GLOBAL COOPERATION NEWSLETTERMay 2014

In this issue:
The Importance of Shame-proofing Social Protection
ICSW speaks up on the issue of older women and the Post-2015 Development
AgendaICSW regional elections
Useful resources and links
Featured article: The Importance of Shame-proofing Social Protection
by Robert Walker
Robert Walker is Professor of Social Policy at University of Oxford and Fellow of Green Templeton College, UK.
He has published twenty books, over fifty research reports and more than 150 academic articles and chapterson poverty, social security, and research methodology. Recently he led an international research projectfocusing on the individual and societal consequences of the shame experienced by people as a result ofexperiencing poverty. This research draws heavily on the work of a research team comprising Grace BantebyaKyomuhendo, Elaine Chase, SohailChoudhry, Erika Gubrium, IvarLødemel, JO Yongmie (Nicola), Leemamol
Mathew, AmonMwiine, Sony Pellissery and YAN Ming and was jointly funded by the UK Economic and Social
Research Council and Department for International Development

Poverty is not simply the lack of income but rather the multifarious
consequences of such a lack that are experienced simultaneously bypeople in poverty. Some consequences in later years serve toprolong poverty and thus become the causes, if not of poverty perse, then of its persistence. It is argued that the shame associatedwith poverty is one such consequence and that it is essential to takethis into account in the design and implementation of social
protection systems.
The shame of poverty
The Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen, has argued that shame lies at theofpoverty that is experienced by individuals, families and communities everywhere. While researchstudies,3,4,8offer strong supportive evidence that shame is an integral component of the lived
experience of poverty in settings as different, in terms of economic development and culturallegacy, as rural Uganda and India; urban China, Pakistan, South Korea and United Kingdom; andsmall town and urban Norway. Poverty was defined in the research with reference to local norms
and definitions, which meant that the degree of material deprivation experienced varied markedly.
It ranged, for example, from not owning a car in Norway to not being able to afford salt with which
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to season and preserve food in Uganda, from living in a brick-built house sometimes prone towater or sanitation.
The research shows that, despite mwhen living in poverty are very similar. They include: being a good parent, partner, kin-member
and citizen; making ends meet; having a good life; and shaping a better future for their children.
The reality in their lives, however, is that they are often unable ever to attain these aspirations
owing to a lack of income. Shame emerges as a ubiquitous constituent in the experience of poverty
arising from the failure of people to achieve even the most basic of their own aspirations, from theirinability to fulfil social expectations placed upon them by others, and from the sense of being
judged failures by others on account of their lack of resources.
The similarity of the experience of shame associated with poverty, despite different levels ofmaterial hardship, points to the validity of treating poverty as relative, with poverty thresholds set
in relation to local living standards. Poverty feels the same to people experiencing it irrespective ofits material manifestations. This similarity also offers the prospect of engaging in a meaningful
global debate about poverty that simultaneously embraces people affected by poverty in the richglobal North and in much less prosperous countries clustered in the global South.
The costs of shame
But why is shame important? Everybody has felt ashamed on occasion and knows how hurtful it
can be. Psychologists have talked of a psychic scar that refuses to heal. Imagine what shamemust be like if it is experienced every day and is caused by something over which one has little orno control. In this, shame differs profoundly from guilt. Guilt arises from things one has done andcan be assuaged by a change of behaviour. Shame, on the other hand, appertains to who one isand to what one has become. Moreover, shame, while internally felt, is externally imposed byothers: by the people one knows; the officials that one encounters; and by the politicians one
hears, who help to shape public opinion.
But, probably even more important, shame has social and personal consequences that are almost
invariably negative. Individuals respond to the shame associated with poverty in various ways.
They keep up appearances and pretend that everything is normal, which means living with the fearof being found out or shown up; shame increases the risk, too, of over-extending on finances andincurring bad debts. People in poverty typically reduce social contact so as to avoid experiencing
situations in which they are exposed to shame but they thereby denude their networks of support.
Sometimes, shame drives people into clinical depression, to substance abuse and even to suicide.
Shame divides society: the public rhetoric of deserving and undeserving reinforces the gap between
rich and poor and causes people in poverty to suspect their equals of dishonesty and depravity.
Shame saps self-esteem, erodes social capital and diminishes personal efficacy, raising thepossibility that it serves also to perpetuate poverty by reduci
themselves.
The shame experienced as a result of being in poverty is not solely an individual problem. It is
imposed by society. People living in poverty are dismissed as being worthless and lazy. They arecasually exploited as cheap labour and consistently blamed for the failures of the state and theweakness of the economy. Shame is often reinforced in the framing, structure and delivery ofsocial protection, as evidenced by policy analyses in each of the seven countries studied4. Labels
and concepts such as dependency, scrounger, workeffectively terms of abuse. Schemes, however well intentioned, that deny social protection
recipients voice and control are likely to be counterproductive, disempowering and demoralising;
they can do this, for example, through the application of overly complex rules and unaccountablediscretionary decisions, or by presuming incompetence, as conditional cash transfer schemes often
do. Under-resourced schemes, staffed by under-trained staff with poor administrative systems that
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inadvertently or deliberately impose high compliance costs on recipients, are commonplace andreinforce the negative image of welfare provision and the people that use it.
Sometimes the imposition of shame in the form of stigma is justified by policy makers andsupported by popular opinion. Both naming and shaming, and blaming and shaming are commonly
thought to be effective ways of policing access to welfare benefits and of changing and regulating
anti-social and self-destructive behaviour. However, such beliefs are based on two false
assumptions, namely, that poverty is the result of personal failings and behavioural deficiencies andthat shaming leads to positive changes in behaviour. In fact, global poverty is largely a structural
phenomenon caused by factors beyond individual control relating to the workings of the economy,
the mix of factors of production and the outcome of primary and secondary resource allocation.
Moreover, the scientific evidence is clear that shaming generally does not lead to constructive
behavioural change, even in situations where change would be possible.
Justice that is effective and inexpensive
Poverty-related shame has been neglected with global scientific and policy attention being focussed
elsewhere. The Millennium Development Goals drew attention to the importance of tacklingpoverty globally and to the importance of being able to measure progress. Measures based on
income and expenditure were comparatively simple to implement, while the multi-dimensional
nature of poverty and the importance of the sobeen recognised. It is highly probable that, by neglecting shame, global success in reducing thepain and social costs of poverty has been significantly overstated.
If policy makers and researchers have underplayed the salience of shame, people with the direct
experience of poverty have repeatedly underlined its importance when given the opportunity to do
so. ATD Fourth World is an international, non-governmental organisation committed to facilitatingthat the voices of people in poverty are heard. Global participation by people with direct
experience of poverty caused the organisation to recognise poverty as violence1. One participant, afear and sha

2.

It is not difficult to shame-proof social protection policies. Policymakers need only to ask
themselves how they would want to be treated. Even more effectively, they should be engaging
the people that they are striving to assist directly in the design of policy and its implementation,
asking them what they would welcome and what should be avoided. Indeed, the International
Labour Organisation Recommendation 202 on social protection floors means that the 185 member
governments are expected, as a5
. Furthermore, thegrowing body of international human-rights legislation appertaining to extreme poverty is evenmore insistent that governments, and society generally should accord respect to persons inpoverty. The 2013 resolution of the UN General Assembly on extreme poverty7 affirms the guiding
principles adopted by the UN Human Rights Council, which assert that:living in poverty must inform all public policies.
State agents and private individuals must respect the dignity of all, avoid stigmatization andprejudices, and recognize and support the efforts that those living in poverty are making to
6

The usual conundrum in policymaking that doing the right thing is more expensive for once does
not apply. Indeed if, as the research suggests, policies that promote dignity are more effective thanthose that do not, then shame-proofing is cheaper, better and just. This becomes self-evident only
when the negative personal and social consequences of the shame inherent in poverty arerecognised alongside the role of poorly designed, stigmatising policies in exacerbating such shame.
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Social protection is essential in the fight against poverty as an integral part of sustainable
development. But, it must be protection that is effective and cost-effective; therefore it must be
designed to promote human dignity.
1) ATD Fourth World (2013a) Ending the violence of extreme poverty - a must for sustainable
societies; Pierrelaye: International Movement ATD Fourth World; http://www.atdfourthworld.org/IMG/pdf/rio_updated_proposals.pdf.
2) ATD Fourth World (2013b) Towards Sustainable Development that Leaves No One Behind: The
challenge of the post-2015 agenda, New York: International ATD Fourth World Movement.
(p.6)3) Chase, E. and Bantebya, G. (2014) The Shame of Poverty: Global experiences, Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
4) Gubrium, E., Pellissery, S. and Lødemel, I. (2013) The Shame of It: Global perspectives on antipoverty policies, Bristol: Policy Press.
5) ILO (2012) Recommendation Concerning National Floors of Social Protection, adopted by the
Conference at its one hundred and first session, 14th June 2012. Geneva: ILO,
Recommendation 202.
6) UN (2012) Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, New York:
United Nations General Assembly Sixty-seventh session, Item 70 (b) of the provisional
agenda; A/67/278; http://daccess-ods.un.org/TMP/467728.637158871.html. p. 6
7) UN (2013) Resolution adopted by the General Assembly, 67/164. Human rights and extreme
poverty New York, United Nations General Assembly [on the report of the Third Committee(A/67/457/Add.2 and Corr.1)], General distribution: 13th March.(p. 3)8) Walker, R. (2014) The Shame of Poverty, Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Publication date:
25th June 2014.)
The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author and may not necessarily coincide with theopinions of the ICSW Management Committee.

ICSW speaks up on the issue of older women and the Post-2015 Development
AgendaICSW statement at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, March 2014
The International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) promotes gender equality for girls
and women of all ages. Older women are particularly disadvantaged in relation to poverty
and development
population, this must change.
The effect of rapid population ageing across the world is that we are entering into the era of thehan children under 10. By 2050,
there will be 2 billion older people in the planet, the majority of whom will be women - current
figures show that there are 100 women for every 84 men over the age of 60 1. For those over 80
years of age, there are 100 women for every 61 older men - and most of the older women will be

1Ageing in the 21st century: a celebration and challenge, chapter 1 page 27: UNFPA
and HelpAge International: London 2013
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living in developing countries2. This is why we must ensure that the voices of older women areheard and that their participation is facilitated in the development of the post 2015 framework.
Waccount poverty eradication, environmental sustainability, inequality, human rights and global
responsibility. Older women are contributors to sustainable development and poverty eradication.
Lifetime inequalities of income, education, employment, health, disability and gender are likely toincrease with age and must be recognised. Discrimination on the basis of gender and age is stillwidespread in all regions of the world.
Therefore to ensure that the postinclusive of older women along with others and addresses the rights and needs of girls and womenof all ages, we insist that population dynamics, including the global population ageing of
women, must be taken into account across all goals, targets and indicators for the post2015 sustainable development framework to be effective and legitimate.
The ICSW supports universal social protection, considering it a crucial element of people-centred
development and an important enabling factor conducive to protecting human rights, developing
human potential and reducing income inequalities. In that light we consider Recommendation No.
202 of the International Labour Conference concerning national floors of social protection, adopted
unanimously in mid-June 2012 by the ILO member States and social partner organizations, to be
an important step forward toward universalism in the provision of social protection.
ILO document GB.316/INS/5/1 summarizes that path-breaking recommendation as follows:
Recommendation No. 202 provides guidance to Members to establish - in accordance with national
circumstances - as quickly as possible and maintain their social protection floors comprising basicsocial security guarantees which together secure effective access to goods and services defined asnecessary at the national level. National social protection floors should comprise at least thefollowing social security guarantees:
access to essential health care for all, including maternity care;basic income security for children, providing access to nutrition, education, care and anyother necessary goods and services;
basic income security for persons in active age who are unable to earn sufficient income, inparticular in cases of sickness, unemployment, maternity and disability; andbasic income security for older persons.
According to the Recommendation, countries should monitor progress in implementing social
protection floors and achieving other objectives of national social security extension strategies. Thisshould include regularly convening national consultations to assess progress and discuss policies forthe further horizontal and vertical extension of social security.
We make the following recommendations to UN Member States:
The post-2015 sustainable development framework must be human-rights-based for all
girls and women of all ages. All goals and their targets must take account of the rights ofgirls and women of all ages at all stages of their lives. The specific abuse and discrimination
faced by older women must be recognised and stopped.

2
World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision, UNFPA.
http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/index.htm
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-level Panel and the Secretary-General must givepriority to improved data collection and reporting which ensures that all data becollected, disaggregated, analysed and disseminated for all ages up to and over
100, as well as by gender and disability. Goals and targets adopted by Member States must
be measurable and accountable to all their citizens, and have specific data on older age
groups, including specifically older women. Data must be age-disaggregated to show how
policies and budgets - including those to ensure regular income, education, decent work,
protection in conflict and humanitarian crises and a supportive and safe environment - arebeing delivered to girls and women of all ages across the life-course.
The framework should have the goal of universal social protection and decent work forgirls and women of all ages. Social protection and decent work are at the heart of thesocial contract between the State and its subjects. Social protection floors are rights-based,nationally owned and have clear measurable objectives. They play a distinctive role inpoverty eradication and good governance and underpin the realisation of multiple goals
beyond poverty and inequality.
Any health goals within the framework should be framed to ensure and maximize ahealthy life expectancy at all stages of life, including universal health coverage toensure the health of girls and women across the life-course.3 With three quarters of the
global burden of chronic and non-communicable disease affecting women and men over theage of 60, special emphasis must be given to diagnosis, care and effective treatment ofolder people. Older women, who live longer than men with chronic and non-communicablediseases, should be especially targeted.
The framework should have a gender equality goal with indicators and targets thatare inclusive of all people of all ages. Lifetime gender-based inequalities often result inolder women experiencing financial and physical abuse and discrimination, along with poor
health and increasing disability.
The International Council on Social Welfare recommends the following:
Recognise age as one of the cross-cutting issues that must be taken into account across all
goals and targets for girls and women of all ages;
Create a universal rights-based framework that includes older women;
Eradicate poverty in all its forms for all older women;
Leave no older woman behind by tackling inequality and exclusion, including removing
barriers to the full participation of all girls and women of all ages in society regardless ofage, disability and gender;
Promote inclusive growth, decent employment, social protection and ensuring access to all
for essential services for girls and women of all ages;
Improve health by addressing universal healthcare coverage, access and affordability, andaddress the burden of non-communicable diseases for girls and women of all ages;

3
Advanced unedited copy: Progress report on the work of the General Assembly
Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals at its first four sessions,paragraphs 87-89
http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/1927interimreport.pdf
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-disaggregated datatomeasure and monitor progress by age, gender and disability so as to capture gaps within
and between population groups, specifically including older women.
A post-2015 development agenda should account for a progressively and rapidly ageing world bypromoting healthy ageing and economic well-being for women in old age, and by providing enablingand supportive environments where older women are integrated into the development process as
an asset rather than a burden.
We look forward to a dynamic and universal response to ageing in this framework. As population
structures change, laws, policies, social attitudes and institutional practices must do the same. UN
Member States have an historic opportunity to ensure that the next global development frameworktakes a life-course approach that will help ensure sustainable and equitable development for girls
and women of all ages.
ICSW regional elections
The spring of 2014 is election season for the ICSW several key positions in the regions become
vacant this July and must be filled through elections. The candidates who have been nominated(nominations closed on 3rd May) include prominent scholars and practitioners working in the fieldof social policy, whose activities are well known in the regions. Each candidate submits a written
statement outlining what he or she is seeking to achieve and what his or her contribution to ICSW
has been. It is well known that every position whether it is a Regional President, Vice-President,
Treasurer or a Member of the Board-- requires substantial time and dedication. There are nine
ICSW regions: Central and West Africa; East and Southern Africa; Middle East and North Africa;
South Asia; South-East Asia and the Pacific; North-East Asia; Europe; North America and the
Caribbean; Latin America. Under the global By-laws, each region must have at least a Regional
President, a Regional Vice-President and a Regional Treasurer.
30 daysElections will be conducted electronically, with the whole process concluding on 12 June 2014
before the meeting of the General Assembly on 12 July 2014.
Useful resources and links.
Humanity Divided: Confronting Inequality in Developing Countries, UNDP, 2013
Revisiting the theoretical concepts of inequalities, including their measurements, and an analysis of
their global trends, this report presents policyand identifies various policy options in combating this major developmental challenge of ourtime. The report makes the basic point that, in spite of the impressive progress humanity has madeon many fronts over the decades, it still remains deeply divided. In that context, it is intended tohelp development actors, citizens, and policy-makers contribute to global dialogues and initiate
conversations in their own countries about the drivers and the extent of inequalities, their impact,
and the ways in which they can be curbed.
For a full report please go to:
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/Poverty%20Reduction/Inclusive%20development/
Humanity%20Divided/HumanityDivided_Full-Report.pdf
The Political Economy of Pension Re-Reform in Chile and Argentina: Toward More
Inclusive Protection, UNRISD, 2014
This research paper written by KatjaHujo and Mariana Rulli argues that reforms implemented in
2008, the re-nationalization of the private pension funds in Argentina and the introduction of aPage 7 of 8social pension in Chile, have moved both countries toward greater social inclusion in old-age
protection.For more details please see:
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BCCF9/(httpPublications)/13C947C84CC4FAFFC1257CAF0046
97A0?OpenDocument

The content of this Global Newsletter may be freely reproduced or cited provided the source isacknowledged. Views do not necessarily represent policies of ICSW.
Newsletter Editor: Sergei Zelenev, Executive Director
Address: ICSW, 5700 Arlington Ave., Bronx, New York, 10471 (US Office) P.O Box 28957, Plot 4,
Berkeley Lane, Off Lugard Avenue,
Entebbe, (Uganda Office)Phone: +1 347-526- 4893, + 256414321150
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