Breaking the Poverty Cycle: The Human Basis for Sustainable Development

Pick and Sirkin show how IMIFAP, a Mexican NGO, has employed a development strategy to encourage the establishment of a participatory, healthy and educated citizenry. The program strategy is grounded in Amartya Sen’s approach to sustainable development through expanding individual’s capabilities and freedoms.

It presents the Framework for Enabling Empowerment (FrEE) and the step by step strategy ＂Programming for Choice,＂ based on the practical experience and evaluation of IMIFAP’s programs. The end goal is to achieve sustainable community and individual development that can be expanded across a variety of life domains (social, economic, political, education, health and psychological).

The book shows how community development can be enhanced if people are enabled to make accountable choices and expand their alternatives. International development efforts will not be sustainable if we continue to build schools without quality teachers; health clinics without enhancing logistical and psychological access and improving quality of care; and laws that are not enforced. Institutions will only flourish if their leaders and bureaucrats enhance their personal capabilities. The central premise of the book is that enhancing skills, knowledge and reducing psychological and contextual barriers to change are central (and often neglected) aspects of sustainable development.

IMIFAP was founded in 1984. Through its health promotion and poverty reduction work it has reached over 19 million people in 14 countries through over 40 different programs and over 280 educational materials with support from over 300 funding agencies and government and private institutions. Its mission is to enable society’s poor and vulnerable to take charge of their lives through helping them develop their potential. We have found that through the IMIFAP ＂I want to, I can＂ programs people take the control of their lives in their own hands. Examples of these results are presented including numerous testimonies.

Dr. Susan Pick is a Professor of Social Psychology who has directed and carried out research, development and implementation of pioneering programs in health promotion, education and poverty reduction.

Dr. Pick obtained her degrees in Social Psychology at London University, England. She is Professor at the Faculty of Psychology of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), has been an invited scholar at Universidad Anahuac, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México and Harvard University and has served as advisor to the Health, Education and Social Development Ministries of several Latin American countries. She is the founder and President of the Mexican Institute of Family and Population Research (IMIFAP) where through their ＂I want to, I can＂ programs they have benefited over 19 million people in 14 countries.

She is author and coauthor of over 270 works, including articles, children’s books and textbooks that are part of the national school curriculum, has had extensive radio and TV participations in México, Chile and Venezuela. Her publications are in areas such as research methodology, health and empowerment, community participation, life skills and competencies, psychological barrier reduction and sexuality education for children, adolescents and parents.

Dr. Pick holds the highest level (Level 3) in the National System of Researchers, and is also the former president of the Interamerican Society of Psychology (SIP). She has received numerous awards, among them: The Prize for Research in the Social Sciences from the National University of Mexico, the Presidential Citation from the American Psychological Association, Psychologist of the Year 2003, the International Psychologist Award for Contributions to Global Psychology, the Florence Denmark/Gori Gunwald Award in Honor of Outstanding Psychology of Women, Creators of Social Psychology and most recently, the Award for Contributions to Applied Research, conferred by the International Association of Applied Psychology.

Jenna T. Sirkin is currently a health services researcher and a doctoral student at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University; and is also an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Doctoral Training Fellow. She has been employed and conducted research in the fields of public health, health services research and international development. Jenna received her M.A. from Brandeis University in Social Policy and her B.A. from Tufts University in International Relations and Spanish with a concentration in Latin American studies. She was awarded the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship in 2006 to support her research during her residence at the Mexican Institute of Family and Population Research (IMIFAP) in Mexico City.