Current Activities
In June 2007, equalinrights initiated an online discussion series with practitioners in our network to exchange experiences and expertise on advancing HRBD. Practitioners from different continents and backgrounds gather online for one-day debates on a variety of issues.
Equalinrights works with a variety of community actors and civil society organizations (CSOs) in East Africa to support their use of participatory, human rights-based methodologies and tools, deepening understanding of human rights, citizenship and accountability.
In early 2006, equalinrights was commissioned by the Justice and Peace Commission of the Netherlands to develop an advocacy and research resource centre to advance the cause of the Dalit communities and others discriminated against on grounds of descent. This project is designed to redress the gap in systematically and scientifically gathered data on descent-based discrimination.
Equalinrights is a member of the Human Dignity and Human Rights Caucus, a flexible coalition working to ensure human rights issues and values receive due attention within the WSF. Equalinrights held a number of events in Nairobi, Kenya for WSF 2007 and more recently contributed to the WSF 2008 Global Day of Action. Next up is WSF 2009 in Belem do Para, Brazil! Read more about equalinrights' contributions to WSF 2008 and WSF 2007.
How can learning about human rights as a way of life, through all sectors of society, be best introduced and used for effective economic and social transformation to affirm dignity and achieve justice and equality? Equalinrights and PDHRE hosted a retreat to explore this question in October 2007. Equalinrights‘ network is currently exploring follow-up proposals to stimulate learning and action for transformational learning around human rights as a way of life.
Completed Activities
Making Rights Real: Strategies and tools for realising human rights-based development
October 2007: Equalinrights organised an interactive event for more than 35 human rights and development practitioners at the University of Utrecht. The event aimed to highlight current pressing challenges to implementing human rights-based development (HRBD), deepen participants’ understanding of one another’s work and explore opportunities for building greater collaboration.The daylong exchange included two case studies on the power of upstream, citizen-driven initiatives for change and a participatory theatre exercise during which participants used images to express current realities about development and convey visions for a better future. During the afternoon portion of the programme, participants broke into working groups to explore local, national and international level challenges and strategies for strengthening HRBD. Key themes that emerged from the day included the importance of starting from local priorities and knowledge, a call for greater integration of human rights and development work, and the need for more accountability of all development actors, including NGOs. Read the event report!
June 2007: Every person has the human right to food. But what does that mean in practice? With FoodFirst Action and Information Network (FIAN Netherlands), equalinrights organised a workshop on how the Right to Food can be made more practical, using the Voluntary Guidelines as a mobilisation tool. Flavio Valente, Secretary General of FIAN International and former National Rapporteur on the Right to Food in Brazil, shared his experiences.
November 2006-February 2007: Equalinrights, with Oxfam-Novib Nairobi, raised funds for and organised a process to support exploration of the meaning, relevance and potential use of HRBD in Somalia/land. It sought to do this in a more engaged and active way through a powerful and creative rights-based tool of empowerment and mobilisation, i.e., participatory video-making (PV).
