POVERTY REDUCTION ADVOCACY

1
POVERTY REDUCTION ADVOCACY

• Linking
• local/national
• to
• international/global
• Laos 14.01.04

2
Advocacy

• Mobilise people at grassrootlevel
• To influence decisionmakers
• At any level.

3
Mobilise people

• By addressing power imbalances.
• By building democracy and participation.
• By building social movements.

4
(No Transcript)
5
NCA vision

• TOGETHER FOR A JUST WORLD

6
HOW to make JUST WORLD?

• NCA have 3 approaches
• Emergency preparedness
• Long-term development work
• Advocacy work
• Together we are changing the world!?

7
NCA 3 approaches
8
Human Dignity Triangle
9
Advocacy

• Driving public policy towards improving the
  lives of those who concentionally have a weaker
  voice and less power.
• Oxford Dictionary

10
Policy-decisions at different levels.
11
Togther for a just world?

• Can economic globalisation and justice be seen
  together?
• So far globalisation has been mostly about
  promoting injustice!

12
Economic distribution of resources in the
world.6 billion people share like this
13

• Economic injustice
• 20 of the worlds population consume 86 of the
  worlds resources.
• 20 of the worlds population consume 1 of the
  worlds resources.
• As a result
• 1.2 billion people live in absolute poverty (less
  than 1 dollar a day)
• Similar economic injustice exists on national
  levels in many countries.
• We have to address this as civil society. This
  must be changed!!

14
This distribution of resources kills 40 000
children everydayworldwidegt Poverty kills.
15
What can we do?

• We can mobilise against the root causes of
  poverty in our societies.
• Injustice at
• Local level
• National level
• Regional level
• Global level!

16
Root causes of poverty

• Injustice
• Political injustice
• Social injustice
• Cultural injustice
• Economic injustice
• Environmental injustice
• Etc..
• At all levels!

17
Root causes of poverty

• Economic injustice
• Policy mechanisms which transfer resouces from
  poor to rich
• Unfair trade policies
• Unjust distribution of land
• Irresponsible companies
• Illegitimate debt
• Corruption
• Etc..

18
Economic Justice

• Reversing the current transfer of wealth from
  poor to rich.
• ON ALL LEVELS!
• Giving poor people and poor countries control of
  their economic destinies.

19
Poverty Reduction Advocacy

• We need to do adcocacy for poverty reduction
• PRSP
• Budget monitoring
• Trade policies
• Debt policies
• Aid coordination
• Based on Human Rights approach

20
3 sector model
21
Real world todayEconomic globalisation.
22
Power Imbalance

• Too much power to the multinational companies and
  the multilateral financial institutions.
• Not enough power in the hands of grassroot people.

23
Need to globalise people-movements!

• Globalisation of civil society..

24
Social Globalisation Mobilising social
movements worldwide
25
Social Globalisation Political and legal
globalisation
26
Which country?
27
NCA policy document

• Advocacy Together with partners, NCA will
  influence
• individuals, faith based structures and
  communities, so that they fulfil their duty to
  act in the interests of human dignity.
• Governments, public bodies, multilateral
  organisations and business on matters affecting
  political, economic and social rights of the
  poor.

28
Advocacy on all levels(Where relevant)

• Locally
• Nationally
• Regionally
• Globally

29
Decisionmakers
30
Change-agents
31
Advocacy process

• Input gather information
• Policy making formulate policy
• Output Influence decisionmaker

32
Advocacy MIX

• Dialogue lobby and negotiation
• Confrontation public debate, demonstrations or
  litigation
• Mobilisation awareness- and movement-building

33
How to identify issues

• Criterias
• Relevance to the poor and human rights.
• Competence within the NCA network.
• Feasibility to get the right decision.
• Visibility in media and public debate.

34
Advocacy model of NCA
35
Policy-decisions at different levels.
36
Real world todayEconomic globalisation.
37
Globalisation of civil societyBalanced
globalisation
38
Of course we can change the world!
39
Examples

• Utkal, Orissa/India case (1995-2001)
• Jubilee 2000 (1995-2001)
• Fashion slaves in Thailand (2001-2004)
• Triumph Int out of Burma (1999-2001)
• Stop MAI agreement (1997)
• Landmine convention (1993-1996)
• Apartheid campaign (1980s 1994)

40
Example 1 Utkal

• Proposed Bauxite/Alumnia project in India
• Land aquired in Kashipur, Rayagada, Orissa
• This land was already in use by dalits and
  adiwasi for agricultural and religious use.
• Project would take away most of the water.
• Would displace appr. 20.000 people.
• Would violate indigenous and dalit rights.

41
Utkal cont.

• Local population mobilised own grassroot
  movement PSSP.
• Mobilised NGOs and networks in the area.
• Mobilised NGOs and networks in India.
• Some of these were partners with NCA on service
  delivery projects.
• They challenged NCA to do advocacy in Norway

42
Utkal cont.

• NCA and Changemaker bought shares in the
  Norwegian company Hydro.
• Went on General Assembly and made two different
  proposals
• CM Withdraw from project.
• NCA Postpone project untill human rights issues
  are settled.
• Lot of media coverage and embarassement for the
  company.
• Hydro did not accept the proposals.

43
Utkal cont.

• But One year later they came up with a human
  rights strategy for the company.
• Demanded that their partners in Utkal must follow
  this strategy.
• Project was postponed 3 times before Hydro
  decided to withdraw.
• This was after 3 local people were killed by
  police in a demonstration against Utkal.

44
Example 2 Jubilee
45
Debt cancellation?
46
Biggest mobilisation ever!

• 25 million signatures worldwide
• 100 000 people in human chains at G8
• 70 national campaign plattforms
• G8 promise of US 100 billion cancellation
• Improvement of HIPC initiative
• Put debt firmly on the agenda
• Paved way for debate on illegitimate debt

47
Diktator debt

• Left more 61 billion US in debt
• Most of it used for weapons

• Left 13 billion US in debt
• Most of it for guns and capital-flight

48
Mobilising people in social globalisation!
49
Of course we can change the world!
50
Example 3

• Fashion Slaves

51
100 working hours per week
52
Locked inside the factory
53
1/3 of Thai minimum wage
54
Trade Unions banned. . Organisers
deported. .
55
Poor water sanitation facilities
56
Poor housing50-70 persons in one room
57
Protesting workers are killed or deported.
58
These people make our clothes
59
Famous brands..
60
What does NCA and partners do?

• Make report and TV documentary on working
  conditions and brands.
• Confront brands on national TV.
• Mobilise consumers to address brand.
• Build capacity to negotiate by workers.
• Build capacity for advocacy by partners.

61
(No Transcript)
62
(No Transcript)
63
Mobilising people in social globalisation!
64
Of course we can change the world!PEOPLE-POWER
.
65
Conclusions/Recommendations

• need to do Poverty Reduction Advocacy nationally
  and globally.
• need to address economic justice issues in Laos.
• need to build social movements locally and
  network these with national and global social
  movements.