Rights and power: the challenge for international development agencies.

Abstract

Many international development agencies have incorporated rights into their policy approaches but the relationship between rights and shifting power relations is still rarely addressed. In this article, the authors consider that rights-based approaches should inherently politicise development by inviting power structures to be challenged, from the policy and programme levels to the organisations and individual actors involved and the values, cultures and principles that underpin them. This was the theme of a recent workshop for donor representatives at the Institute of Development Studies. Participants explored meanings and expressions of power and reflected on the significance of these for their own individual and organisational behaviour as powerful development actors. This article discusses key issues emerging from the workshop and the challenges faced by staff when they seek to promote rights-based approaches in their organisations

Citation

IDS Bulletin - Vol 36 No 1, pp. 63-72 [DOI: 10.1111/j.1759-5436.2005.tb00179.x]

Rights and power: the challenge for international development agencies.

Published 1 January 2005