The two members of "Sutyajnik" were invited to the THIRD GLOBAL LINKING & LEARNING PROGRAMME ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS (1-10 December 2004, Alcochete, Portugal)

Eradicating poverty is one of the biggest human development challenges of today. However global poverty cannot be eradicated by isolated projects alone. It can only be achieved through the adoption and implementation of consistent policies rooted in human rights, at the national, regional and international levels.

Human rights provide a framework to tackle the root causes of poverty. Increasing awareness of human rights can strengthen and invigorate efforts for social change, as people learn what obligations and commitments their governments have made to ensure the realization of human dignity for all.

The Linking & Learning Programme, organised for the third year, aims to equip selected participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to integrate human rights in their daily work. The programme is aimed at activists from social and economic justice movements and at those working directly with persons living in poverty.

The programme is implemented by Dignity International, in partnership with the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia), the International Human Rights Internship Program,) and the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net).

AIM OF THE PROGRAMME
The overall goal of this programme is to strengthen the knowledge and skills of those working to empower people living in extreme poverty through the adoption of a human rights framework and thereby contribute to build the capacity of grassroots movements to better promote and defend basic ESC rights.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME
§ Provide organisations and grassroots activists from social and economic justice movements with knowledge and a better understanding of ESC rights and equip them with the skills necessary to become active in promoting and defending ESC rights;

§ Engage in a process of enriching the meaning and content of ESC rights as the grassroots participants collectively bring their on the ground realities to the human rights dialogue;

§ Provide a space for the exchange of experiences and ideas in the area of ESC rights and facilitate, where necessary, collaborative action across regions through appropriate follow-up after the learning programme.

PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS
The programme will bring together twenty "catalysts" from the different world regions. These persons will be in a position to spread knowledge and skills they have acquired from the programme and to introduce/implement what they have acquired within their own organisations or community. These participants will be drawn from development organisations, and groups fighting for social and economic justice. Priority will be given to women and those coming directly from the grassroots organisations.

The information from the web site of the "Dignity Intrenational" (www.dignityinternational.org)