The Bolsa Escola program in Brazil provides families with a monthly stipend so that children can attend school instead of work in the streets. The program, which began in the city of Brasilia, was created with the realization that the working children of today are the poor adults of tomorrow. Bolsa Escola was expanded to a federal program in 2001.

The Bolsa Escola program in Brazil provides families with a monthly stipend so that children can attend school instead of work in the streets. The program, which began in the city of Brasilia, was created with the realization that the working children of today are the poor adults of tomorrow. Bolsa Escola was expanded to a federal program in 2001.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers’ and Exporters’ Association (BGMEA), in coordination with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and UNICEF, developed the Child Labor Project to eliminate child labor in factories that belong to its 2,500 members, and to provide an alternative to former child laborers in the form of an education program. During its first survey in 1995, monitoring teams visited about 2,100 factories and found that child labor was being used in approximately 42.5% of garment factories. By 2000, the percentage had been reduced to 4.5%.

WITNESS empowers human rights organizations around the world to incorporate video as an advocacy tool in their work. Rooted in the power of personal testimonies and in the principle that a picture is worth a thousand words, WITNESS and its partners’ videos have been used
as evidence in legal proceedings;
to corroborate allegations of human rights violations;

NGOs in Latin America used e-mail and the Internet to organize unprecedented non-governmental participation at the annual meetings of the Organizations of American States (OAS), a governmental association of countries in the Americas working on issues such as democracy, human rights and trade.

Since 2000, the Human Rights Observatories Network has worked with youth groups in various regions of Brazil, inspiring them to learn about human rights and to learn how to report on and to monitor their communities’ access to rights.

Education for Life (ELF) uses an accelerated learning system approach with grassroots educators and leaders to contribute to grassroots community empowerment throughout the Philippines.

In Cebu City, more than 70% of the population is classified as urban poor. A group of Non-Government Organizations with programs and services for the urban poor organizations bonded together and worked with urban poor groups to create an alliance, Task Force Tawhanong Pagpuyo (TFT), to respond to the growing numbers of victims who experienced evictions and demolitions of their houses. TFT presented and advocated for alternatives to government development plans that involved wholesale demolition with no alternative relocation sites. TFT organized a conference of urban poor leaders to identify issues and alternative solutions and followed this with research and case studies. These materials were presented to the local government and housing agencies.  Simultaneously, training was conducted for judges who issue the demolition and eviction orders. The alliance succeeded in developing and getting representatives on to a local housing board and assisted in preparing a comprehensive shelter plan for the city.  As a result, guidelines for demolition and eviction were adopted and judges now coordinate with the local housing board to ensure compliance. The number of demolitions and evictions was substantially reduced and when they did occur, relocation sites were identified in advance.

The Children’s Mandate for Peace and the Adults Mandate for Peace (El Madato por la Paz) were symbolic elections in Colombia where children and adults cast ballots for prohibitions of human rights abuses.  It had a strong symbolic effect, demonstrating the public’s disapproval with the current human rights situation and children’s and adults’ desire to strengthen human rights in the country.

Through a drive that encouraged citizens of all political persuasions to sign a petition, the Basque peace group, Elkarri, gave citizens a way to collectively and effectively pressure the Spanish and Basque governments to initiate a peace dialogue.

For a detailed exploration of this tactic, please click on the following link to consult our tactical notebook, <b><a href="http://www.newtactics.org/en/SocietyasMediator">Society as Mediator for Conflict Resolution</a></b> by Tamara Muruetagoiena.