National and International Meetings Bring Together Board Members and MAP Researchers

By Peggy Simmons, President Board of Directors ATD Fourth World USA

I recently had the honor of participating in three rare ATD Fourth World meetings: The presentation of the Multidimensional Aspects of Poverty (MAP) International Report at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, the Annual General Meeting with the Board of Directors of the International Movement ATD Fourth World, and a working retreat for the Board of Directors of ATD Fourth World Movement USA. Here are some impressions:

The OECD is a powerful international organization that "promotes policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.” Presenting poverty research about “people not numbers,” in the words of Robert Walker, at the OECD was groundbreaking. Walker heads up the Oxford University partnership in this research. The OECD Secretary General, Angel Gurría, himself said in his speech that it is rare to listen to and amplify voices of real life experiences of poverty, as the MAP research does. There were representatives from different departments of the OECD, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and various social and civil service organizations grappling with how to use this report and the Merging Knowledge methodology that created it: how to use them in work on the ground with impoverished people, how to influence public policy, how to measure and keep track of the different dimensions, etc. Our national MAP research had been loyally merged, through much hard work by our National MAP Research Team, with the results from other participating countries, into this international report.

Julia Sick, Tanzilya Oren, and Peggy Simmons taking a short break after attending the MAP International Report presentation at the OECD in Paris.

The following day was the Annual General Meeting. All nonprofit organizations must have a Board of Directors, and the International Movement ATD Fourth World’s Board meets yearly, every other year in person. This was the first year I was a part of this Board for the in-person meeting and felt privileged to be a part of a group of people from 16 countries from all corners of the world who were committed to ATD Fourth World work in their own countries and to publicly representing the organization. We had official legal business to deal with but also learned not just about the ATD Fourth World projects in each other's countries but about the various political and social situations the countries face: where there is hard-won peace, where there is daily violence, where some are forced to flee and some are determined to stay, etc. I was particularly struck by the number of stories I heard about young people leading the work and going into places others deemed unsafe, to try to reach the most vulnerable people. For example, in the Central African Republic, they are reconstructing after war, and young people are joining local peace committees using their social values to help solve conflicts and their willingness to go anywhere to accompany other people for tasks across town.

Maria Sandvik, Susie Devins, Peggy Simmons, Christian Josz, Faith Lemon, Emma Speaks, Bob Mauss, Dierdre Steib Mauss

Not pictured - Nick Collins, Jane Hsiao, Stacey Smith Bell

A week later our own national Board of Directors for ATD Fourth World Movement USA met in person for the first time since I’ve been on the Board. Normally, we have a monthly 1 hour phone meeting on Saturday morning. As with other Boards, we have a legal responsibility and official tasks to accomplish, but what we do and who is on the Board otherwise is very open. In addition to fundraising ideas and examining our international priorities, one of our goals for our weekend together in Louisville, Kentucky, was to re-start discussions about what role we want to have beyond the official role and who we want to make sure is represented on the Board. For a country this big, with so many different kinds of projects and local and national challenges, these are not simple questions to answer. Our other main goal was to know each other better and build a unity that cannot easily be built by telephone. We learned about each other in fun ways and now feel more solid as a team.