The current Ambassador of Burkina Faso in Rome and former Keeper of the Seals at the Ministry of Transition of Burkina Faso (2014) cultivates strong ties with Emmaus International for 30 years. She supports the World Forum of Alternatives organised by Emmaus, and answers our questions
When and how did you come across Emmaus International?
In 1988 I was invited to participate in an Emmaus Italy meeting in Florence. This was where I discovered the Movement and its social and political mission which stems from Abbé Pierre’s view of poverty and exclusion. I visited the Emmaus companions’ living and working areas, as well as the centres where all sorts of objects, clothes and second-hand items are collected, sorted and sold.
I then had the opportunity to listen to and read Abbé Pierre’s stories and words. I was impressed with the close linkage between his vision, his convictions and his actions. The way he lived reflected his thoughts and words. Through the Emmaus Movement, he managed to restore dignity and bring meaning back into the lives of millions of people living in poverty who had been marginalised in society.
What does the Emmaus Movement mean to you?
I truly agree with the idea that exclusion and poverty will end when all of us consider it normal, and even compulsory, that others should enjoy the same rights which we enjoy ourselves.
The principles and values which guide the actions of the Emmaus communities are intended to give a sense of belonging, a role and an identity to those who live there. The Emmaus movement provides its members with a new status, which allows them to use their hidden talents, their energy and their time to break the vicious cycle of physical, social and moral impoverishment.
This approach has inspired public policy in the fight against poverty and exclusion and will continue to do so.
Given that you work in the field of diplomacy, what role do you think politics play in the common good? How can (or should) civil society be taken into account within politics?
If there is one area where politics has truly monopolised the fate of humanity, it is in the governance of the common good.
Throughout the State, the government bears the primary responsibility for managing the common good in the public interest, because that is the purpose of public policy. Unfortunately, most governments consider that they have unlimited power which gives them the right to make decisions and lay down guidelines which serve the interests of the dominant economic system rather than the interests of the people.
Climate change and its deadly consequences on ecosystems, food and human health is proof that the governments of economic powers generally make decisions and take actions with other aims than that of preserving the planet and human wellbeing.
With the advent of the concept of “good governance” (thankfully now abandoned after having been recognised as a fraud) and the rules, procedures and practices which underpin it, particularly in development aid mechanisms for Global South countries, we understood that the world was now enslaved to one sole ideology – that of technocracy, profit, efficiency, functionality and logical frameworks.
We know that its principles, methods and instruments serve an economic system which does not trouble itself with the needs, the rights or the wishes of people living in poverty, vulnerable groups and minorities.
Does civil society have a role to play in the governance of the common good?
Social movements, formed by civil society actors who have a clear political mandate, are at the frontline when it comes to speaking out against economic policies and practices.
Civil society in broad terms should be systematically involved in procedures for the establishment of public policies which concern the preservation of the common good in any way.
Do you feel that the most marginalised people are excluded from the political agenda?
If a government recognises that a certain category of the population is excluded or marginalised, that means that it also recognises that this category is the victim of a method of governance which causes exclusion.
The problem is that national development programs generally use figures such as rates of access to sanitation, energy, drinking water, food security, healthcare, etc. to talk about poverty and extreme poverty.
These figures lead governments to implement techniques which, although quantifiable on the ground, are completely unable to address the feelings of injustice and disempowerment experienced by those who are at the bottom of the social ladder or not on the ladder at all.
From an interview in August 2018
