Themes
Isabelle Pypaert Perrin has been an ATD Fourth World Volunteer Corps member since 1981 and currently serves as the organization's Director General. Partnering with families who face persistent poverty and exclusion, ATD Fourth World works to mobilize society to put an end to poverty. With teams in over 30 countries, ATD Fourth World's approach makes it possible for people from all walks of life to think and act together to promote the dignity and human rights of all.
Ms. Pypaert Perrin has been part of ATD Fourth World teams in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Guatemala, Haiti, and Southeast Asia. Since joining ATD Fourth World’s International Leadership Team in 2008, Ms. Pypaert Perrin has helped lead ATD Fourth World in the spirit of the Haitian Creole term “tèt ansanm”: starting with those whose lives are the most difficult, moving forward together with the ideas, intelligence, and courage of ATD Fourth World's members in all their diversity. Her team supports members in designing their responsibilities, in strengthening their links among one another, and in assuring an evaluation and planning process that gives rise to sustainable actions and the creation of innovative projects. Among such grass-roots initiatives are Street Libraries, Peoples Universities, and economic solidarity initiatives like “Working and Learning Together.” At an international level, Ms. Pypaert Perrin's team has impulsed action-research projects inspired by a Merging Knowledge approach: the UN's Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights; the international colloquium and report, “Extreme Poverty is Violence – Breaking the Silence – Searching for Peace;” and the evaluation of the MDGs, Challenge 2015: Towards a Sustainable Development that Leaves No One Behind.