Living with Poverty. No. 493.

The Millennium Development Goals aim to halve the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015. But for many low-income countries, debt relief and multilateral aid hinge on developing a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) - an approach promoted by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Panos London is examining the effectiveness of the PRSP process, in particular the engagement of the poor in the development and implementation of these strategies, and the role of the media in enhancing transparency, accountability and ownership of the process.

As part of this, we worked with partners to collect a series of oral testimonies from communities in Pakistan, Zambia, Kenya and Mozambique, for whom poverty is a daily reality.Oral history.Living with Poverty.

Their accounts - vivid and direct, full of detail - are a powerful reminder of the human indignities that lie at the heart of poverty and why effective approaches to poverty reduction matter.
These testimonies are a powerful reminder of the human indignities that lie at the heart of poverty and why effective approaches to poverty reduction matter.

The narrators present their own perspectives on the factors that keep people poor, the ingenuity needed to meet basic needs, and the challenges they face in pursuing their rights. Above all, their stories bring to life the reality of poverty and its daily oppressions.

Living with Poverty is a project of Panos London.

Panos London stimulates informed and inclusive public debate around key development issues in order to foster sustainable development. We are working to promote an enabling media and communications environment worldwide.

Our aim is to ensure that the perspectives of the people whose lives are most affected by development (mainly the poor and marginalised) are included within decision-making and that decisions are subject to their scrutiny and debate.

Our priority issues are: media and communications, globalisation, HIV/AIDS, environment and conflict. We see gender as integral to all these.

Human Rights and Social Development: Toward Democratization and Social Justice. No. 492.

Human Rights and Social Development: Toward Democratization and Social Justice
by Yash Ghai for UNRISD programme 'Democracy, Governance and Human Rights (2000 - 2005).'

This paper aims to assess progress toward the objectives of the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development (referred to as “the Declaration”) and Programme of Action by using a human rights strategy. The Declaration seeks to make human rights the framework for policies to achieve the goals of the World Summit for Social Development, held in Copenhagen in 1995. This strategy assumes that the norms and machinery of human rights would inform decisions on development policies. It also assumes that rights would empower social and economic groups hitherto excluded from or disadvantaged in development and entitlements. In particu-lar, it assumes that human rights norms that require and support democracy would provide the basis of political and social stability, and that social and economic rights would eliminate the worst consequences of poverty.

The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) is an autonomous UN agency engaging in multidisciplinary research on the social dimensions of contemporary problems affecting development. Through its research, UNRISD stimulates dialogue and contributes to policy debates on key issues of social development within and outside the United Nations system.


Democracy, Governance and Human Rights (2000 - 2005)
The global debate on democratization and human rights can be sharpened by paying greater attention to specific problems of political and institutional reform at the local, national and international levels. This programme provided an opportunity to learn from experiences in countries, beset by economic crisis, where efforts are being made to create an enabling environment for democratic governance.

United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP] Resource Kits. No. 491.

United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP], established in 1972, is the voice for the environment within the United Nations system. UNEP acts as a catalyst, advocate, educator and facilitator to promote the wise use and sustainable development of the global environment. To accomplish this, UNEP works with a wide range of partners, including United Nations entities, international organizations, national governments, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and civil society.

Mission:

To provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.

UNEP has a key role to play in a broad range of activities related to the environment, including providing leadership and information to stakeholders on caring for the environment, and facilitating the transfer of knowledge and technology for sustainable development.


In order to fulfill this mandate, UNEP offers a wide range of technical guidelines and resources for governments, policy-makers, civil society, private sector and the public at large. This website is designed to serve as a central repository where users may retrieve resources produced by UNEP. Available information includes technical guidelines, clearing-houses, trainer manuals, databases, CDroms, publications and other useful tools.

Economic Injustice in Housing. No. 490.

Subprime in Black and White
Evidence is mounting that during the housing boom, black and Hispanic borrowers were far more likely to be steered into high-cost subprime loans than other borrowers.
[Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban 4olicy].
In New York, Hispanic borrowers are three times more likely than White borrowers to receive subprime loans. African-Americans were also targets:

“Even after looking at neighborhoods of similar income levels, we find that if you're a black borrower, you're much more likely to take out a sub-prime loan than a white borrower."

What can librarians do?
1. Recommit to ALA Policy:
61. LIBRARY SERVICES FOR THE POOR.

2. Become Active in the Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty Task Force


3. Become economic advocates by distributing information and holding workshops on the Earned Income Tax Credit.

4. Read & Discuss Issues with library users:
Economic Justice Research Guide [Georgetown Law Library].

Economic Justice:Selections from "Distributive Justice" and "A Living Wage"
John A. Ryan.Beckley, Harlan R.ISBN: 0664256600
Westminster/John Knox Press,U.S.

Economic justice : race, gender, identity and economic / Emma Colman Jordan, Angela P. Harris.New York, N.Y. : Foundation Press,Thomson/West, c2005