Applying a rights-based approach : an inspirational guide for civil society

Rights-based development starts from the ethical position that all people are entitled to a certain standard in terms of material and spiritual wellbeing. It takes the side of people who suffer injustice by acknowledging their equal worth and dignity; it removes the charity dimension of development by emphasising rights and responsibilities. It recognises poor people not as beneficiaries, but as active rightsholders and establishes corresponding duties for states and other actors against whom claims can be held. As a concept, Rights- based Approaches (RBA) ensures the meaningful and systematic inclusion and empowerment of the most vulnerable. This guide provides guidance on the practical implementation of RBA. It is intended for use by civil society organisations (CSOs) in countries challenged by poverty.

An introduction to RBA is given followed by a three step generic model for programme planning, implementation and evaluation. The three steps include:

• Analysing the context: What issues, actors, problems and solutions to focus on.
• Designing the programme: What to do about it.
• Implementing and evaluating: How to carry this out in practice and how to learn from it.

Tools are provided for problem analysis, stakeholder analysis, advocacy, capacity building and monitoring and evaluation.