Measuring Respect for Human Dignity among Project Participants

Upholding the dignity inherent in every human being is central to CRS’ mission, values, and programs. To help advance understanding of the role human dignity plays in humanitarian and development activities and to help teams design and implement programs that increase respect for dignity, CRS collaborated with the University of Notre Dame to develop two measures of respect for human dignity that can be used across programming sectors.

The Project Respect for Participant Dignity Scale assesses the extent to which project implementation respects the dignity of participants. The Respect for Dignity in Daily Life Index assesses the extent to which project participants’ dignity is respected in their households, communities, and institutions and assesses the extent that participants respect others’ dignity.

Measuring Respect for Human Dignity: Guidance for Development and Humanitarian Programs provides guidance in using these two measures in programs. Survey Instrument – Dignity Measures is a survey tool that can be used to collect data on these measures.

CRS Survey Instrument – Dignity Measures