volunteer
Syndicate content

Thoughts of a long time New Tactics volunteer

satwood's picture
Posted April 7th, 2010 by satwood

I know the staff at New Tactics and at CVT, I feel appreciated, I know that they are doing great work and I consider it a privelege if I can use my own particular variety of skills to help in the work. It is not the individual tasks that I do in any one week that bring me this kind of satisfaction but feeling that I am involved in the bigger picture with an organization that is doing such important work with so few resources. The tactics that New Tactics shares with human rights activists around the world are such a testament to the innovative human spirit and underline how we are all connected by universal issues and not limited by nationality, gender, race or religion.

notebook: Side by Side: Protecting and encouraging threatened activists with unarmed international accompaniment

In this notebook we learn about how an international organization called Peace Brigade protects targeted organizations by sending accompaniment of international field workers.  This accompaniment allows these organizations to continue to fight human rights abuses while making it harder for governments to target them because of the international presence.

notebook: Making the Global Local: Applying Global Agreements to Local Enforcement of Human Rights Laws

In the human rights field there is often a gap between local human rights abuses and the international laws and treaties that are meant to prevent these abuses.  The League of Human Rights Advocates in Slovakia recruits members of a disenfranchised population and trains them to become human rights monitors.  These monitors watch for human rights abuses in their own locality and then translate international human rights laws and apply them to their local situations.

notebook: Expanding Access to Justice: The Instituto Pro Bono in São Paulo

Until a few years ago, there were no legal firms in Brazil that offered free services to people in need. The Pro-Bono Institute has created a new legal tradition in São Paolo, convincing major law firms to donate their legal services and connecting them with NGOs in need of legal services. The Institute has recruited about 140 lawyers and is offering a variety of free services to all kinds of NGOs, including support for important human rights cases.

notebook: Engaging Key Stakeholders: Ensuring the right to HIV/AIDS education and health care services

In this notebook, we learn about how the development agency CARE-Bangladesh involved key stakeholders, particularly a transport workers’ union, in the task of HIV/AIDS prevention in Bangladesh. This story provides important insights into engaging key stakeholders in advocacy work that is socially acceptable and relevant to the lives and experience of target communities.