Rights-based Approach to Development Transforms a Major International NGO

This article describes some of the lessons learned from a new rights-based approach on the part of ActionAid entitled "Fighting Poverty Together." ActionAid, a British aid agency, is described as introducing changes in its operations to reduce dependence on child sponsorship, decentralise its internal management and simplify its organisational structure. The author, Charles Owusu, describes lessons learned from these changes and central to his concern is if they have impacted change at the grassroots level.

According to Owusum a study was carried out by ActionAid to assess the impact of its new Accountability, Learning and Planning System (ALPS), introduced to support the new strategy. It examined ALPS in Ethiopia, The Gambia, India and Kenya, and looked at: the ability of local people to participate: lessons learned from them; and and how the organisation could respond to their needs.

As a result of Action Aid's restructuring, local people and partners now take responsibility for implementing their own development programmes. In 30 countries, ActionAid programmes follow ALPS and no longer are required to write formal annual reports to their headquarters. Instead, strategies and programmes are created through participatory review and reflection processes that are held with local communities, partner organisations, staff and donors.

Owusu points to several positive changes since ALPS started:

• Learning about programmes and devising strategies that traditionally centred on donors needs has given way to learning from poor people;
• Building good working relationships characterised by gender sensitivity and respect is now a priority because staff and others are challenged to look at their own behaviours and attitudes;
• Staff no longer waste time preparing and rewriting reports in English which is a second or third language for many; and
• Field staff, local partners and community groups are now more willing to talk about failures, difficulties and challenges, which were previously concealed from general knowledge.

Based on these results, Owusu suggests that development agencies need to explore ways that weaken their relationship with field staff and local communities as well as find ways to give more power to them. He also suggests focusing on local languages for communicating in the form of drama, stories, proverbs and role plays which allow a better local-level analysis of problems.