What is it?

Based on the conviction that people living in poverty are carriers of essential knowledge to eradicate poverty, the ATD Fourth World Movement has developed new pedagogy and methodology in a work between academics, social intervention professionals and people living in poverty. They make it possible to bring out and take into account the speech and the thought that people in extreme poverty draw from their experience, and to co-produce new knowledge by crossing different knowledge: academic knowledge, knowledge of action and knowledge from experience.

In Quebec, several research projects are carried out in partnership with universities, and are inspired by the approach of Crossing Knowledge and Practices.

Download the guideline and practices here: MK Charter

Project in 2022 (Quebec)

To respond to the complexity and multiple hidden dimensions of persistent poverty, the people who experience it have unique knowledge. Their expertise is not recognized and little used in the research, interventions and programs put in place. Thus, training and programs maintain blind spots in the analysis of the causes of poverty and in developing solutions to end it.

In 2022, cross-fertilization workshops were conducted in social work classes so that people living in poverty participate in analysis exercises with female students. Through this research and analysis process, people living in poverty are placed on an equal footing with other “experts”. They are not just observed people. They observe, research and analyze with the other experts.