ACDHRS holds Training the Trainers Programme, Seeks to Foster enhanced Collaboration between CSOs and African Human Rights Commission

The African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) is currently holding its Human Rights Training of Trainers programme in Arusha Tanzania. The event brought together leaders and representatives of various Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in a bid to equip them with the tools to effectively advocate and secure the rights of people in their respective jurisdictions.

The programme seeks to train these future trainers on the participation in and engagement with the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights. It is an initiative of the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) with support from the African Commission for Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR), International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU), the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, and the Open Society Foundations (OSF), among other partners.

The capacity building initiative aims to build the capacity of the selected participants and offer them the opportunity to participate in and engage with the regional human rights mechanisms in Africa in a bid to promote contextual understanding and fast track the commission’s response to human rights issues.

The goal, according to Hannah Forster, Executive Director at the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS), is to strengthen existing partnerships between NGOs, CSOs, journalists, and human rights organisations across the continent.

She added that strengthening existing partnerships is also crucial for implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relating to human and people’s rights, and especially the rights of vulnerable members of society.

Representative and Programme Manager of Women in Mining Nigeria, Deloraine Dennis noted that it was important to gain such crucial insights and knowledge which can then be passed on to members of the association and equip them to better seek the protection of their rights, as well as redress when such rights are denied.