- ATD Fourth World

The theme of our workshop was: “How to build up the capabilities of the very poor and their access to fundamental human rights?” We tackled the first part of this question by drawing particularly on the introductory presentations of the four speakers. Two of these talks dealt with land projects, one in Poland given by Tomasz Sadowski, Director of the Barka Association and the other, presented by Ian Tilling of the Casas Iona Association in Bucharest, Romania. The third presentation by Mr. Silva Armindo from the European Commission made the link between the European strategy of supporting the fight against poverty and the prospective entry into the E.U. of the central and eastern European countries. A fourth presentation was given by Mme Gunda Macioti who managed the risky task of presenting, in broad outline, the contribution of a person from Moldavia, Mme Nina Orlova, who was unable to attend and of whom Xavier Godinot had already spoken in the plenary session.

I will give you an account of our discussions on the long term plan by drawing on the outline of the program which we were given.

Starting with the protagonists, we began with the poor, including those whom I will refer to here as “the hidden poor”, by analogy with the hidden unemployed in Eastern Europe. In fact, officially, there were no poor in communist countries: the reality was that the destitute were put into institutions. The first two presentations described projects which had been initiated partly because of the breakdown of the institutional system. During the reform of the former communist states, many felt the world crumbling under their feet, both homeless and without work and within a few years their ability to support themselves was seriously affected.

The second protagonists we spoke about were the institutions. Since they no longer receive sufficient funding, they have not been able to respond to these totally new situations, in particular, their capacity to accommodate the numbers involved. In Moldavia a real crisis of confidence has occurred with regard to these institutions which had traditionally played an important role in child fostering, psychiatric care and the prison service.

In fact, the authorities, both local and national, in charge of these establishments are suffering a real identity crisis: with the changing political climate, they have had to try to predict consequences while, at the same time, undertaking a complete internal renewal.

It seems to us that the European Union should play a restructuring role in these governments. We will further develop this point later in the relevant section.

We also spoke at length about the NGOs as protagonists. The local initiatives taken by the NGOs were carried out in fear because of the fragility and lack of clarity of their relations with the authorities: the latter sometimes encouraging this. Nevertheless, they have strengthened themselves by trying to get international   support together with other NGOs sometimes for the purpose of finding finances, exchanging know-how or to complement each other’s work.
You may notice that we hardly spoke about industry, including   local firms, when perhaps we would have had some experience to share.

In listening to the different projects presented, several factors emerge as being of great importance to the speakers.

The first factor is the dislocation of these countries which has happened as a result of the opening up of the markets and, in particular, the insecurity of the new countries while they are in the process of forming.

Another factor is the requirements linked to attaining E.U. membership; requirements which it seems governments perceive primarily as economic and administrative problems, the social aspect remaining the poor relation. These two factors were discussed at length in the workshop.

The speakers also identified a change in the personal evolution of the poorest people and in their ability to adapt and develop in different situations.

The fourth factor concerned the initiatives taken by the NGOs by getting involved in networks of international dimension. I would like to emphasize that the NGOs play an extremely important part in relations with the countries and the authorities.

The fifth factor which was thoroughly discussed in our workshop, is the increasingly strong structuring of the EU. Deep down, the governments accept the demands and constraints of the EU during the process of accession, in the hope that, once they become members, they will then have the advantage of, on the one hand, solidarity     and financial aid on a European level, but also in terms of legislation, management of the economy and therefore, generally better regulation at the heart of the country.

We notice, at the same time, that the strengthening of the structures of the EU. can result in  more intense control, as with  the quasi closure of EU. frontiers in correlation with the increase in immigration. Xavier Godinot gave  Moldavia as an example. This country had strong links with Romania but now the frontier of the EU. is situated between these two countries. This risks breaking up important relations and putting an end to the exchange facility. Moldavia seems to us a country whose morale and prospects are completely broken by this EU. structuring: a very serious and depressing situation. Another aspect is the comparison between countries, that is to say, the concept of convergence which means that the countries are capable of being in a common market. We spoke a lot about the indicators; this desire for convergence means that you have to know what sort of knowledge and information you are trying to gather so that the comparisons made are as just as possible. We also have to be able to predict the consequences for the countries of applying these criteria. We, therefore, emphasized that the relevance of monetary indicators must not be underestimated as these allow precise comparison and also reflect the importance of the situations of individuals and households at the mercy of the markets. However, the issue of the participation of the poor in defining  these indicators remains vital so that their needs  are not simply defined by others: the indicators should not merely reflect economic data but should equally have a political importance.
With this method of gathering  knowledge and comparing countries, the risk is that certain differences will not be taken into account. Spain and Poland, for example, put forward many initiatives in the informal sector, indeed, a whole way of living, relating to the taking of responsibility for people in situations of great poverty. Some responsibilities and personal, family or local initiatives would no longer be  recognized according to EU. Criteria. Without support, these would have to be abandoned.

The sixth factor, the EU’ s political deadlines. The EU. has at its disposal all sorts of mechanisms for hindering  agreement on the objectives to be attained and the measures to be  taken. I feel that it is important, in fact, that countries agree on the objectives for succeeding in building a strong Europe. However, faced with the power of the United States, it is difficult to evaluate to what extent the protection brought by Europe to its member countries would be sufficiently effective.

We took note of several projects and the date of their implementation. For example, the National Action Plans for Social Inclusion ( NAPSincl ) for the next five years with the participation of the NGOs; a round table is planned on social exclusion to set out our objectives for 2003.  2004 will be the next entry date for candidate countries. The goal of halving the rate of poverty between now and 2010 was the subject of intense discussion in our group.

We looked at several possibilities for the future: we retained training by emphasizing that the poor show their ability to support themselves when given long-term security. Those who have lived on the street  must be strongly supported so that they will be able to recover these capabilities.
We also have to allow these people to take part in discussions in society. All the partners, the professionals and also the locally elected representatives, must learn how to create the partnership which will allow this dialogue to take place.

Another point brought up was the importance of cooperation, on the one hand, between the NGOs and governments and, on the other, between the NGOs, including at international level.

We are aware that the governments and their economic and social agents seem concerned about the situation. In Poland, the beginning of the development (and of development support )  of civil society represents an opportunity and a hope.

It may be the case that the NGOs, like the governments, have a tendency to hope that the EU can resolve all their problems: we think that one must be wary of this hope. The NGOs must to learn to work together and to develop this capacity. The NGOs represented told us, “ In our fragile situation, contact with  the experience of international NGOs is vital for us: it gives us security and allows us to understand more quickly what we are experiencing.

The criteria  for convergence is taking us into the realms of a great movement: we wondered if this would  have the effect of  stifling diversity.

We discussed this by examining the approach of the indicators which would eliminate certain differences. We looked  again at the theme of diversity among the  poor by taking the example of  gypsies, very present  in central and eastern European countries. We have a lot to learn from the experience of both east and western  Europe. To look at the question simply in terms of integration is not necessarily the best way of making progress. On the other hand, we think that  there are hidden fears which, if we want to encourage diversity, must be identified and exposed.

In conclusion, we feel that substantial training is needed to broaden our vision as much in the west as in the east.  On the other hand, every society has its history of poverty and its actual constraints which we must respect.  With regard to Poland, Tomasz  Sadowski told us, “I think that the development of self-help groups is something which responds well today to the situation and to Polish history. We should be careful not to destroy people’s initiatives, motivation and their existing energy.

We also agreed  that democracy in western Europe is not necessarily an absolute model and that it would be helpful, in working with our friends  from the candidate countries and all European countries, to reflect on the vitality and responsibilities available in  our own democracies.