BRD Theory of Change

June 14, 2021 BRD-AF 0 Comments

BRD believes that poor and marginalised people, regardless of geographical location, race, color, and religion, have potential capacity and knowledge to overcome extreme poverty and enjoy their rights. Sensitizing people to their rights and organizing them around solidarity and campaigning will inspire them to seek right- based alternative to confront and challenge the structural causes of poverty and injustices.

Our role is to empower people living in poverty by enhancing the capacity of the grassroots and community-based organizations, to promote their rights to overcome injustice and enjoy their deserved rights. HRBA programming is a fundamental pillar of our effort to build a society that is just and free from poverty, where everyone enjoys life with dignity. The concept of our social change theory is based on our understanding that most people are socially and economically poor and marginalized.

We believe social exclusion is an outcome of multiple human rights violations, and it is about exclusion from and unequal access to and control over resources; abilities to claim rights; and control over their own lives. The rich and powerful often deny the rights of the poor and exclude them to get maximum control over productive resources and to build more wealth.

Our process of social change will be founded on the HRBA principles and our rights-based development programming. We will ensure that our empowerment and awareness building programme engage both people living in poverty and duty bearers to facilitate dialogue. We will identify, analyze and confront power basis that exclude and marginalize women and man, and in general the poor.

We will work in partnership with local CSO partners to harness local knowledge, skills and reach larger constituents; and with other stakeholders and the central level to leverage and influence policies, decisions, and to promote the state’s commitment to human rights and sustainable development, to facilitate setting the ground for sustainable change. We will advance people’s access to information, participation in decision-making and control over resources. We will also monitor, assess social change, document and share lessons to improve our theory of change.

BRD will endeavor to facilitate collective action and voices of the local civil society and the general public through participatory process , influencing policies and behavioral change to confront harmful cultural practices by providing quality and relevant information. Enabling requires listening, showing solidarity in words and actions, supporting and collaborating in partnerships without imposing top-down solutions; and acting as a respectful ally. It can also mean expressing a view if that increases impact and expands political space and voice for partners and allies. Transformational change means projecting our vision of fairness, equity and rights. It means the target communities and local CSOs we work with acquiring or taking power, to realize their rights with dignity. It means people and communities, particularly women and marginalized people gaining confidence, capabilities and hope, in the place of apathy and exclusion. Transformational change also means structural change. Changing the policies and practices of governments, institutions and businesses, to improve equality and inclusion, and to help people rise out of poverty.