- In the 2001 World Development Report devoted to poverty, it is stated that there are limits to a micro-level approach to poverty, and a macro-level approach is advocated for. The latter is supposed to include work with and through NGOs. For this to happen comprehensively, the Human Rights dimension will have to become more central. And this implies some changes in NGO work will have to happen.
Let me share with you my micro-comment on this macro-issue:
- In these times of widening gaps between haves and have-nots –between those whose rights are mostly upheld and those whose rights are being systematically violated–
- NGOs simply cannot continue doing business as usual.
- The vast majority of them are long overdue for “REVISIONING/REMISSIONING EXERCISES”. These are literally “retreats” in which NGO staff ask themselves:
– What are we all about?
– In the present climate of Globalization cum pauperization (involving a whole a chain of old and new Human Rights violations), are we part of the problem or part of the solution?
– How are our activities contributing to combating these Human Rights violations, to combating poverty and to bringing about greater equity in a sustainable, empowering way?
- If NGOs do not like the ring to the answers to these questions (and many others like these in the same vein)…well…you guessed: It’s time for them to remission their organization!
- A few NGOs (e.g. ACHAN in Madras, India, achan@vsnl.com) have successfully done this and are proactively convincing others to do likewise.
- NGOs: Get your planning going for the most important workshop you have held in the last ‘x’ years and let the new Human Rights approach be at its center…