Social Movements and Grassroots Groups

Solidarity Visit Participants, Thailand 2003

Social movements and grassroots groups are the main actors in people-centered policy change and in its implementation in the economic, social, cultural, civil and political fields. Any work on economic, social and cultural rights needs to be closely linked to these important constituent and community bases. The importance of social movements and grassroots groups in affecting change and the realization of ESC rights has been recognized since the early stages of formation of ESCR-Net. Special efforts and resources have been allocated to ensure full presence and participation of these actors in the different structures and actions of the network, and to ensure that the network is shaped to address and advance their advocacy needs and interests.

Towards this end, a Working Group on Social Movements and Grassroots Organizations has been formed within ESCR-Net. Growing out of ESCR-Net's inaugural conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2003, participants agreed to form a Working Group comprised of social movements and grassroots groups focused on their needs in advancing ESC rights as a space to build joint actions and projects. The Working Group seeks to ensure that social movements and grassroots organizations, which traditionally face different challenges than other members of ESCR-Net (mainly NGOs or INGOs), are able to participate effectively and take advantage of the capacity and potential offered by ESCR-Net.

Immediately prior to the start of the inaugural conference, representatives of various social movements had the opportunity to take part in an important exposure program - the Solidarity Visits - organized by the Assembly of the Poor (one of the major social movements in Asia) with the collaboration of other Thai local organizations and ESCR-Net. The visits enabled groups to witness firsthand and share local struggles for ESCR; exchange grassroots strategies to advance these struggles; and build solidarity.

Subsequently, a number of consultations were held with the Working Group in the lead up to the 2nd Solidarity Visit and Social Movements and Grassroots Gathering in Kenya in late 2008. This Gathering provided the opportunity to broaden the base of organizations in the Working Group, support mutual-learning, strengthen solidarity and support, and organize a second set of Solidarity Visits to learn from, and stand in solidarity with, Kenyan social movements in their struggle. The Working Group also developed a common Action Plan to guide its future work, and highlighted in particular the need for future Mutual-Learning workshops focused on issues of common concern.

In Kenya, members of the Working Group identified the issue of land, territory and natural resources as one of their priority areas of concern. The need to find further spaces for sharing and mutual-learning became a central objective. Consequently, the Working Group will hold a 3rd Solidarity Visit and Human Rights Mutual-Learning Workshop in late 2010 in Brazil. Hosted by the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) and Terra de Direitos, the Visits will focus on the right to land and will provide an opportunity for the groups to further learn from each other on this issue as well as to advance conversations on strategies for solidarity and mutual support.

Specific activities identified by the group to undertake moving ahead include:

• Mutual-learning and ESCR Manuals. Development of accessible information and/or compilation of training manuals on economic, social and cultural rights issues for community trainers.
• Manual of Best Practices. Collection of experiences and practices of grassroots organizations and social movements used to address certain needs and obstacles.
• Solidarity Visits. Facilitate solidarity visits that would allow grassroots and social movements to witness firsthand and share with other groups their strategies, skills and organizing practices for implementing ESCR. These visits may be linked to specific actions of support for a particular movement and/or to training and capacity-building.
• Solidarity Actions. Develop an effective structure for participating groups to gain international solidarity in support of individual cases a group faces or a campaign they wish to undertake.
• Translation and Interpretation. Help to link groups with translators and interpreters to overcome the big obstacle presented by language which in many cases isolates groups and makes it more difficult for them to lead their own advocacy efforts internationally.
• Training. Train groups and movements in human rights related research and documentation and to monitor indicators.
• Video Documentary Project. ESCR-Net Secretariat, in collaboration with the Media Mobilizing Project and the Social Movement Working Group, is advancing the Social Movement Working Group Documentary Project. The main objectives of the project are to (i) create a documentary tool for mutual learning on common challenges faced by social movements (particularly connecting local struggles to the changing international context), effective human rights strategies (and related lessons), and successful examples of or guidance for beneficial collaborations;  and (ii) visually represent an emerging network of social movements and grassroots groups using the human rights, particularly ESCR, framework, to assist in further organizing efforts. The experiences and expertise of members present at the Social Movements and Grassroots Groups Gathering in Kenya form the content of this documentary. The documentary will be ready for a worldwide release soon.  For more information, contact Niko Lusiani at nlusiani@escr-net.org.

Fundraising efforts are underway to move these actions forward.