ATD Fourth World

Description

ATD Fourth World, All Together in Dignity, is an international movement working to end chronic poverty through a human rights approach. It was founded in 1957 by Joseph Wresinski, a priest, among families in an emergency housing camp near Paris, France. It has no religious or political affiliation and is active in more than 35 countries.

The movement works alongside people living in poverty rather than simply delivering aid to them, designing projects together with the families concerned. It runs programmes to widen access to knowledge, culture and education, including a worldwide Street Library activity and the Tapori children’s network. It also supports the right to family life, decent work and social well-being, and works to change how society views people in poverty.

ATD Fourth World campaigns for recognition that poverty is a violation of human rights, and pushes for the voice of people in poverty to be heard in international institutions. It holds consultative status at the United Nations, UNESCO, UNICEF and the International Labour Organization, and participatory status at the Council of Europe, and it maintains a permanent delegation to the European Union.

The organization has teams or active members across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe, and its call for the eradication of poverty led the United Nations to mark 17 October as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.