Collaborate with The Advocates for Human Rights!
As an organization that promotes human rights on a global scale, collaborative partnership is integral to the work of The Advocates. One way The Advocates partners with other nongovernmental organizations is through producing joint submissions to the United Nations on violence against women, use of the death penalty, and LGBTI rights, among other topics. The Advocates also collaborates with multiple diaspora communities in the United States. For example, The Advocates partnered with the Oromo diaspora to create a report that documented experiences of community members that have faced human rights violations throughout three political regimes in Ethiopia.
The Advocates encourages other communities and organizations interested in collaborating to connect with us at any time. The Advocates recently created some materials to make it easier for organizations that want to collaborate to initially reach out.
The Collaboration Request Form aims to increase effective outreach and make the process of asking to partner with The Advocates more accessible. Organizations and communities that want to learn more about opportunities to work jointly with The Advocates are welcome to fill out the form. The form asks organizations to provide information about the timing of the proposed collaboration, goals and needed resources, and specific issue-area(s) of focus for the partnership.
In addition, The Advocates is currently creating a series of brochures and will share these materials at conferences, committee meetings, and other events that representatives of prospective partner organizations may attend. These documents provide information about the mission and work of The Advocates, and concrete steps to become involved. These brochures identify opportunities to connect and provide a direct link to the Collaboration Request Form.
Together, the Collaboration Request Form and the brochures create more opportunities for consistent, structured, and accessible outreach to other organizations, communities, and individuals who are committed to the mission of protecting human rights. In turn, The Advocates can more efficiently organize responses and follow-ups with interested organizations.
The Advocates' model is collaborative and inclusive. The Advocates provides many different opportunities for partnership. For collaborative projects, partner organizations identify their own priorities, and The Advocates provides them with technical assistance and capacity building to support their work. The Advocates supports organizations by providing customized trainings and workshops (both in-person and web-based), assisting with fact-finding and reporting on a variety of human rights issue-areas, and offering pro-bono legal assistance to support capacity-building for partner organizations.
Through working on the Collaboration Request Form during my internship this spring, I learned that building effective partnerships is a long-term process and providing consistent opportunities for collaboration is essential for human rights work. I hope my work will lay the foundation for many new organizations to partner with The Advocates.
Interested in finding out more information about partnering with The Advocates for Human Rights? Click here.
By Rachel Stromsta, a Macalester student majoring in Political Science and Human Rights & Humanitarism and a 2019 intern with The Advocates for Human Rights' International Justice Program.
