Building the capacity of human rights leaders and their
organisations.
The Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP) has pioneered a model of human
rights capacity-building linked to higher education. It consists of a
combination of training in practical skills, deepening academic knowledge, and
developing international networks of contacts.
The focus of Human Rights Advocates Program is both on strengthening the
skills of individual human rights defenders and providing the tools to build
sustainable organisations with the resources to benefit disadvantaged
communities.
The author of this paper outlines four key elements of HRAP that could be
incorporated into other capacity-building programmes that focus on the
development of individual leaders.
These elements are:
- an holistic approach: seeks to integrate theory and practice as well as
increasing access to resources and contacts
- extended residency: relieves participants of some of the responsibilities,
stresses and demands that make it difficult for leaders to focus on the growth
of new skills and knowledge, and allows for exchange and learning, and the
development of strong bonds between leaders
- academic affiliation: through an academic base, programmes can draw on
academic courses, the presence of professors and students, and information
resources
- structure for change: reflection on own present work, alongside
consideration of the experiences of others.
Publisher: International NGO Training and Research Centre (Intrac)
Source: Eldis
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