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Social Movements and Citizenship: Some Challenges for INGOs

Author: Lucy Earle
Date: 2008
Size: 6 pages (100 KB)

Access full text: available online

Summary

How can social movements in developing countries use concepts of citizenship to demand basic rights from the state? This report by the International NGO Training and Research Centre examines a social movement focusing on low-income housing in São Paulo. In Brazil, the concept of citizenship is linked to service provision. Lack of access to basic services is regarded as having 'limited citizenship'. Framing basic rights as 'citizenship rights' is a powerful weapon in social movements' state-focused campaigning. International donors can best support social movements through flexible approaches that fund communications and training.

São Paulo’s Movimento Sem Teto represents those who live in inadequate conditions. In Brazil housing is a right, enshrined in the constitution, and São Paulo’s housing movement is large, organised and highly visible. It works within the context of citizenship rights, set out in the national constitution, rather than universal human rights. It is clear who the duty-bearer is when rights are set out in national constitutions. Brazilian social movements argue that the state is failing in its duty to ensure constitutional rights, including housing, for millions of its poorest citizens.

Using citizenship rights to frame a social movement’s claims for housing has legal implications. Social movements identify the state as the ‘enemy of the poor’ and challenge it through the legal system. They also use radical, illegal types of protest, such as occupying abandoned buildings, to highlight the state’s own ‘illegality’ in allowing millions to live in poor housing while better quality property remains unoccupied. Such protests seek to gain media attention and force the state to engage with them.

Social movements’ radical nature can bring them into opposition with the government. Their use of theoretically illegal protest can lead to confrontation with the police and legal system. This can prove problematic for international NGOs otherwise keen to support their work. Social movements’ focus on citizenship rights has other implications for potential international donors:

• As they target the state, social movements have become highly politicised, but still rely on the state for investments in housing and urban infrastructure.
• Social movements emphasise their independence from the state, but some have strong informal ties with left-wing parties. This leaves them open to accusations of scheming against the government.
• Many NGOs are uncertain about funding organisations with links to political parties. In Brazil, massive inequality is a result of state negligence and outright discrimination, and these are political issues. Some political parties share the same approach to these problems as some social movements.

NGOs must respect the flexible, reactive way that social movements work. Funding rigid programme activities may not be appropriate, but NGOs can support social movements by: