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Rights-based Approaches to Development in Odisha
Two strategies employed by non-governmental organisations that are key to a rights-based approach to development are examined, ensuring the active engagement of state duty-bearers and building alliances at multiple levels. The aim is to understand how sustainable alliances between NGOs, the state, communities, and other stakeholders are built at the grass-roots level. The findings indicate the importance of ensuring the active participation of communities in development activities, especially through continuous interactions with government duty-bearers and networking with different grass-roots groups.
The interpretations and translations of interviews, group discussions, and observations in this article are entirely those of the authors.
The authors sincerely thank all participants in the study.
The role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in rights-based approaches to development has been the subject of widespread debate in discourses on international development. This article analyses two strategies employed by NGOs in Odisha that are key to a rights-based approach to development: ensuring state duty-bearers’ active engagement and alliance-building at multiple levels.
The rationale behind this article is Sengupta’s (2007) argument that although the state is the primary duty-bearer, it cannot deliver rights on its own without taking into account the actions of other duty-bearers (with moral obligations) towards fulfilling human rights. Therefore, the active engagement of non-state organisations in development activities is crucial for ensuring people’s rights to entitlements.
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