BANGLADESH/ MALAWI/ PERU: The Impact of Rights-Based Approaches to Development

In integrating human rights, various actors have uncovered numerous questions about the conceptual and practical application of explicit rights-based approaches (RBAs). While many have accepted the added value of RBAs, others remain to be convinced.

Donors have questioned the value of RBAs, especially as there has been little work done to evaluate their true value. To address these concerns, the UK Interagency Group (IAG) on RBA initiated a two-year Evaluation/Learning Process to examine the impact of rights-based and non-rights-based approaches to development (RBAs and non-RBAs) on the multidimensional experience of poverty and the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The learning process framework is based on the three underlying principles of participation, inclusion and the fulfilment of obligation.

The broad objectives of the RBA Learning Process were to:
• Generate substantive and meaningful comparison, between selected non-RBAs and RBAs to development;
• Assess the relative impact of the approaches and determine why difference in impact exists, if it does;
• Assess, where possible, factors which have led to successes or challenges, and which can inform development of future projects.

The Learning Process took, as a sample, three countries: Bangladesh, Malawi and Peru. Seven case studies were developed, covering seven RBA and seven non-RBA projects, representing a number of different sectors/issues. Six NGOs, with their local partners, were involved. The aim was to cover a wide geographical, social, political and cultural spread to assess whether successes in particular circumstances were also replicated across a wide range of RBA and non-RBA work.pdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/Inter_Agency_rba.pdf

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