Throughout the world, poverty is synonymous with the denial of fundamental rights, which generates the exclusion of the poorest from the construction of equitable solutions. The fight against all kind of poverty is inseparable from the acknowledgement of rights and their accountability by the citizens. For this purpose, the people must have access to information, not only to better understand the situations and the problems by which they are confronted, but also to know their rights and what they should expect from the public authorities. Here is a main part of the promotion of a popular democracy, which is possible in two ways : first, with an active participation of the populations in formulating the public policies they are concerned with. Then, with control over these public policies. The mobilisation of populations to gain access to their rights is essential, since it allows them to influence public policies and for the implementation of a development strategy.

In this way, the World Summit on the Information Society and the meetings in Geneva in 2003 and in Tunis in 2005 have permitted the assertion of the right to information as a fundamental right, equally as important as other rights. Indeed, managing information is vital in gaining other rights. Information is the source of knowledge and awareness ; it enables mobilisation and is in itself a medium for the application of existing rights as well as the formulation of new ones.

For us, Frères des Hommes, and for our partners in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, our objective is to give information and independence to local populations through the realisation of our concrete activities. Whether it is integrated as a part of trainings, or more specifically linked to the production of local media, information is at the heart of organisations’ development, of the promotion of rights and the reduction of poverty.