Rights-based Campaigning: Developing strategies, forging solidarity
Open Space/CCDS 10 day seminar workshop

Outline:

The ‘Rights-based Campaigning: Developing Strategy, Forging Solidarity' Workshop was an attempt to bring together human rights activists and development workers on a common platform to discuss how they can surmount the tough ethical and human rights obstacles encountered in their endeavors, by employing and advocating a rights-based approach to development. The primary goal is to dialogue and analyze the need to effect principled social change throughout the global and national arena that solidifies rather than fragments our common experiences of exclusion, struggle and resistance.

The workshop provided a forum to explore concepts related to social justice, human rights and law in development, in which the participants located their work, unraveled challenges and shared strategies. The workshop was an opportunity to discuss approaches and methodologies to develop campaign strategies, to discuss their strengths and limitations and contribute ideas towards a Human Rights Campaigning Manual that CCDS/OS will publish.

Methods:

To concretize the discussions in relation to issues of strategies, participants were introduced to fundamental and advanced concepts of human rights law and the rights-based approach to development through interactive discussion sessions. These sessions were conducted with the aid of selected readings, films, case studies and group activities.

Although the course focused on some specific movements/ campaigns for examination, all the modules were discussed with reference to existing movements/campaigns and the participants contributed to the discussions by sharing their experiences of having done developmental work and developed human rights campaigns.

Participants:

There were a total of 14 participants. The profiles were diverse: social workers, doctors, lawyers, psychologists, environmentalists and lawyers.

Resource Persons and the sessions they conducted:

Amitabh Behar, NCAS, Pune – Building a Campaign Strategy

Bhargavi Davar, Bapu Trust, Pune – Mental Health and Human Rights

Jaya Sagade, ILS Law College, Pune – Campaign against Child Marriages in India

Manisha Gupte, MASUM, Pune – Campaign against Sex-selective abortions in India

S.P. Sathe, IALS, Pune – Judicial Activism and Public Interest Litigations

Abhay Shukla, SATHI-CEHAT, Pune – Right to Healthcare and the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan

Oishik Sircar, Human Rights Lawyer, Pune/Kolkata – rest of the sessions

The valedictory lecture was delivered by Flavia Agnes, Majlis, Mumbai. (Close to a 100 people attended the lecture).

Outcome:

The participants of the workshop contributed towards a Rights-based Campaigning Manual that OS/CCDS will publish.