About Equalinrights
Equalinrights is an international non-governmental organisation that initiates, guides, co-ordinates, supports and documents learning processes for bottom-up or upstream realisation of human rights. We aim to strengthen the capacity of development practitioners to create and use bottom-up methodologies and strategies to mobilise human rights concepts for societal transformation. Our ultimate vision is to enable people living in poverty and exclusion to better organise, strategise and act to assert their human rights.
Pooling knowledge, resources and expertise in using HRBD to help partners, both North and South, Equalinrights supports analysis and action at the grassroots level for social and economic justice, and works to redress:
- The dominance of top-down or 'downstream' human rights practices
- The lack of understanding of how human rights can be effectively used in development
- Poor understanding of bottom-up or 'upstream', and
- The inadequate number and capacity of practitioners to support effective learning processes to enable communities to better assert their human rights.
Established in August 2005, Equalinrights initially operated as a project of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights for its initial two years (August 2005 - August 2007) and later as a foundation in the Netherlands from September 2007. We have a small, central structure of an Executive Office and Steering Committee. Much of the direction for our work comes from human rights-based development practitioners with whom we work.
Our Principles
In addition to the principles of the human rights-based approach (HRBA), important principles by which we operate are:
Learning:
Learning is the core of our work. We do not see learning in the traditional sense but more as a dynamic evolving process of continuous reflection and action based upon the experience of people in their daily lives.
Relationships
Relationships must be sound, sustainable and long term. We see ourselves as relationship builders, forging links between individuals and groups in order to enhance learning.
Innovation
Innovation is central to strategy and transformation. We hope to recognise the gaps and opportunities, and enable the freedom and flexibility for ourselves and other actors to address and respond to them.
Participation
Participation is the key to change. We expect people to have the freedom and opportunity to participate in their own future and drive the development agenda. In this respect we work with those who empower the most impoverished and excluded in our global society.
Central values by which we work
Equality of peoples, knowledge and resources
Accountability between and amongst people, groups, organisations, corporations, institutions, governments and states
Empowerment of the most poor and excluded
Respect in the recognition of people to take responsibility for their own lives, see a positive future and having the ability to reach it.
