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Empowering children with information, skills and formal structures to advocate for their own rights

The Concerned for Working Children (CWC) facilitates the establishment of formal structures that allow children to advocate for their own rights.  Makkala Panchayats, Task Forces, and working children unions to promote children’s political participation in their communities.  Makkala Panchayats are children’s village councils that participate in the development of the village and that address the children’s concerns.  Task Forces are comprised of children and adults who work together to link the children and the local governments.  Working children unions are of and by working children.  The unions are powerful advocates of the rights of working children.  These tactics of organization-building empower working children to take part of the political space and decision-making process in their communities and help to eradicate child labor.

notebook: Together We Are Stronger

Peru’s Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos (National Coordinator for Human Rights, CNDDHH) is globally recognized as one of the most successful and effective coalitions in the world. This notebook analyzes the characteristics of a strong coalition and shows how to successfully fight against an authoritarian government, like that of Fujimori in Peru the 1990s.

notebook: The Human Rights Education Program for Women in Turkey

In this notebook we learn about how effective and beneficial building collaborative relationships with government institutions can be to advancing human rights education. Women for Women’s Human Rights (WWHR)-New Ways in Turkey gained the support and use of government resources for furthering human rights education of women at the local level.

notebook: The Power of Place: How historic sites can engage citizens in human rights issues

In this notebook we learn about how museums are innovating ways to keep history alive so that the public can remember and talk about what happened in the past.  The International Coalition of Historic Site Museums transforms places of passive learning into places of active citizenship and engagement.

notebook: Sending Out an SMS: A rapid-response mobile phone network engages a youth constituency to stop torture fast

In this notebook text-messages and short message services are used to engage young people to quickly stop torture.  Amnesty International-Netherlands recognized that text-messaging was an easy medium to use to reach out to youth.  It was successfully used to protest torture when the Democratic Republic of Congo arrested a journalist. 

notebook: Recipe for Dialogue: Corporate training for building relationships with Indigenous communities

This notebook describes how two US nongovernmental organizations developed training to increase the capacity of companies to build more effective relationships with indigenous peoples.  First Peoples Worldwide and Business for Social Responsibility sought to bring the rights of indigenous peoples to the forefront and encourage businesses to do the same.

notebook: Public Audiences: Creating Space to Recognize Victims of Internal Conflict in Peru

This notebook describes the tactics that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Peru implimented to give a voice to victims of governmental human rights abuses.  The purpose of the commission was not an investigation, rather Public Audiences provided victims the opportunity to tell their stories and rewrite history in a sense to include the abuses they suffered.

notebook: Rebuilding Communities: Training trauma survivors to help communities heal after atrocities

In this notebook we learn about how the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) created local and and long-term capacity building projects in Guinea and Sierra Leone.  The CVT trained local refugees to be "mental health specialists" and gave them the skills to begin to rebuild their communities.  This notebook may provide tactical ideas to those assisting these communities trying to rebuild their lives.

notebook: Powerful Persuasion: Combating traditional practices that violate human rights

In this notebook, we learn about some of the most difficult human rights violations to eradicate–customary or traditional practices based on deep-seated beliefs, particularly those with a spiritual dimension. Respected leaders–at local and national levels–engaged in direct dialogue with perpetrators, victims, other community leaders, and the community at large to facilitate understanding of the practice, while providing alternatives and avenues for abandoning the practice without losing status.

notebook: I'll Walk Beside You

In this notebook we learn about the the process of creating 'briefers' to accompany victims during the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).  These 'briefers' aided victims before, during, and after they testified by providing psychosocial support and legal support.