Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA)
Date: 6-9 August 2013

Aims of the HREA Advocacy Institute

The HREA Advocacy Institute is an annual advanced training program for staff members of NGOs and inter-governmental organizations that have a human rights mandate. The training aims to equip participants with the necessary knowledge and understanding of critical concepts and exposure to skilled-based advocacy methods and tools to reflect on and strengthen their own work.

Programme overview

The HREA Advocacy Institute consists of a series of intensive workshops on advocacy planning and implementation for human rights work. Over the course of the 4-day training, participants will gain increased skills, knowledge and understanding in: visioning; contextual analysis; problem/issue identification; analysis and prioritization; power mapping; goal/objective setting; analysis of advocacy arenas and strategies; message development and delivery; media engagement; use of ICTs and social media; public outreach and mobilization; lobbying and negotiation; advocacy leadership and coalition building; assessment of success; and accessing the UN human rights framework.

The workshops will be held with the Advocacy Institute trainers and resource persons each day from 9h30-15h30. In the afternoons and evenings, participants will have the opportunity to meet with advocacy and program staff of local non-profit organizations and universities and to attend the HREA evening program.

Programme format

Please note that this is a tentative schedule. Given that this is a customized training program, the final agenda will reflect the specific needs and experiences of the participants. A final agenda will be available closer to the date of the training.

Training methodology

The training is based on a participatory, active learning approach, with an emphasis on peer-to-peer learning.  

Advocacy Institute trainers

Valerie Miller has worked in advocacy, international development, gender and human rights for more than thirty years. She has collaborated with grassroots organisations, NGOs, and international agencies in many capacities -- as an organiser, trainer, advocate, evaluator, and researcher. Over the past twenty years, she has been policy advocacy director at Oxfam America, director of policy and exchange programs at the Institute for Development Research, and advisor and associate of a wide variety of organisations including the Global Women in Politics Program; Women, Law and Development International; and the Highlander Center. She has taught courses on advocacy under the auspices of the University of Brasilia and New Hampshire University. Dr. Miller holds a doctorate in adult education and she has published numerous articles and books on issues of advocacy, development, education, and politics.

Frank Elbers is Executive Director of Human Rights Education Associates (HREA). He has twenty years of experience in development and human rights in post-communist Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. He joined HREA in 1998 and has been an instructor and trainer for courses and workshops on advocacy, gender mainstreaming, human rights-based programming, monitoring children's rights and monitoring women's human rights around the world.

Participant profile

Staff of international human rights, social justice, international development, and intergovernmental organizations are encouraged to apply.

Tuition cost: US$ 775 (non-residential).
The cost of tuition includes: the 4-day training program, lunches and coffee breaks throughout the training, a training pack with hard copies of all training materials, access to the 2013 Advocacy Institute webpage including electronic copies of training materials, a course certificate upon successful completion of the program, a reception on the final evening of the HREA Advocacy Institute.

Accessibility

HREA seeks to ensure its training programs are fully accessible for persons with disabilities and that everyone is able to participate on an equal basis with others. HREA seeks to identify and prioritize a wide range of factors related to accessibility in developing the training program, preparing the training materials, and selecting of the training venue and off campus site visits. We ask that you please write to us directly with any questions or concerns about this aspect of the training program, as well as the specific forms of accommodation you may need.

Registration

The Advocacy Institute is limited to 30 participants; participants are accepted on a first-come-first-served basis. Participants are expected to arrange their own travel insurance and visas (as relevant) for travel to the U.S. The registration process has closed.

Accommodation

Participants are responsible for organizing their own accommodation. Single occupancy, air conditioned rooms are available on the Lesley University campus from 5-10 August 2013 for approximately US$ 465. The rooms are available on a first-come first-serve basis, and we encourage you to book your accommodation as soon as possible if you will need it.

To book accommodation on the Lesley University campus, please complete the application: http://www.lesley.edu/PageTemplate.aspx?id=3263 and send it by email to: ResLife@lesley.edu or post to: Lesley University Summer Housing, 9 Mellen Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. Please contact HREA with any questions.

It is no longer possible to register.

For enquiries about the 2014 edition, please e-mail advocacy-institute@hrea.org.

HREA launches annual Advocacy Institute (6 August 2013)