ABSTRACT
In order for human rights-based theories of change to be relevant for grassroots development organizations, they need to incorporate conceptions of rights that tangibly direct practitioners to programme actions. This argument is based on a reflection of the experience of implementing a mobile technology pilot, called Impilo, which sought to improve people’s access to health services in Umkhanyakude in the north of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A tangible conception of rights directs attention to processes that help to apply key concepts of human rights in programming. The current UN human rights-based development framework is too wide-ranging, and is difficult to apply at the grassroots of development work. The principle of joint production of information between public service producers and users is posited here as a potential avenue to sharpen rights-based theories of change. This principle has relevance to managing partnerships and employing multidimensional strategies to enhance human rights where mutual accountability is problematic or where organizations are mobilizing the public, while also undertaking collaboration and joint work with the government (see chapter 1 in this volume).
