Started in a slum in France in the 1950s, ATD Fourth World has transformed the struggle to end poverty by recognizing poverty as a violation of human rights.

They hold a vision of a world without poverty, a society where each person is respected. Poverty is an affront to human dignity, and people in poverty have unique knowledge and experience that can lower the barriers separating people and communities. ATD Fourth World is a movement that gathers people from all backgrounds in order to think, act, and live together differently.

The violence of extreme poverty, ignorance, deprivation, and contempt isolates people and locks them in silence to the point where they doubt that they are part of the human community. Recognizing the efforts made by people in poverty to ensure that no one is left behind, and combining their strengths to reach out to those still unreached, are essential steps on the path toward overcoming poverty and building peace together.

ATD Fourth World works to overcome poverty by seeking out people living in the worst conditions of poverty and exclusion.

The most disadvantaged people can free themselves from the dependence and indignity of poverty when their courage and their capacity for action are recognized and when everyone takes responsibility for overcoming the prejudice and discrimination that continue to exclude people in poverty, on every continent. All their projects are designed and planned together with people living in persistent poverty, with the goal of leaving no one behind.

Building Knowledge and Accessing Education — Every Mind Counts

Wasting the intelligence of people living in poverty is a serious form of discrimination. They bring recognition to the life skills and knowledge of those who resist extreme poverty in their daily lives.

Shaping a People-Centered and Earth-Friendly Economic Vision

Today’s economic systems subject people in extreme poverty to punishing exploitation and often condemn them to uselessness. Around the world, there are many initiatives for the public good, fair-trade, and promoting self-sufficiency and community resilience. They work to ensure that people in extreme poverty be able to participate in these projects.

Speaking Out about Human Rights and Peace

They aim to increase public awareness and civic engagement in ways that counteract prejudice against people in poverty, and that defend their human rights. They do this work on both national and international levels. Everyone’s efforts are needed, and it is important that everyone have opportunities to show their solidarity.