Human rights are universally embraced as essential in building democratic societies and promoting human dignity. Yet many governments deem human rights to be a luxury that cannot be indulged or a nuisance that must be silenced. Whether abusive governments and their cohorts will be successfully challenged in the future depends in large part on the efforts of on-the-ground human rights defenders. The Fund raises and distributes resources to human rights organizations in places with great need and minimal access to funding. The Fund is seeing human rights activism through to its next phase, where human rights groups around the world amass the skills, experience and financial resources to establish themselves as a countervailing force to abusive actors.
The Fund for Global Human Rights gives both funders and activists a tool they have never had before. For donors, the Fund offers a way to help vital and developing human rights organizations to strengthen their institutional capacity, forge new initiatives, and pursue far-reaching strategies to promote human rights. Specifically, the Fund:
- Leverages the resources of foundation and individual donors with others to achieve greater impact and expand the reach of human rights funding;
- Provides a cost-efficient way for large foundations to deliver resources to small human rights groups that fall outside their regional and thematic areas of focus or below their funding level screens;
- Enables smaller private foundations and individual donors to make grants in this area without needing themselves to investigate, screen and monitor grants in other countries; and
- Gives donors access to on-the-ground advocacy, a diversity of human rights perspectives and activities, knowledge of timely and emerging issues, and a role in helping human rights groups effect critical social change.
The Fund offers a number of advantages to the advancement of human rights work over and above the very important goal of increasing support for local organizations. Through its international board and network of advisors, the Fund provides a central place to bring together the key players in the human rights field. Board members and advisors offer a broad global rspective and expertise, and are able to strategize about the allocation of a larger pool of funds and coordinate existing funding to achieve less duplication and fill gaps. The Fund is well-positioned to develop strategies and programs to advance particular issues, work in a specific trouble spot or place of opportunity, and to invite others to join in its support.
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