To empower people to live the Social Teachings of the Church thereby building on their capacity to do things for themselves and others.
Siyabhabha Trust strives to empower the Most Marginalised Citizens to unlock their own potential and become self reliant as individuals and communities, through facilitating knowledge and skills transfer which enable them to access and mobilize resources, using methodologies underpinned by the Social Teachings of the Church.
Livelihood and Rights Based Approach to Development
Livelihoods approaches provide a way of analysing and understanding the web of poverty and people’s mechanisms for dealing with it. It is :
- A Framework – for understanding the world we live and work in;
- A Methodology – a way of working and doing analysis;
- A Programme design process– a way of identifying and designing projects or strategies;
- An M&E system – a way of checking our progress and impact of our projects.
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MAJOR THEMES IN CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING.
LINK OF RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF LIFE:
The “social” – the human construction of the world – is not “secular” in the Sense of being outside of God’s plan, but is intimately involved with the dynamic of the Reign of God. Therefore faith, development and justice are necessarily linked closely together.
- DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON:
Made in the image of God, women and men have a pre-eminent place in the social order, with inalienable rights, both political –legal and socio-economic. The fundamental question to ask about social development is: What is happening to people.
A preferential love should be shown to the poor, whose needs and rights are given special attention in God’s eyes. “Poor” is understood to refer to the economically disadvantaged who, as a consequence of their status, suffer oppression and powerlessness.
- LINK OF LOVE AND JUSTICE:
Love of neighbour is an absolute demand of justice, because charity manifests itself in actions and structures which respect human dignity, protect human rights and facilitate human development. T promote justice is to transform structures which block love.
- PROMOTION OF THE COMMON GOOD:
The common good is the sum total of all those conditions of social living – economic, political, cultural – which make it possible for women and men to readily and fully achieve the perfection of their humanity. Individual rights are always experienced within the context of promotion of the common good.
Democratic participation in decision-making is the best way to respect the dignity and liberty of people. The government is the instrument by which people co-operate together in order to achieve the common good.
The economy is for the people and thee resources of the earth are to be equitably shared by all. Human work is the key to contemporary social questions. Labour takes precedence over both capital and technology in the production process. Just wages and the rights of workers to organise are to be respected.
All property has a “social mortgage”. All people are to be respected and share the resources of the earth. By our work we are co-creators in the continuing development of the earth.
We belong to one human family and as such have mutual obligations to promote the development of all peoples across the world. In particular, the rich nations have responsibilities towards the poor nations and the structures of the international order must reflect justice.
Peace is the fruit of justice and is dependant upon right order among humans and among nations. The arms race must cease and progressive disarmament take place if the future is be secure. In order to promote peace and the conditions of peace, an effective international authority is necessary. Development is the new name for peace.
Integral development is about the promotion of the good of all people and the whole person. This means that development is about people not things. The focus of development is on people, not buildings or projects.
No one should be excluded from development for any reason, such as religion, culture or race.
Development is concerned with both the spiritual and material progress of all people.
The principle of subsidiarity means allowing people to make whatever decisions they can for themselves and only referring decisions to a higher authority if people are unable to make these decisions.
Conflict will only end when two things happen.
Firstly, when each group or person accepts that they are not passive victims, but active participants in the conflict, and so have to accept some responsibility for the conflict.
Secondly, when each group or person is willing to forgive the other and to find a way to resolve the conflict.
This is Reconciliation.
Reconciliation is not about revenge and retribution, but about a willingness to forgive and move on.
God created the world and gave it to us to look after.
This is a very important responsibility. What we do to the world today will affect the lives of our children in the world tomorrow.
The world’s environment is precious and can only take so much abuse.
It is our duty to protect and care for the environment we live in. We must make sure that we can give the world back to Good in the same condition that it was in when God gave it to us.
Livelihoods approaches provide a way of analysing and understanding the web of poverty and people’s mechanisms for dealing with it. It is :
We understand the three core elements of a livelihood to be:
Capabilities: abilities such as skills, knowledge, attitude and health status in the household;
Activities: things that people are doing, performing in the household to survive and be functional;
Resources (assets): things that the household has or possesses for them to survive or make a living.
We subscribe to the common working principles of livelihoods and rights approaches of:
- People centered – respect for human dignity is the paramount principle. Getting to know people first – they identify the selected issues they want to pursue and how this will be done.
- Address underlying root causes of poverty & social injustice – empowering people to take their own decisions vs. being passive objects of choices made on their behalf. Micro-meso-macro linkages and working at different levels above and below the household
- Address material condition & social position- service delivery as well as public policy engagement ad strengthening civil society structure
- Solidarity with poor & marginalised (MMPs)- not being neutral, taking the side of MMC’s – say, feel, do and carry the consequences.
- Address relationships & power – transformation, changing the status quo, having an impact on social position and confronting power. Adopting an empowerment vs. dependency model of development
- Clear & non-negotiable principles – should inspire and reflect own values – and be a yardstick of own level of accountability
Ongoing reflection and experiential learning – need space to reflect on structure, culture and systems as well as programmes. Not all parts of the organization change at the same pace – need “change agents” to guide commitment other parts of the organization.
