Included in the case studies are accounts of landless people in Bangladesh fighting for their right to land and a livelihood; of poor farmers uniting for pro-poor farmers’ policies in Indonesia; of starving people realizing their right to food in India; and, of island communities accessing the legal and policy systems in the Pacific Islands. These case studies demonstrate that by using such an approach with complementary strategies that are not only rooted in the principles of participation, accountability and transparency, but that also look at good governance, a receptive policy framework and access to justice as a “non-negotiable” condition  that must exist in any country, marginalized and vulnerable groups can realize their rights.

And the above resonates in other case studies documented, like the one where marginalized groups of children in India have started accessing education due to a receptive Government that has implemented a human rights-based policy strategy to demanding and accessing education. Similar is another case in India where groups of HIV positive women have successfully lobbied to demand and claim pro-HIV positive peoples’ polices and whose efforts have been enhanced due to responsive policy makers and public institutions responding to demands on the supply/duty-bearer side. And in Laos, the Government has actively worked with other stakeholders to make the right to water and sanitation a reality for interior rural mountainous communities.

What is commendable is that these illiterate communities have worked with the Government stakeholders from inception in designing a water and sanitation system that is not only based on indigenous knowledge (and hence, viable and sustainable) but that also hinged on Government (and other stakeholders’) accountability as a requisite. Furthermore, the strategies used have enabled this approach to be replicated in other provinces in the country.

By capturing such experiences in these case studies, it is hoped that a foundation will be laid for the start of a serious engagement wherein all stakeholders will realize the added value and the attendant challenges that the use of the HRBA to development have in capacitating those who have often been left out of the larger social system, or those who have not been able to access the benefits of developmental programmes and policies. At a more basic level, such an approach has assisted groups in realizing those rights they are entitled to under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And specifically for this reason, it is hoped that these experiences documented will start a conversation amongst all on how to further the use of the HRBA to development for the creation of more just and humane societies.