What kind of developmental or social objectives does ACD address?
ACD seeks to empower individuals and communities to effect change within their community and to influence policy and practice by government or other agencies. The aim is to facilitate changes in attitude, behaviour and policy to improve areas such as democracy and citizenship, social inclusion and human rights. This approach to rights-based development is relatively new within development circles compared with the more familiar idea of ‘needs-based’ development, which focuses on addressing basic resources and emergency assistance, such as economic support, the alleviation of poverty, improving the environment and responding to disasters. These two approaches are not, of course, mutually exclusive; to a great extent, they are interdependent. Improved democracy and social inclusion lead to better decision making that reflects the needs of all people in the community.
