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Despite global commitments to poverty eradication, it is anticipated that 575 million people will still live in extreme poverty by 2030. Traditional poverty reduction strategies, which focus on economic growth measured by GDP and post-market redistribution, have exacerbated inequality and environmental degradation while failing to deliver on their promises.

Addressing this critical impasse, the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights has launched an 18-month project to develop a “Roadmap for eradicating poverty beyond growth”, which will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in June/ July 2026.

This initiative builds on the Special Rapporteur’s July 2024 report « Eradicating poverty beyond growth » to the UN Human Rights Council, which challenged the prevailing growth-centric development model and traditional poverty reduction strategies that have failed to deliver on their promises, and advocated for a shift to a human rights economy: an economic system that places the well-being of people and the planet at the heart of economic policies, investment decisions, consumer choices, and business models, with the aim of advancing the effective realization of human rights for everyone.

Taking this report as an initial assessment of why a post-growth approach to poverty eradication is required and what it could look like, the Special Rapporteur now intends to propose how this transformation could be achieved.

 

What is the Roadmap?

The Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth will offer a practical “Plan B”: a blueprint for concrete policy action that can guide governments and international agencies in adopting policies that prioritize human rights, care, and well-being within planetary boundaries.

It will include a comprehensive catalogue of policy measures covering, in particular: social protection, the provision of public services, employment, care work, the social and solidarity economy, taxation and innovative financing mechanisms, trade, stewardship of the commons, as well as governance.

The Roadmap will provide a toolbox of short-, medium-, and long-term policy actions that can be tailored to different governance levels – local, national, regional, and global – and to a diversity of contexts, taking into account the specific situation of developing countries in general, and of low-income and lower-middle income countries in particular.

Where feasible, these policy measures will be paired with indicators, both quantitative and qualitative, to monitor progress. In doing so, it will serve as a multi-year action plan to guide the governance of a just and sustainable transition to a human rights economy.

 

How to contribute?

To inform the Roadmap, the Special Rapporteur published a call for submissions in February 2025 (see summary here and FAQs here), inviting all interested governments, international organisations, trade unions, civil society organisations, academics, activists and local actors, companies, and others, to provide written input. As well as helping to inform the Roadmap, these submissions will be published as part of a dedicated Beyond Growth Roadmap online repository, a living repository of policy proposals for eradicating poverty beyond growth.

Beyond the submission phase, the Special Rapporteur aims to foster an ongoing dialogue with contributors. He will convene a series of consultations, workshops and UN events to refine the proposed measures. These sessions will bring together diverse stakeholders to identify synergies, address gaps, and adapt recommendations to various regional and governance contexts. This collaborative process will ensure that the roadmap is both practical and grounded in the lived realities of affected populations.

Ultimately, contributions will play a key role in shaping the Special Rapporteur’s report to the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council in June/July 2026, influencing global discussions on eradicating poverty beyond growth.

If you missed the  deadline for submissions (30 March 2025) but would still like to contribute to this initiative, please contact François Denuit, Senior Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights: francois.denuit@srpoverty.org

 

Contact information

François Denuit, Senior Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights

francois.denuit@srpoverty.org / +32 474 62 08 98