UN expert calls to fight poverty beyond growth and expand social protection: Rethinking progress

GENEVA – There must be a fundamental shift in global anti-poverty strategies, moving beyond the notion that economic “growth” is the only path to eradicating poverty, the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Elena Díaz Galán said today, presenting the Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth to the Human Rights Council.

“What matters to people living in poverty is not abstract economic expansion, but real improvements in living conditions. Poverty is multidimensional and lived; it cannot be reduced to income, or solved by growth alone,” Díaz Galán said.

The report and the Roadmap, prepared by the previous Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter, highlights the transformative potential of national anti-poverty strategies developed through genuine participatory processes. When people experiencing poverty help define priorities, policies become more ambitious, realistic and impactful – better aligned with actual needs and more likely to improve lives. Furthermore, these strategies strengthen democratic decision-making and restore trust by ensuring that those most affected are at the centre of policy design.

Crucially, such strategies challenge the entrenched belief that growth is a precondition for social progress. Evidence shows that the current economic growth model does not reliably reduce poverty and often deepens inequalities.

While economic growth remains necessary for low‑income countries in particular, to finance infrastructure and improve living standards, it is essential that this growth is carefully shaped so that it does not exacerbate inequalities or drive environmental degradation.

In contrast, national anti-poverty strategies can provide a governance framework to move beyond this paradigm, reorienting decision-making towards well-being, equality and sustainability

The “Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth“-the result of an unprecedented collaborative process spanning over 18 months and involving more than 400 contributors, including governments, trade unions, civil society organisations, academics, and UN agencies-provides a comprehensive blueprint with concrete policy suggestions. Presented to the Human Rights Council today, the Roadmap explores how poverty and inequality can be addressed in ways that benefit rights-holders without endangering the planet.

The Roadmap expands the policy toolbox beyond the traditional “grow-tax-transfer” model, integrating redistribution with in-market reforms and pre-market social investment, and offering practical measures to build economies that prioritise human rights and meet essential needs within planetary boundaries. It sees the redefinition of international economic relations – including debt justice and increased international financing for social protection – as a condition for developing countries, and low-income countries in particular, to shift to growth patterns that are less extractive and less exploitative.

“Poverty is not inevitable – it is the product of policy choices. Ending it requires democratic participation, political courage and a redefinition of progress itself. We have no other choice but to reconsider the economic and financial models we use. They are increasing inequalities and driving the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution,” the experts said.

“The Roadmap offers a clear path forward: one that puts people – not GDP – at the centre of development and the fight against poverty.”