Sustainable development
Sustainable development will only bear fruit if the future of the people living in the worst conditions is considered as a success criterion of all policies, whether in the Global North or South.
We Cannot Build Anti-poverty Programmes Without Paying Attention To What Poor People Say, How They Behave, What They Think
Interview with Professor Abhijit Banerjee of MIT University’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab1
Interview made on October 17th, 2012 in Brussels of Professor Abhijit Banerjee by Jean-Christophe Sarrot for the issue of January 2013 of Feuille de route Quart Monde, the monthly French newspaper of the International Movement ATD Fourth World and its website.Millenium Goals: from the experience of those who live in poverty (Manila)
Millenium Development Goals (MDGs): 2015 is the deadline by which members of the United Nations agreed to evaluate their efforts - to halve the proportion of people living on less than 1$ a day; to ensure education for all; to integrate sustainable development into country policies… Yet there are questions to be asked. People talk about percentages, statistics, yet the issue is related to improving the lives of millions of people, people whose voice is not being taken into account in the international community.
Respecting human rights and associating people in extreme poverty to decision making must be central in the efforts made in order to achieve the MDGs by 2015. This was the framework determined by the heads of States at the Millenium Summit in the year 2000, which they reaffirmed at the General assembly for the MDGs.
ATD Fourth World affirms that people living in extreme poverty have been an absent partner towards determining the MDGs. Their contribution is fundamental towards assessing the impact of the MDGs, and towards creating a global framework beyond 2015.
We are in Manila, meeting Raul Detona. Raul lives under a bridge, with many other people. His situation has not significantly improved. He wants to be listened to, he wants his voice, and that of others living in extreme poverty, to be heard.
Time to translate the future we want into the present we need
RIO + 20 Press release June 24 2012
As world leaders, negotiatiors and civil society representatives head home, there is not time to waste to translate the future set out in Rio, into concrete steps to bring about a sustainable development that leaves nobody behind.ATD Fourth World is particularly concerned that the outcome document does not specify how the process to define or implement sustainable development goals (SDGs) will include the participation of people living in extreme poverty. The most disadvantaged people and (…)
Sustainable Development Goals: Is there any reason for hope?
Since the first Conference on Sustainable Development in 1992, the number of people living in extreme poverty has increased in many countries, especially in the least developed countries. The gap between the rich and the poor in Western economies is at its widest in 30 years, according to the OECD. Over 200 million people in the world are jobless and youth unemployment in industrialized counties is at its highest since levels began to be recorded in 1976.Not only there has been little (…)
Ending the violence of extreme poverty - a must for sustainable societies
Proposals for Rio + 20
Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation emphasize poverty eradication as a prerequisite for sustainable development. Nevertheless, in spite of progress in some countries over the last two decades, poverty levels remain high. According to the Multidimensional Poverty Index, used in the UNDP’s Human Development Report, 1.7 billion people experienced acute deprivations in health, education, and standard of living in 2011. Even in ‘rich’ countries, economic growth has not eradicated poverty nor extreme poverty: nearly 1 in 7 people are at risk of poverty within the European Union and the USA. In order for the outcomes from Rio +20 to mark a decisive step in moving towards sustainable development, ending the violence of extreme poverty must be a central concern.How people living in extreme poverty view the term sustainable development
Report: "We can contribute"
Synthesis of interviews and visits October 2011 - January 2012 carried out with families living in extreme poverty in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Brazil in preparation for Rio+20Author: Cíntia de Carvalhaes, June 2012
