- ATD Fourth World

For the past two years, the International Movement ATD Fourth World has been engaged in a process of dialogue with academics on the subject of the project for society proposed by Joseph Wresinski. Meetings, reading groups, study days and conferences have been held in places as far apart as Switzerland, Poland, the Netherlands and Haiti. Each and every example of this dialogue has been part of the build-up to the international conference Exclusion as a Challenge to Democracy, organised in collaboration with the Association Française de Science Politique and Sciences Po Paris, to be held on 03 - 05 December 2008.

This summer’s ATD Fourth World Research Institute-sponsored seminar will be a part of this build-up. The aim of this seminar is to allow academics, members of ATD Fourth World and others working alongside those living in poverty

• to study different texts written by Joseph Wresinski
• to present their work and open themselves up to discussion and argument
• to examine how Joseph Wresinski’s thinking is looked upon by today’s society.

Using plenary sessions and work in small groups, this seminar will address four key themes:

• Persistent poverty and social exclusion (history and political theory, epistemological questions)
• People living in poverty as political actors (mobilisation, ways of actions, anthropological aspects)
• Human Rights and persistent poverty (legal and philosophical points)
• The eradication of poverty (public policies and private initiatives).

This seminar will take place between 26-29 August 2008 at the ATD Fourth World International Centre in Méry-sur-Oise and the International Joseph Wresinski Centre in Baillet-en-France. For further information, contact Research Institute

Prices of registration and accommodation for this seminar (these prices include registration fee and full pension):

• Professional: 400€ (100€ per day)
• Private: 100€ to 300€ depending on income
• Limited scholarships available on written request providing motivation and justification