The Programmes Initiatives Unit of Praxis was created in October 2005 in realization of the critical need of intervention for expanding democratic spaces for the poor in vital development processes. In an increasingly market-driven, neo-liberal environment of growth geared primarily on indicators of macro-economic performance of states – survival of the poor has become severely jeopardized, evident alarmingly through various recent instances of their deprivation from traditional habitats, livelihoods and human rights, on flimsy pretexts of favouring larger social good. Praxis seeks to engage with and strengthen processes of meaningful participation of the poor in order to get them meaningful control over all processes affecting their lives.

Thrust areas of work

1. Seeking accountability – of governments, development support organizations and all agencies responsible for creating conditions having a bearing on the lives of the poor

2. Striving for leadership role of the marginalized, by way of advocating their inclusion as drivers of key development processes

3. Mainstreaming issues – of the poor and marginalized segments of society lying outside the purview of development processes, interventions and policies

4. Protesting undemocratic developments – e.g. moves threatening infringement of the rights of minorities, suppression of freedom of speech or polarization of power

5. Setting the agenda for pro-poor development – by actively sensitizing and helping agencies having the potential and resources to transform lives of the poor, to operate in an inclusive manner

6. Influencing perspectives – against policies, practices, norms and biases adverse to the identity and dignified existence of the poor

7. Delineating ‘participation’ – from a rights perspective, relating with the specific experiences of survival and participation of the poor in various social, institutional and operational contexts

8. Networking with likeminded agencies – to multiply the momentum and impact of efforts aimed at empowering the poor and seeking their primacy in development processes.