Structure and knowhow (Aim for Human Rights)

Introducing a practical structure and increasing know how

Aim for human rights has three strategies for fulfilling its bridging role between human rights and daily practice. One of these is capacity development. ‘Capacity development has become a policy spearhead. Our biggest success to date in the human rights and business programme is a focal point in South Africa which helps companies with human rights analyses,’ says Hansje Plagman, senior staff member of the Human rights and business programme at Aim for human rights.

‘This programme provides advice to Dutch companies which work in developing countries. For example, we organise training sessions on the basis of the Human Rights Compliance Assessment,’ explains Plagman. ‘That is a manual which provides indicators which help companies assess what the situation is in a particular situation or on an issue, such as child labour and what can be done to improve the situation.’

Capacity building

The Human Rights Compliance Assessment is one of the results of Aim’s tool development strategy; the development of manuals which Aim contributes to. Another strategy focuses on advocacy: lobbying and promotion, in short everything required to bring human rights to the right target groups' attention. The capacity building strategy is primarily concerned with what is required to accumulate, share and apply knowledge.

In recent years, Aim in collaboration with PSO, has worked hard on capacity development. ‘Some five years ago, capacity building was still in its infancy. Although Aim worked on capacity development before by for example supporting the professionalization of the so-called 'family member committees' for the disappeared in Asia and Latin America,’ Plagman explains. ‘Or the Balkan project which was based on the Mensenrechten van vrouwen (Women's human rights) programme, that tackled the theme of domestic violence. However, we wanted more support and reinforcement for our activities. Our PSO membership helped us think about capacity building in a structured manner.’

‘During the preceding years, Aim had undergone some changes. It was clear that we had to professionalise. Obtaining a structural subsidy gave us the room to further develop our organisation and methods. First of all, we inventoried all the knowledge already present within the organisation and which lessons could be learned from the past. This was recorded.’

Preparatory phase

The inventory revealed that the preparatory phase for supporting local human rights organisations had to be very thorough. Plagman: ‘We learned to carry out better needs assessments among organisations that might be interested in what we had to offer: assessing needs and interests on the basis of meetings and questionnaires constitutes the basis for further developing the project. We also learned to estimate the project's impact on the basis of the preparatory phase better. A very structured approach in other words, not ad hoc, but nevertheless practical.’

Although the existing know how has since been recorded, this does not mean that Aim has started using standard models. Plagman: ‘Every situation is different. We tailor our work to suit each project.’

Results

Has capacity building led to good results? Yes, says Plagman. ‘The best example and the human rights and business programme's biggest success was the creation of a local, independently operating, focal point in South Africa. This is a secretariat that can provide further support to the human rights and business project. The focal point provided all its own basic funding and acts as a contact for local organisations and companies. For example, they advise on and provide training in the use of local versions of the tools. These allow South African companies and multinationals to analyse their heir organisations as far as human rights are concerned.’

According to Plagman, partner organisations have responded enthusiastically: ‘Aim listens to what they want and has received positive feedback. Structurally increasing know how, the opportunity to share knowledge and the cooperation with PSO have contributed to us being more professional and much more conscious of our role.’

Read the follow-up story of AIM on structure: Consciously dealing with roles leads to a more effective organisation.