Human rights

Rights-based approaches

Donor approaches to promoting human rights and rights-based approaches (RBAs) to development are growing areas, and a diverse range of tools and guidance has been produced. Approaches vary between different donors and NGOs, including the extent to which rights-based approaches are integrated across development work. Some donors place emphasis on the obligations of 'duty bearers', or those with corresponding duties to promote and protect human rights. This page provides an introduction to the guidance and practical tools development agencies and NGOs have developed to assist with rights-based approaches and with analysing rights, poverty and power.

Page contents

Where is a good place to start?

This paper provides an accessible overview of rights-based approaches to development. It considers the range of approaches being developed by different donors, and argues that there is a common conceptual core.

Piron, L-H., 2004, 'Rights-based Approaches and Bilateral Aid Agencies: More than a Metaphor?', IDS Bulletin, vol. 36, no. 1.
Are human rights-based approaches to development merely a 'metaphor', or is a consensus emerging among bilateral donors around the relevance of human rights for aid? This article, based on research by the Overseas Development Institute, illustrates emerging commonalities among bilateral aid agencies. However, donors need to make greater efforts to internalise human rights and to ensure that human rights influence mainstream international development thinking. 
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This paper argues that the most essential element of rights-based approaches is that they should change power relations at all levels, including scrutinising the power relations between donors and those they work with or aim to help.

Nyamu-Musembi, C. and Cornwall, A., 2004, 'What is the Rights-based Approach all about? Perspectives from International Development Agencies', IDS Working Paper no. 234, Institute for Development Studies, Brighton
Are rights-based approaches transformative, or merely a new development fashion? What are the implications for donors of adopting them? This discussion paper by the Institute of Development Studies analyses rights-based approaches in international Non-governmental Organisations, multilateral and bilateral donors. Done well, these approaches can help agencies better achieve development outcomes by moving them away from unreflective patronage to better partnership with and empowerment of beneficiaries.
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Participation and accountability

Many rights-based approaches involve an understanding that denials of human rights are caused by inequality, discrimination and exclusion, created by unequal power relations. For these RBAs, efforts to realise rights therefore need to rest on an understanding of how unequal power causes rights denials and how this is institutionalised through values, rules and practices. This approach involves a need to change institutions and power relations through enhancing participation, inclusion and accountability, and through compelling organisations to fulfil their rights obligations. This section provides frameworks designed to analyse power relations and develop approaches for achieving rights through institutional change.

Here, RBAs differ from international human rights law, which sees rights denials as caused by the unwillingness or inability of governments to meet their human rights obligations. Rights-based approaches also emphasise the primary obligations of governments. However, they also examine the role of other actors in society, and use analysis of power relations and social and political change. The human rights law perspective is examined in the section on the Human Rights Legal Framework in this topic guide.

DFID has developed 'Participatory Rights Assessment Methodologies' or PRAMs, a tool for putting the rights agenda into practice. PRAMs aim to support government, civil society and other individuals in understanding their rights and obligations, and in creating the institutional change necessary to achieve rights.

Brocklesby, M.A. and Crawford, S., 2004, 'Operationalising the Rights Agenda: DFID's Participatory Rights Assessment Methodologies (PRAMs) Project', Centre for Development Studies, Swansea
How successful have rights-based approaches (RBA) been in reducing poverty? How can RBAs best be operationalised? This study, by the Department for International Development (DFID), assesses the success of its Participatory Rights Assessment Methodologies (PRAMs). PRAMs are intended to create institutional change to ensure participation, inclusion and obligation to all human rights for all people. The study argues that PRAMs re-enforce institutional learning: rights based development brings positive changes in the relationships between people at all levels and stages in development.
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Brocklesby, M.A., Crawford, S., Harding, M., 2005, 'Making Rights Real: The Politics of Engagement', Workshop Report, 23-24 March 2005, London
Rights based development is a people-centred approach to development based on the norms and standards of international human rights law. This workshop, organised by CR2 Social Development and Centre for Development Studies, University of Wales, advocates a move beyond initial rights-based frameworks by focusing instead on the ‘politics of engagement’. Donors and civil society actors should recognise the political nature of development and redefine their strategy of engagement through participation in new networks and alliances to fulfil basic rights and poverty reduction goals.
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Alsop, R. (ed.), 2005, Power, Rights, and Poverty: Concepts and Connections, World Bank, Washington DC
Discussions about power and rights are increasingly taking place in international development agencies, but the activity of those organisations does not reflect this. This report brings together background materials and discussions from a working meeting between the World Bank and DFID that focussed on understanding the conceptual underpinnings and relationships among power, rights and poverty reduction.
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Rights and citizenship

Understandings of rights and citizenship in development have evolved from what was initially a more instrumental approach to participation. 'Citizenship' has entered the development vocabulary during the last decade as part of the return to a focus on state institutions and good governance. Unlike the earlier term 'beneficiary', citizen connotes someone with rights rather than someone receiving welfare or buying services. This shift highlights the multiple lines of accountability between state and citizen, donor and recipient.

A common debate about both 'rights' and 'citizenship' is whether these are genuinely universal concepts that make sense for people in all parts of the world or are examples of Western imposition.

Kabeer N. 2005 'The Search for 'Inclusive' Citizenship: Meanings and Expressions in an Inter-connected World' in (ed) N. Kabeer, Inclusive Citizenship: Meanings and Expressions, Zed Books, London
What does ‘citizenship’ mean for excluded groups around the world? What do these meanings tell us about the goal of building inclusive societies? This introductory chapter from ‘Inclusive Citizenship: Meanings and Expressions’ outlines some of the values and meanings associated with citizenship. It considers how debates around citizenship, rights and duties can be interpreted in the light of these values, and discusses the emergence of an explicit rights-based approach in the development agenda.
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The following study describes DFID 's experiences of a rights and citizenship approach to poverty reduction in Peru.

Lewis, M., et. al. (eds), 2005, 'Alliances Against Poverty: DFID's Experience in Peru 2000-2005', Department for International Development (DFID), London
Addressing the underlying causes of inequality and exclusion requires donors to engage with political processes. Alliances involving state and society must be strengthened and donors need to play an active role in them. This report from the Department of International Development (DFID) reviews the application of rights-based approaches through the concept of active citizenship in a middle-income country context. For the first time it tackles questions of legitimacy, potential and accountability of donor engagement from a donor’s perspective.
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Earle, L., 2008, ‘Social Movements and Citizenship: Some Challenges for INGOs’, International Training and Research Centre (INTRAC), Oxford
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.
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Rights-based approaches tools and guidelines

Donors are experimenting with a variety of approaches to rights-based development. The following aspects are found in some, but not all, RBAs:

• Development assistance should contribute to the realisation of human rights, based on international human rights standards
• Human rights standards and principles inform all levels of programming
• Rights-based approaches support both rights-holders to claim their rights and duty bearers to meet their obligations to protect and promote them.

Filmer-Wilson, E., 2005, 'Practical Guidance to Implementing Rights Based Approaches, Human Rights Analyses for Poverty Reduction and Human Rights Benchmarks' Report prepared for the Department for International Development (DFID), London
To what extent are human rights being incorporated into development programmes? How can a human rights-based approach best be developed? This report, by the UK Government Department for International Development (DFID), brings together material collated from development organisations in four key areas: practical guidance on rights-based approaches, including case studies and checklists; analytical tools which feature human rights for understanding the causes and characteristics of poverty; human rights impact assessment; and human rights indicators to measure development progress.
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RBA reviews are intended for reorienting existing activities and for designing new programmes with a rights-based approach. The following draft guidelines incorporate the Common Understanding on RBA for all UN agencies produced in May 2003, and the two-page UN checklist for analysing human rights situations and appropriate responses.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), 2003, 'Human Rights-Based Reviews of UNDP Programmes. Working Guidelines'.  UNDP, Geneva
The UN operates a Common Understanding of the human rights-based approach to development (HRBA). This United Nations Development Programme paper sets out working guidelines for a human rights-based review of UNDP country offices and projects based on the Common Understanding. The guidelines aim to support reviews at each phase of programming, strengthen existing activities and assist in the design of new programmes from a human rights perspective.
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Human Rights-Based Approach Checklist
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The former United Nations Commission on Human Rights emphasised that good governance and human rights are mutually reinforcing.  The following handbook provides guidance on how human rights principles can be incorporated into governance reforms and examples of how such reforms have successfully promoted human rights.

OHCHR, 2007, ‘Good Governance Practices for the Protection of Human Rights’, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, New York and Geneva
How can governance reforms contribute to the protection of human rights? How are governance and human rights linked in the areas of democratic institutions, state service delivery, the rule of law and anti-corruption measures? This publication from the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights uses 21 case studies from around the world to show how governance interventions by a range of social and institutional actors can implement human rights principles. Good governance and human rights are mutually reinforcing.
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While human rights are broader in scope than the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), they share common principles, such as participation, empowerment and dignity for all people.  The following UNDP paper looks at how a human-rights based approach can contribute to the fulfilment of the MDGs.

UNDP, 2007, 'Human Rights and the Millennium Development Goals: Making the Link', Primer, United Nations Development Programme, Oslo
While policies of aid agencies increasingly emphasise the connection between human rights and development, in practice the concepts often remain on separate, parallel tracks. This paper from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) provides guidance for development practitioners to link human rights with the design and implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The human rights framework can help achieve the MDGs in an equitable, just and sustainable manner and ground development work within a universal set of values.
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The following are guidelines for rights analyses as a basis for country strategies or programmes from the bilateral donors SIDA and NORAD.

SIDA, 2003, 'Country Strategy Development: Guide for Country Analysis from a Democratic Governance and Human Rights Perspective', Swedish International Development Agency, Stockholm 
Democratic governance has become a priority in donor policies. This guide, published by the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (SIDA), aims to assist the analysis of country strategies from the perspective of democratic governance and human rights and guide donor intervention. It is important to adapt to the reality of each country and to guarantee synergy between the priorities of partner countries and donors.
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NORAD, 2001, 'Handbook in Human Rights Assessment. State Obligations, Awareness and Empowerment', Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, Oslo
How do you enhance the human rights profile of development programmes? How do you identify the need for human rights impact analysis? This handbook by Norad assists the user in addressing human rights concerns by recording the potential, planned or likely positive or negative effects of the programme under review. It is not a manual on how to conduct a full-scale human rights impact analysis but a guide to identifying the need for such analysis.
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Human rights analyses of poverty assess the power relations between rights-holders and duty-bearers, in order to identify capacity gaps. There is currently a lack of standard tools for this purpose. The following tool was produced out of experiences with a specific UN project.

Theis, J., 2004, 'Promoting Rights-Based Approaches: Experiences and Ideas from Asia and the Pacific', Save the Children, Stockholm
What is a rights-based approach (RBA)? How can rights-based programming be translated into practical project and programme tools? This manual from Save the Children Sweden (SCS) is a collection of articles introducing RBAs and presenting practical advice on application, case studies and innovative tools for implementing RBAs. It concludes with a list of web resources on rights-based approaches.
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Save the Children, 2002, 'Child Rights Programming: How to Apply Rights-Based Approaches in Programming', Save the Children, Stockholm
What is the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and how can it be used in development programming? This handbook from Save the Children demonstrates how the CRC can be used as the basis for the project cycle and efforts for advocacy and change. It promotes the Child Rights Programming (CRP) approach and provides guidance about how to use this approach in practice.
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CARE, undated, Care Human Rights Initiative: Basic Introduction to Human Rights and Rights-based Programming', Facilitators' Guidebook, CARE
This manual provides a guide for planning a rights-based programming workshop. It is designed for relief and development workers with basic facilitation skills although no prior experience of rights based programming is required.
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Implications of RBA for development agencies

This section provides commentary on the implications of rights-based approaches for the ways in which development agencies work. The rapid expansion of rights-based approaches among donors and NGOs has led to considerable debate about whether the approaches can make rights a reality for poor and excluded people. The following resources demonstrate that in order to have an impact, a rights-based approach must focus on improving relationships and processes as well as outcomes. This involves respecting and responding to partners' priorities, and being transparent and consistent about donor's own decision-making processes.

Uvin, P., 2004, 'A Rights-Based Approach to Development', Chapter 6, in Human Rights and Development, Kumarian Press, Bloomfield, pp. 122-166
How can the rights-based approach (RBA) change how development is 'done', and help practitioners do things better on the ground? RBAs have often been seen as primarily rhetorical and as offering little in hard content. This chapter from 'Human Rights and Development' outlines what the RBA means in practice, and how this differs from current practice. It argues that human rights, when deeply integrated with the practice of development, can be a powerful addition and correction to the development enterprise.
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Foresti, M., Booth, D. and O'Neill, T., 2006, 'Aid Effectiveness and Human Rights: strengthening the implementation of the Paris Declaration', Overseas Development Institute, London
How can a human rights perspective be integrated into the aid effectiveness agenda set out in the Paris Declaration (PD)? This paper from the Overseas Development Institute provides an analytical framework for applying a practical human rights framework to the 2005 Paris Declaration of the High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (PD), arguing this would strengthen its implementation and address its shortcomings. In particular, it recommends strategies to integrate human rights thinking into the monitoring and evaluation process of the PD.
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Eyben, R., 2004, 'Relationships Matter for Supporting Change in Favour of Poor People', Lessons for Change in Policy and Organisations No. 8, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton
What role does influencing play in making pro poor change take place? Are current international donors spending too much time managing their budgets and not enough time managing relationships? This paper by the Institute of Development Studies examines the role of organisational learning in improving the performance of international development organisations. A number of approaches are identified for agencies to influence processes that lead to positive changes in the lives of poor people.
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There may be a danger, however, to complete reliance on rights-based approaches to justify development interventions.  The ability of rights discourse to move issues up the political agenda varies from issue to issue. The following paper argues that for some aspects of injustice, exclusion and marginalisation, other types of approaches may be more effective in achieving outcomes.    

Grugel, J. and Piper, N., 2009, ‘Do Rights Promote Development?’, Global Social Policy, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 79-98
How do human rights impact on development? Are rights-based agendas useful for addressing issues of social and economic exclusion experienced by the poor? This article from Global Social Policy suggests that while the promotion of rights has become intertwined with development, the evidence of their effect on development policy is mixed. Many rights are difficult to put onto the agenda of states. Other arguments for development and justice are therefore also required, alongside sustained theoretical reflection on and engagement with the state.
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What other resources are available on the GSDRC?

• Rights monitoring and indicators section of this guide.

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