Our Priorities
Building a just and sustainable world where no one is left behind, beginning with those living in poverty
Regularly, ATD Fourth World members evaluate past activities and plan for the years to come.
In 2019, the International ATD Fourth World Movement made a series of joint commitments (see our strategic ambitions below).
In 2021, a new International Leadership Team was given a mandate with three priority areas:
- Join the efforts of young people with the questions they raise, the injustices they denounce, and the solidarity they create.
- Wherever the climate crisis is exacerbating the ongoing emergency of persistent poverty, think and act together with the people who have the most difficult lives
- Strengthen the capacity of ATD Fourth World members to be involved and active over the long term.
Strategic ambitions 2019-2025, International Movement ATD Fourth World
Our Central Focus: Reaching out to those whose contribution is still missing
‘Leave no one behind’ means reaching out to those who are the most isolated. This is done in order to build long-term trusting relationships; inviting new people to join the struggle against poverty; and getting involved with other community groups, organisations, networks and institutions, and working together with them to change policies and promote access for all to their human rights.
Our strategy has four major ambitions:
1. Making the most of everyone’s capacity and knowledge in order to meet the global challenge
For more than sixty years, ATD has created opportunities for people to bring to light what they know and think about poverty, based on their own experience and convictions.
2. Working for an education system that recognises everyone’s potential
From the very beginning, ATD Fourth World has worked all over the world with families living in poverty in order to realise their hope for a decent education for all.
3. Promoting a society respectful of all people and of the earth
as a pre-condition for peace.
Through pilot projects that give priority to people in the worst conditions of poverty, ATD Fourth World is looking at how to bring into being a model of economy producing social and economic capital and respectful of the earth’s resources.
4. Building a movement capable of sustaining a long-term commitment to the eradication of poverty
Putting an end to poverty requires an ambitious long-term commitment to policies and programmes of action which respect the dignity of all people. Breaking down social exclusion therefore requires a lasting personal commitment.