Rights Advocates – The Breakthrough Leadership Programme

(1) Mission
(2) Types of Rights Advocates
(3) Activities
(4) Tools for Change

Introduction Section

“Women’s rights are human rights. Women are equal to men in all respects and we need to respect ourselves as human beings and only then will men and our own families treat us with respect. The process has to start from self and for me it started today.” ~ female Kashmiri student during a training on domestic violence.

MISSION STATEMENT Back to top ↑

The Rights Advocates program uses participatory training and capacity building to engage and educate members of not for profit and community based organization and the Indian youth on issues such as gender and sexuality, HIV/AIDS stigma and domestic violence. It strives to create a holistic and sustainable change process by enabling the Rights Advocates to lead dialogue in their communities and create a human rights culture.

There are two kinds of Rights Advocates: Back to top ↑

• Youth Rights Advocates: The Youth Rights Advocates program includes men and women aged 18 to 24 who complete a comprehensive year-long training program addressing issues such as sexuality, gender, HIV/AIDS, and domestic violence all through a human rights lens. The Trainings provide the youth with capacity and awareness building to empower them to become leaders in their own communities.
• Community Rights Advocate-based Groups: Working with hundreds of community-based groups, the Community Rights Advocates program has directly trained almost 3,000 individuals who then reached over 38,000 people. Working in six Indian states, from Karnataka to Jammu and Kashmir, Breakthrough’s local partners include community-based groups, livelihood and poverty alleviation organizations, amongst others.

Tools for Change Back to top ↑

Breakthrough has also published four educational and interactive guides that Rights Advocates use in their training. Extensively researched for training best practices, each activity encourages open dialogue while providing valuable information about human rights, gender, sexuality, domestic violence and HIV/AIDS for youth.

1. Rights Advocate: A Resource Guide on HIV/AIDS Awareness covers topics such as “Sexuality and Gender,” “Basics of HIV/AIDS,” and “Human Rights Issues and HIV/AIDS”. The approach is youthful and fun, with an emphasis on interactive sessions where the participants learn from each other under the guidance of an instructor. The guide has energizers, group activities, and quizzes, creating an inclusive and friendly resource to engage a wide variety of people and maintain their interest.
2. The 2003 publication, Strength in Action: An Educators’ Guide to Preventing Domestic Violence is a powerful tool to engage young people in addressing domestic violence. This comprehensive resource contains sections that provide an introduction to basic human rights principles; describe factors that contribute to violence in the home and its consequences; and concludes with prevention strategies.
3. Another resource is Rights and Desire: A Facilitator’s Manual to Healthy Sexuality, a manual that focuses on sexuality in the Indian private and public sphere. Rights and Desire invites people to explore healthy and respectful sexual practices that respect the human rights values of dignity, equality, compassion and justice through exercises, discussions and multi-media.