New International Leadership Team Takes The Helm Of ATD Fourth World

A new ATD Fourth World Movement International Leadership Team (ILT) took up its responsibilities in January 2017 after wide consultation with people around the world involved with ATD Fourth World in a variety of ways. Isabelle Pypaert-Perrin brings her wide-ranging experience to a second term as Director General, while three new Deputy Directors - Bruno Dabout, Álvaro Inista Pérez, and Martine Le Corre join the team. Former International Leadership Team members Jacqueline Plaisir, Diana Skelton and Jean Toussaint have taken up responsibilities within ATD Fourth World in Africa, Europe and the Indian Ocean.Together with ATD Fourth World’s Board of Directors, the International Leadership Team is responsible for coordinating the ATD Fourth World worldwide. They help spark creative initiatives and work to support all ATD Fourth World members, particularly those whose involvement is a long-term commitment. The International Leadership Team promotes the cohesion of ATD Fourth World’s planning, projects, and public message, ensuring that members living in extreme poverty remain at the heart of all initiatives.

Team Member Portraits

Isabelle Pypaert Perrin joined ATD Fourth World’s Volunteer Corps in 1981 and has since worked in many different countries in addition to her native Belgium. She has helped build ATD Fourth World in a number of different cultural contexts in Europe, Central America, the Caribbean, and Asia.Particularly formative for Isabelle was the opportunity to be in ATD Fourth World founder Joseph Wresinski’s secretariat for several years. Through her work with him, she saw how ATD Fourth World’s people-centered work grows, person by person. Isabelle first joined the International Leadership Team in 2008, alongside Eugen Brand (Director General) and Diana Skelton. She took on the role of Director General in 2012, in partnership with team members Jacqueline Plaisir, Diana Skelton, and Jean Toussaint. Bruno Dabout is from France. Passionate particularly about education and the economy, Bruno is motivated to change the world in partnership with people living in extreme poverty. Bruno joined the Volunteer Corps in 1983. With his wife Pascale, also an ATD Fourth World Volunteer, and their two children, they have spent nearly half of their time living in low-income, under-resourced neighborhoods in Paris, Thailand, and the USA. They have also held responsibilities in ATD Fourth World centers for training, research, and advocacy. Bruno has led grass-roots projects involving children, young people, and adults living in poverty. He has worked on ATD Fourth World’s international administration and finance, and helped facilitate organization-wide evaluation and planning. Martine Le Corre is from Normandy in the north west of France. Not yet 18 years old when she first encountered ATD Fourth World, she has been a Fourth World Activist ever since. Meeting founder Joseph Wresinski and other members of the ATD Fourth World Volunteer Corps was a turning point in her life. They encouraged Martine to take part in their efforts to end poverty and exclusion. Wresinski shared with Martine his hope that people living in extreme poverty would become activists who stand up for others who are even worse off.Martine has been involved in a number of international action-research projects with ATD Fourth World, notably around the Merging Knowledge process. From 2009-2012, Martine was part of the facilitating team for the research initiative “Extreme Poverty is Violence – Breaking the Silence – Searching for Peace.” She also helped facilitate ATD Fourth World’s recent research and seminar on governance.From those first encounters with Joseph Wresinski, Martine has maintained an active presence in her native region of Normandy. This has allowed her to build strong ties with people struggling daily to overcome poverty. A vital mainstay for Martine these last several years has been running the Fourth World People’s University in her city of Caen. She looks forward to devoting her full energy to her new role in the International Leadership Team. Álvaro Iniesta Pérez is from Madrid, Spain. With his wife Marina, he joined ATD Fourth World’s Volunteer Corps in 2000. The couple shares a passion for music and singing and have three children aged six to eleven. Álvaro first encountered ATD Fourth World in 1998 and was “impressed to discover a people-centered community involved in building a more just society.”After a year with ATD Fourth World in Madrid, Álvaro worked in Caen in the north of France where he learned more about the organization’s work from Martine Le Corre and other long-time activists. For five years, Álvaro, Marina and their children lived in a low-income housing complex called the “City of Birds.” Álvaro took a low-paying job as a way of better understanding the difficulties many of his neighbors faced. He discovered an economy that was totally neglectful of people’s well-being and saw first hand the urgent need for economic reforms that would provide greater prosperity for more people.In 2008, Álvaro and Marina moved to Guatemala, where Álvaro’s responsibilities included the “Working and Learning Together” project. Returning to Spain in 2013, Álvaro joined the ’s National Coordinating Team there. What sustains him in his work, Álvaro says, is the solidarity he sees among families in poverty, and their efforts to build peace.