You can use our online Tactical Mapping tool to generate a human rights-based problem statement. The tool provides an easy to use template for exploring issues. It can also help you test and refine your problem statement. Your team can bring different perspectives together and edit your statement to reach agreement. Alternatively, you can…
Facilitate a Team Discussion
If you are unable or do not want to use the online tool, use the questions below. These questions will assist your team in reflecting on your priority issues by:
- Exploring the various views and approaches your team may have about these problems.
- Choosing one priority focus area of the problem for your team’s advocacy effort.
- Ensuring your team agrees on the problem focus.
A clear problem statement helps you share what your advocacy efforts seek to change. This will focus your attention in the next steps of the method to create meaningful change.
Use the following questions to develop your own problem statement:
1. What specific human rights problem would you like to address?
Refine a broad problem to a specific facet of that problem.
Example: The broad problem of “illiteracy” might be refined to one part of an education issue. This might be a “high female drop-out rate” in your community.
2. Where is this problem taking place?
Although a problem may exist everywhere, specify a location where you want to focus your advocacy efforts.
Example: Choose a specific location in a defined place. This might be “urban poor communities in Galkayo, Somalia”. This is a specific place located in Somalia. This helps direct your group’s efforts.
3. What group is directly impacted by this problem?
Many people may experience the human rights problem you identified. Identify who is most marginalized, excluded, or impacted by the problem. This will help you better understand the problem. And will help you decide how you would like to address the problem.
Example: This could be “girls aged 6-16”.
4. What two people in a face-to-face relationship most closely represent the problem?
This is a very important question. We forget to consider someone’s experience whose right is being violated. This is the victim of the violation. A violation takes place because of the actions of another person. This is the violator of the right. Reflecting on this question gives us new ideas for how to address the problem. This violator may not have the power to address the problem. But that person is violating the other’s person right or access to that right.
As you discuss this face-face-relationship, be sure each of these must be an individual. Neither the victim or the violator can be a group or an institution.
Example: a girl, age 13 OR [Person’s Name]. The person whose right is being violated or prevented.
Example: her father OR [Person’s Name]. The person who is violating or preventing the right of the victim.
5. What do you think is a root cause of the human rights violation?
There are many root causes. Consider a root cause that your group’s mission or work seeks to address. Consider political, legal, economic, cultural, social systems, structures, or other conditions. What root cause might your organization be best able to address about the violation?
Example: We could identify the lack of child protection laws. Or the poor economic conditions or male dominated social structures. Or we could select the low value of girls with cultural expectations they provide domestic labor.
6. What is the human right that is being violated?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides a foundation for your advocacy. Many rights are likely to apply to a violation. It is impossible to advocate for every right at the same time. Select the right that advances your group’s mission while addressing the problem. The right you select will guide your advocacy.
Example: We selected the “Right to Education”.
An advocacy plan of action requires a specific and concrete place to begin. Use your answers to the questions above. Based on your answers, you can make a clear problem statement. The online Tactical Mapping Tool can create a problem statement for you. Use the tool to edit a clear problem statement that your team and others will understand. It generally follows this format:
Due to __ in __, the problem of __ is resulting in __ having their right to __ denied.
The tactical mapping tool used the example information above to make the following problem statement:
Due to cultural expectations that girls provide domestic labor in poor urban communities in Galkayo, Somalia, the problem of high female drop-out rates is resulting in girls aged 6-16 having their Right to Education denied. An example of this problem is the personal relationship between a girl, age 13, and her father.
Use the Tactical Mapping Tool to test, create and refine your own problem statement. Click below to learn about creating your strategic vision.
