Features</td></tr>
</tbody></table>If you're not familiar with the UK, you may be wondering who this man is.<br />
<br />
A newly cast "Dracula"? A villain in a forthcoming Bond film?<br />
<br />
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).<br />
<br />
A recent <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/25/poor-families-bear-brunt-of-austerity-drive">Guardian newspaper article</a> ran this photo with a story on an analysis of the UK Government's austerity measures carried out by the <a href="http://www.ifs.org.uk/aboutIFS">Institute for Fiscal Studies</a>, a well respected and independent non-profit research institution. They have shown that despite the Con-Dem coalition's best claims of fairness, the<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">welfare cuts mean working families on the lowest incomes – particularly those with children – are the biggest losers. This amounts t<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">o </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">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</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">No one with any sense doubted for a second Tory promises to be the new </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/04/david-cameron-promise-champion-poor"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">"champions of the poor."</span></span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> 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. </span></span>Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-26667103152269391422010-08-25T00:04:00.001+02:002010-09-05T16:06:38.786+02:00Dragons who risk fanning the flamesJust 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).<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
"<i>The food ends up going to the fittest</i>," 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?<br />
<br />
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?<br />
<br />
<object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WEH-wHbzAsw?fs=1&hl=fr_FR"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WEH-wHbzAsw?fs=1&hl=fr_FR" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2702147614088524763.post-68031659665623191102010-08-22T22:38:00.002+02:002010-09-05T16:07:34.693+02:00Tales of the unexpectedI'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.<br />
<br />
This morning's Radio 4 background came into the foreground as I listened with increasing interest to Kathy Burke's choice of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tcz90">Desert Island Discs</a>. 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.<br />
<br />
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?<br />
<br />
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.<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19501440"> One study</a>, with the snazzy title of <i>Tales of the Unexpected, </i>conducted by social policy and public health experts in the UK, defined resilience as<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i> "</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>the process of achieving positive and unexpected outcomes in adverse conditions." </i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br />
</i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">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.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">social security advisory committee finding back in May that withdrawing benefits from drug users would lead them into crime and prostitution.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">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.</span></span>Matt Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15823065257343594459noreply@blogger.com2