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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

In this notebook, we learn about efforts to integrate and maximize knowledge from traditional and western healing methods to reintegrate child soldiers into communities devastated by war.

The Centre for Victims of Torture (CVICT) in Nepal instituted a tactic to circumvent the problem of police abuse through a process of rights-based community mediation. The tactic trains local people as mediators and resources to their communities on basic laws and human rights. In addition, it has served as a vehicle to empower women to become community leaders by addressing their individual and collective needs.