Principles into Practice - Handicap International

Principles into Practiceon municipal budgets, which in turn makes theseinstitutions more transparent and efficient.Innovation process: The one-year process is aninnovation in building citizenship for excludedgroups through an exercise in citizen participationin local governance. The process of planning linkedterritories, strengthened development processes,and facilitated the practice of rights education.Suggestions for building on the learning: Thetraining of experts from other institutions andauthorities, and the materials produced will helpreplicate the process. The new legal frameworksalso guarantee the sustainability of the budgetaryprocess. More systematic processes that integratethe interventions of different institutions are neededto sustain processes of ownership and changes inattitudes, conduct, discourse and behaviours.2.12 APPLYING THECAUSAL-RESPONSIBILITYANALYSIS TOOLCARE RwandaContext: In its long-range strategic plan for2002-2006, CARE Rwanda began emphasizinghuman rights and diversity as core values andright-based approaches, civil societystrengthening and advocacy as central to itsstrategy for reducing poverty and advancing socialjustice. To make the shift away from needs-based,opportunistic programming to more holistic,principled programming grounded in RBA, variousintegration processes were undertaken. One wasthe holistic analysis of the root causes ofeconomic insecurity affecting the poorest andmost food-insecure province of Rwanda -Gikongoro. As a participatory and planningprocess, the causal-responsibility analysis (CRA)tool sought to identify fundamental and specificcauses of economic insecurity, general humanrights concerns, responsible actors and theirresponsibilities. Through this process, root causesrelated to (a) marginalization, discrimination, andsocial injustice affecting the most vulnerablesegments of society and (b) the norms, politicalsystems and structures that perpetuate the powerimbalances were elucidated. The exercise helpedCARE, in partnership with others, to influence theexisting systems and structures in favour of thepoor and create opportunities to promote thefulfillment of human rights responsibilities by keyactors. Operationally, the analysis was expected toevolve a rights-based programme approach versusa project approach for the province.The initiative and its application: The causalresponsibilityanalysis tool, as illustrated, looks ateach level of causation from fundamental tointermediate to immediate in order to identify boththe gaps from a human rights perspective in acommunity’s conditions and the actors at differentlevels who have some capacity to address thesegaps. Within a human rights framework, capacitiesbecome legal responsibilities for governments andmoral responsibilities for all. As such, it does notignore the range of responsible actors, fromindividual household members and traditionalleaders to international civil society organizationsand multinational corporations. The appointed CAREprogramme team, in collaboration with governmentauthorities and civil society representatives,decided target groups, geographic coverage, andother key aspects for the analytical exercise whichthen took place with the involvement of themarginalized groups in four districts, one per week,in the province.Causal AnalysisOutcomesImmediatecausesIntermediatecausesFundamentalcausesCausal-Responsibility AnalysisUnrealizedRightsWho IsResponsible(How/ To WhatExtent)?What Are They Ways toDoing (+ or -)and Why?PromoteResponsibleActionResults to date: The exercise produced usefulinformation on the concerns of the mostmarginalised and on the fundamental causes oftheir marginalisation relating to power relations.The exercise influenced decision-makers bycreating an opportunity for them to discuss issueswith communities and to listen to people’s views,even when discriminatory attitudes were revealedthroughout the process. Importantly, the exerciseraised awareness of rights and responsibilities,although not without some discomfort, givensensitivities around underlying issues. Riskassessment and management should be madepart of the approach.Innovation process: For staff, integrating ananalysis of human rights and responsibility into anexploration of underlying causes of poverty wasitself innovative. Moreover, a participatory processthat engages a wide range of responsible actorsimplies a built-in process of awareness raising anddialogue around rights and responsibilities whichhas not been a typical focus or intervention forCARE. A central feature to the tool is the jointengagement of both rights holders and dutybearers, opening the space for honest discussiontowards the emergence of shared goals.Page 31