Civil society takes centre stage at the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
Release Date: 16 October 2006
By Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary-General
Dear e-CIVICUS Subscribers,
Over the past few weeks, Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) activists have been building up to the exciting final of GCAP’s month of mobilisation on 17 October -- Global White Band Day and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Between 10:00am (GMT) on 15 October and 10:00am (GMT) on 16 October, people all over the world will be STANDING UP AGAINST POVERTY. From bicycle demonstrations to music concerts, human chains to a Day of Worship, GCAP supporters in more than 100 countries will Stand Up for one minute to add their voice to a 24-hour global call, demanding world leaders to take action to end poverty and inequality. For this week's column, I share with you an article by Henri Valot, CIVICUS Millennium Development Goals Campaign Manager, in the hope that it will give you a sense of why 17 October is an important day to civil society activists worldwide. Warmest regards.
"People created poverty. Only people can eradicate it." World-wide commemoration of October 17: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
By Henri Valot, CIVICUS Millennium Development Goals Campaign Manager
Together with my colleagues from CIVICUS, I stood up on a sunny Sunday, at the University of the Witwatersrand and at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg. Our friend Hassen Lorgat, from the South African NGO Council (SANGOCO), made the pledge on behalf of all of us. We, the national and international staff of CIVICUS, were sincerely touched to be part of this event along with hundreds of South Africans.
The Stand Up against Poverty events on 15 and 16 October, and the culmination of the 2006 Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) month of mobilisation on October 17 -- the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty-- are truly global events. Coalitions and supporting organisations around the world prepared creative unifying actions, from a human chain of more than half a million people in Bangladesh to congregations and schools standing up all across Kenya.
Tajudeen Abdul-Rahman, Deputy Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign wrote to us about 17 October: “It is a day for rededicating oneself to the struggle for the eradication of poverty and other inequalities in our world. It is task whose success can only be definite if in future it is no longer necessary.
I think the UN Millennium Campaign-inspired Guinness Book of World Records challenge on "Stand Up Against Poverty, Stand up for the MDGs" has added a new value to the activities and may develop into new constituencies that will strengthen GCAP. I was in Nigeria last week and was pleasantly surprised to meet an Indian VSO volunteer working in Kano State who has mobilised the whole state educational institutions for stand up on Monday. Over 1.3 million students will be standing up at their assemblies. I see more innovative ideas inspiring even bigger numbers to want to do something to end poverty across the world. The movement will not only grow in leaps and bounds but break the critical consciousness that will enable the powers that be to act decisively on our demands”
I could not write this piece by myself. I am part of the GCAP global support team at CIVICUS, and my job is to encourage global efforts and give voice to GCAP’s campaigners. I have therefore asked friends in the broader GCAP network to contribute to this column. This column is about 17 October and the production and reproduction of poverty, the status of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and its links with GCAP.
Asked about 2005’s results, Kumi Naidoo said once: “First, was the realisation that there is a huge gap between the rhetoric of working to make the world a just place and the reality of implementation, particularly from those that wield immense power. So while we acknowledge the progress made every day in the lives of ordinary people around the world as a result of action taken by ordinary citizens for the public good, we must also acknowledge that ‘justice delayed is justice denied’’
The call for justice from Kumi leads me to this very special UN Day, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, 17 October. Thirty-nine years after the International Declaration of Human Rights was signed at the Trocadero Plaza in Paris, 100,000 people from all backgrounds came together on 17 October 1987 to affirm that extreme poverty is one of the worst violations of these rights. They were responding to a call by Joseph Wresinski, a man who had himself experienced extreme poverty, and who!
realised that one of the harshest impacts of poverty was the humiliation it inflicted. This humiliation renders people invisible and without voice. His experience showed him that in order to eradicate poverty, people from all backgrounds must come together to fight against it.
Joseph Wresinski, founder of International Movement ATD said: "Wherever human beings 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." These words were enshrined in a stone laid to commemorate the victims of extreme poverty, and almost twenty years later still serves as a reminder to us all of our common responsibility.
17 October is therefore, firstly, a people’s day, promoted by a social movement which originated in France and made up of social workers, vulnerable people, and volunteers. Much later, it became a UN day , with speeches, ribbon-cutting, and so on.
This day provides an opportunity to honour the pride and courage of the people living in extreme poverty.
People’s dignity
People in poverty themselves are the first defenders of human rights. But, as their contribution is not captured on formal studies, or even in the mass media, it is often ignored, devalued, and seen as irrelevant. Nevertheless, they are the first to look after others in their communities, the first to take a stand against poverty and their contribution should be recognised.
Father Wresinski said: "People created poverty. Only people can eradicate it." The need to act is not confined to politicians and others in power, but is also the duty of ordinary citizens.
Guy Rider, Secretary General of the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) confirms: "The fact that there will be world-wide mobilisations against poverty on 17 October reminds us of just how far we have come in extending global solidarity and building bridges between the rich and poor. Workers have always been at the forefront of the campaign to lift the living standards of all poor people whether they are live in industrialised or developing countries. Building on from the mobilisations of this and last year, the voices of the poor and those who are concerned by poverty will only get louder as our message spreads. World leaders have been put on notice: citizens are expecting action, not just words, in the fight against poverty."
Christiane Overkamp, Secretary General of International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity (CIDSE) echoes these words by saying: "We always need to remember that the fight against poverty is about individuals and their dignity. It is about women and men like us, whose most fundamental rights are being denied. It is about people with plans, hopes, wishes and desires for themselves and their children. And it is a matter of our own dignity as human beings to help build a world in which everybody has enough space and the means to be the masters of their own future."
From another side of the world, our friend Marivic Raquiza of Social Watch, GCAP Philippines affirms: “I am inspired at how ordinary citizens around the world are trying to build a better future in the here and now, by making policy demands and launching dramatic actions to get their messages across. The message is rather simple but powerful: it is really about ordinary people reclaiming control of their lives, so that they are able to live with a measure of dignity. It is a struggle worth our while.”
Poverty is systemic
On 17 October, we also declare that poverty is not natural, or inevitable. Poverty is structural, and we live in a system that produces and reproduces poverty.
As our friend Ana Agostino from International Council for Adult Education (ICAE), says, “The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is a reminder of an unjust social order. We commemorate it every year almost as though we take for granted that there are ‘poor’ people who need to be ‘helped’ and there are others with the duty and the means to do that. This derives though from a mere economic view that sees poverty as the lack of certain material goods. A different situation arises when one defines poverty as the systematic denial of social, economic and political rights. When human rights are placed at the centre of a paradigm, solutions for the eradication of poverty are not concentrated on economic measures but on the creation of conditions for the expansion of citizenship from civil rights to political rights and to social rights. Undertaking measures for the eradication of poverty can therefore not be reduced to ‘intervening’ in the lives of those defined as poor because their incomes are below what has been arbitrary determined as the ‘poverty line’ (ignoring the diversity of lifestyles some of which are independent of incomes). It implies rather guaranteeing the rights of diverse peoples to be able to fulfil their dreams and aspirations in a culturally appropriate way.”
The international anti-poverty organisation, ATD Fourth World, was first created to tackle poverty in a rich country, France. Now, more than ever before, ATD is needed. Over the past 15 years in Europe, we have witnessed millions of people falling below the poverty line and getting low-paid and insecure jobs.
In the developing world, extreme poverty, defined as living on less than US$1 per day, is reality for almost one billion people. Another 2.7 billion struggle to survive on less than two dollars per day. Poverty, however, goes far beyond income. It means having to walk more than one mile every day simply to collect water and firewood; it means suffering diseases that were eradicated from rich countries decades ago. Every year eleven million children die - (most under the age of five) and more than six million from completely preventable causes like malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia. In some deeply impoverished nations less than half of the children are in primary school and under 20% go to secondary school. Around the world, a total of 114 million children do not get even a basic education and 584 million women are illiterate.
Turning to the poorest countries – the least developed countries (LDCs) - the trends say it all: twenty years ago, the ratio of average income in the LDCs to average income in rich countries was 1:87. It is now 1:98. If current trends continue, only one country will reach the US 900 dollars per capita income threshold for moving out of LDC status in the next 50 years. The forecast of an even greater increase in poverty pushes us to question the effectiveness of the current paradigm, its derived mechanisms and instruments .
Income-based measures have traditionally been the way poverty has been understood and measured. Due to limitations of equating poverty with a lack of food or money, several approaches have sought to understand poverty as a multi-dimensional phenomenon. The most productive seems to be the systemic explanations of poverty where poverty is seen as a social relation. By this we mean that poverty does not simply occur but is created through systems that are operating in our society. The idea that poverty is created is not a new one, but it has gained currency recently as a response to the criticisms of other theories of development.
Justice, empowerment and accountability
Thinking about our common dignity, our role in the protection of human rights and in promoting the right voices, Marivic Raquiza says: “I think we should highlight certain policy demands that go with the Stand Up campaign, so others will know that GCAP stands for something beyond merely ’standing up.’. The call to get people involved is important, but GCAP has to channel people's involvement into clear policy messages and concrete action. In this way, we can have more positive influence in policy board rooms, where the lives of the poor are decided on. We should also highlight some of the actions launched by certain coalitions/groups. In particular, the policy message of GCAP-Philippines in relation to the Stand Up to Poverty campaign is that the official poverty threshold of 36 pesos per person a day (less than a dollar a day) is not enough to provide for the basic food and non-food needs as claimed by government. And this has become a springboard to discuss the deeper issues around poverty and inequality, and as well as policy reform measures needed (e.g., increase budgetary allocation for basic social services).
Next, I reflected back to some comments on our campaign made early this year. Noreena Hertz clearly stated: A new campaign is needed, one with three principles at its heart: justice, empowerment and accountability. The power imbalances implicit in today's political economic order were barely challenged, and the need to ensure that those on the margins would have the opportunity to participate in the process and share in the outcome was never stressed strongly enough. For the sake of simplifying the message, for the sake of getting more people on board, for the sake of not appearing too radical and of maintaining unity in its own ranks, the campaign, or more specifically those within the campaign who captured the media space, made serious omissions. If we are determined to make poverty history we must now address these omissions.
Achieving and exceeding the MDGs
As a civil society convenor, CIVICUS is not only engaged in raising awareness about and supporting mobilisation for the MDG campaign but also using the MDGs as a unifying framework to galvanise joint mobilisation and activism on the part of civil society by building bridges between trade unions, faith-based organisations, and service-oriented, development, environmental and human rights NGOs. By working together to advance these goals, civil society organisations would in turn open up greater space for themselves to influence governance, policy and the delivery of services to the poor. Clearly, through the Maputo and the Johannesburg meetings, global civil society responded to the MDGs agenda by launching GCAP.
But do we have a common understanding on how to treat the MDGs? And how do we get prepared for the important mid-term review, in July 2007? For most of us, not only are the targets minimalist, but they also betray previous commitments and developed without any kind of consultation with what the UN calls key stakeholders.
Most of the national coalitions are preparing their MDG monitoring reports, and actively advocating for a voice in government and UN reports. Some are using GCAP outreach to showcase their specific and unique experience and knowledge. Most of us know that civil society organisations are essential in the difficult exercise of “localising the MDGs” and of the promotion of the UN agreed goals.
Where are we now?
GCAP National platforms have increased from only 15 in January 2005 to approximately 115 in September 2006. The formation of autonomous national platforms was part of the plan, building at the national level on existing organisations and networks, based on their own national concerns and contexts.
But the process of building a network based on national coalitions and networks is very much a process in the making. The potential for building on existing coalitions, networks and organisations, of mobilisation, varies by region and country depending on the political environment, the existence or strength of NGOs and existing coalitions and networks.
New partners are coming on board every week. Since there were less global events in 2006, coalitions were able to focus on their own calendar, and respond to social and economic justice needs. The G20 is meeting in Australia; MPH Australia is therefore acting and already supporting the involvement of other coalitions concerned, such as the South-African coalition . Hopefully, the actions promoted by MPH Australia will inspire follow up in South Africa in 2007. Equally, the Japanese coalition is involved in the civil society preparations for the G8 in Germany, as Japan will host the 2008 G8.
The way the campaign operates is also therefore changing. GCAP 2006 is less driven by international organisations and by global events. The emphasis is on national demands and activities. GCAP campaigners support each other and national coalitions by sharing experiences, best practices, knowledge, analysis, materials and tools.
“In order to strengthen global understanding and solidarity in the anti-poverty campaign, it would be great to see more grassroots exchanges of GCAP campaigners from national coalitions across countries and continents. This will facilitate the sharing of experiences, insights, skills, and even technologies, and will help make the anti-poverty campaign truly global, said Marivic Raquiza.
GCAP did not make poverty history, but GCAP is truly based on the amazing efforts by all the Make Poverty History campaigns of the world. GCAP might make history by connecting civil society organisations, and supporting their engagement with decision-makers at all level. But one should recognise that GCAP remains a very fragile alliance: the diversity of global civil society is equally a strength and a threat for GCAP.
I want to conclude this piece with the words of Thomas Deve, from MWENGO: Working within the framework of MWENGO has made me part of a collective effort in campaigning against injustice and inequality with a firm belief that Another Africa is possible. Nourished by a positive spirit that the incentive for our continued efforts is in the promise of a future that we can all take pride in, we at MWENGO call on all anti-poverty campaigners this International Day for the Eradication of Poverty to remain vigilant and watch that this promise is not broken, or squandered as has happened in the past. We take this opportunity to stand solidly behind Southern African GCAP ambassadors who will be out in full force and asserting that with our voices, we can make a difference. We must amplify our voices in the struggle against poverty and inequality. Supporting GCAP and showing solidarity with communities wallowing in extreme poverty will take us a long way.
In Solidarity,
Henri Valot
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