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Community work

Community Programme: 2022-2025

The Community Programme is funded by the Baring Foundation for three years from May 2022 – May 2025. The aim of the project is to deliver on BIHR’s Strategic Aim 2: to strengthen the agency and voice of community groups and voluntary groups to address social justice issues using human rights. The programme has six different phases which will repeat annually in what we’re calling a project cycle.

We are currently working with six community partners on solutions that will be launched in December 2023.

How we will run the programme

  1. Learning and data collection: From the start we will use an evaluation framework to help us understand what difference HRA advocacy can make for Community and Voluntary Groups (CVGs) and people.
        
  2. Launch event: In December, each year we will hold an event to share and reflect on the learning of previous cycle and launch our upcoming programme. This event will be an annual route into the work, engaging more and new CVGs each year.

  3. Awareness-raising workshops: An application-based programme of bespoke, introductory online workshops for up to 20 CVGs; to learn more about the practical use of the Human Rights Act, and how the legal duties and rights can be used to challenge the social injustices and disadvantage the CVGs are seeking to change.

  4. Community Support Solutions: Programmatic partnerships supporting longer-term social change through human rights advocacy/approaches. Annually we will work with up to 5 CVGs to co-design human rights support solutions to integrate HRA advocacy into their ongoing work to tackle a specific issue/area.

  5. Summer School: We will pilot this as part of our hub activities which would fund places for small CVGs and help sustain our hub activities longer-term.

  6. Remodelling of BIHR’s Know Your Human Rights self-advocacy tool: To help support a network of our partner CVGs to sustain learning and practice, and to share this with wider groups.

The 2023 Programme

Our work in 2023 will include Awareness Raising workshops and design of a “Community Support Solution”. This follows a pilot project in 2021.

Our Community Programme aims to strengthen the agency and voice of community and voluntary groups (CVGs) to address social justice issues using human rights. Each phase will empower Community & Voluntary Groups (CVGs) with knowledge of their legal rights, and use this to create human rights change locally in a practical, relevant and accessible way.

The programme follows four exciting phases, outlined below.

Learning & Data Collection

We have used an evaluation framework to help us understand the difference that HRA advocacy can make to Community and Voluntary Groups (CVGs) and people, looking at our 2021 pilot project.

Launch Event

We held a launch event of the Community Programme on 8th December, for Human Rights Day 2022. We shared information and learning from our Community Pilot.

Awareness-Raising Workshops for your Community

This is an application-based programme of bespoke, introductory online workshops for up to 20 CVGs across the UK. These are for CVGs staff and the people they work with to learn more about the practical use of the Human Rights Act, and how the legal duties and rights can be used to challenge the social injustices and disadvantage they are seeking to change. Find out about the impact of the 2023 workshops on our impact page.

Design a Community Support Solution

This stage supports long-term social change through human rights advocacy and approaches. BIHR will work with up to 5 CVGs to co-design human rights support solutions to integrate and embed HRA advocacy into their ongoing work to tackle a specific issue or area.

Our 2023 Community Partners

We’re very pleased to announce the five partners working with us in 2023:

All Wales People First: A self-advocacy umbrella body for people with learning disabilities across Wales.


All Together Dignity & Fourth World UK: An anti-poverty human rights organisation working on the Young Voices Project led by young people with experience of poverty and social services interventions. 

My Life, My Choice: A self-advocacy organisation based in Oxfordshire and entirely led by people with learning disabilities.


Families in Trauma & Recovery:  A peer-led mental health organisation that offer training and one-to-one support.


Migrants Rights Network:
A campaigning organisation that fights for the rights of migrants and equality and justice.


Fair Justice System for Scotland: A grassroots-led legal charity based in West Calder advocating for greater racial equality and diversity in the Scottish justice system.


We’ll be working with each community over the coming months to produce human rights-based solutions to issues they tackle every day. We’ll share the solutions publicly in December 2023 but stay tuned for updates along the way!

Carers Scotland Workshop Participant

"It is essential you go to this session as you will learn valuable information in your role as a carer in securing your rights."

Scottish Autism Workshop Participant

"In terms of advocacy support, the session provided snowballs for parents to throw!"

Disability Wales Workshop Participant

"Do it even if you don't think you have the time, you'll likely learn something you didn't know."

Rock Trust Workshop Participant

"This session made me realise we can all ensure human rights are respected, and I have the power to challenge public authorities when they are now!

Dates-n-Mates Workshop Participant

"Many attendees went on to think about how they can protect their human rights in their own lives after relating to some of the examples in the workshops."

Rock Trust Workshop Participant

"A total eye-opening, empowering game-changer."

Families, Friends & Travellers Workshop Participant

"I left with a lot more knowledge about human rights than I had when I entered, and I'm surprised I didn't know a lot of this before."

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