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2Be liberated from relationships of domination to trigger the powers to act

"Populations in situations of vulnerabilities are restricted in the exercise of their powers to act due to relationships of domination that prevent them being emancipated"

Shared observations and working assumptions:

 There are no situations of vulnerability or poverty by chance. These situations are always linked to a "system" operating on the basis of relationships of domination.

 Situations of vulnerability that are often cumulative expose people to different forms of domination or discrimination.

 Domination can characterize social relations between individuals, social classes or groups of individuals. Since social relations are constantly changing, domination is not a static state with a dominated - a dominant.

 In order to be emancipated and empowered, people in vulnerable situations must be able to analyse their context and their place in it.

 In order to liberate the powers to act, awareness of the relationships of domination at work is necessary at all levels: both for the groups that are subject to them and for those who can potentially exercise them.

 Working on relationships of domination is not neutral: it is a process that can be violent both for the people who free themselves from it and for those around them.

 Anyone can consciously or unconsciously reproduce relations of domination, particularly in dynamics aimed at reducing inequalities. Attention to this risk is at the heart of reflections on pedagogical postures.

An example of activities/actions: UGPM in Senegal!

"Since September 2018, UGPM in Senegal created a training programme meant for farmers’ groups, which allows members to question existing relationships of domination within it. The assumption was that demonstrations of domination between men and women, youth and older people, and elected representatives and members are factors that block the dynamic of the groups, as well as the development of social transformation actions for the villages."

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