Doing the Rights Thing: Rights-based development and Latin American NGOs (Viewpoints) - Softcover

Molyneux, Maxine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1853395684 ISBN 13: 9781853395680

Publisher: Practical Action Publishing, 2003

Synopsis

Over the course of the 1990s governments, policy makers, NGOs and practitioners concerned with poverty alleviation increasingly sought to integrate rights into their practice in a broad range of contexts and countries. The term "rights based development" was coined to describe these efforts. Development agencies such as the UN and the World Bank, along with many NGOs and governments, have sought to promote a common understanding of what rights-based priorities entailed for their work. However there is still limited understanding of how such approaches are being worked out in practice and how they are understood in different socio-cultural contexts.

This book examines the ways that rights-based strategies have been understood in development practice in Latin America. It is based on research carried out with NGOs working with women and indigenous people in Mexico, Peru, Nicaragua and Bolivia, the latter three being among the poorest countries in the region. Rights-based development work has involved combining ideas of citizenship, democracy, participation and empowerment in novel ways. Doing the Rights Thing will contribute to the creation of a fuller understanding of this new approach to development and reveal the potential that it offers in ongoing efforts to secure more equitable as well as more effective and inclusionary development outcomes.

About this title

Review

"This excellent book provides a concise, clearly-written overview of key issues in the theory and practice of rights in relation to Latin American development NGOs. Wide ranging and up-to-date, it should be essential reading for staff in development agencies of all kinds, as well as an indispensable text for students and researchers in the field."--David Lewis,

About the Author

Maxine Molyneux has written extensively in the fields of political sociology, gender and development studies. She is Professor of Sociology at the Institute of Latin American Studies, University of London where she teaches courses in Development and Gender Politics.

Edition details

• Publisher: Practical Action Publishing
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1853395684
• ISBN 13: 9781853395680
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 176