Human Rights in the Community Project

About the Project:

From BIHR’s experience of working with communities, we know that human rights knowledge can be dynamite in their hands. It shifts the balance of power, increasing people’s confidence to challenge decisions, negotiate solutions and have a greater say in the provision of public services in their local community.

‘Human Rights in the Community’ is an exciting three year project (April 2010 – March 2013) that aims to empower individuals and communities with human rights know-how and support them with a range of practical tools and resources, tested by pilot organisations in their everyday work. We are delighted to lead this project in partnership with EREN. www.eren.org.uk

Year 1 was spent laying the foundations for this project. We ran free learning events, chose 3 community pilots and worked closely with them building their knowledge and skills. The pilots cover a fascinating range of people from disabled artists to full time carers and environmental activists. Read about the first year of the project in our project e-update.

To learn more about the pilots, follow this link.
 

Year 2 is all about action! Now skilled- up and fired- up, the pilots are implementing human rights interventions in their own communities with BIHR’s ongoing support. From posters to performances, guide books and Local Authority guidelines, this looks to be a dynamic year. To read more about what is happening this year follow this link to our e-bulletin.

Using the Arts:
We are maximising the use of photography, film and arts by people we are working with, to communicate human rights in an accessible and inspiring way! Expect poetry, art and even human rights rapping this year (see Daniel, below - our human rights rapper). If you would like to send us any photos or short videos in support of human rights, please get in touch with Sonia (see details below) and we can add you to our upcoming gallery!

We have also been working with a community arts organisation in London called Songololo-Feet that has been using traditional screen printing to speak out for human rights. To read more about this follow this link to our news page.

Wider activities

We are also working with a wide range of regional and national support bodies, to ensure mainstreaming, sustainability and national policy impact. We are doing this through our policy influencing work, project advisory group and through a series of free national human rights road shows across the country. To learn more about the open events we held in year one and what people had to say about it, you can read our concise report, available here.

To find out about our activities this year, including the national roadshows, read our recent e-bulletin for Year 2.

Tools and information

Throughout the project we will road-test and produce a wide range of innovative tools, and information, tested and jointly developed by the pilots. So far we have produced:

• A free e-guide for communities which explains in simple terms how human rights work in practice and the kinds of issues they relate to. It also has tips to get you started and a sign- posting page for more information.
• An interactive web resource that will act as a ‘one-stop-shop’ of human rights information as well as a forum for sharing learning. The starting point for this resource is our new online toolkit on the Human Rights Act
• This autumn we will produce an online publication called ‘Changing Communities’ which will feature real case studies and useful information and resources from the project to date.

Also coming up this year:

• A human rights guide book for Carers
• A guide to using human rights with Local Authorities
• A Human Rights Poster for community groups
• Online Video diaries and photo gallery
• Art exhibition (Northumberland)

Evaluation:

We are working with Community Links to assess the impact of human rights on the pilots and also of our wider activities. We are tracking the development of people’s knowledge, confidence and application of human rights and are seeing some green shoots. To read about the impact during year one, follow this link to the Year 1 Impact Report.

We are exploring a range of participatory data-gathering techniques, such as video- diaries and photo-mapping exercises, both because they are more accessible and a more interesting way to document the pilots learning–journeys. We will be posting some video diaries soon.

Details of the project activities will be updated on this page as the project develops.

How can I find out more or get involved?
If you are interested in the project, please sign up to our project mailing list. We will circulate details of any upcoming events, the pilot projects and any new tools or resources developed as part of the project, as well as regular project updates.

For general enquiries about the project, please contact the project officer, Sonia Omar on somar@bihr.org.uk or 020 7549 0557.

The project is funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.