Sample Project Proposal for NGOs – Promotion and Protection of Human Rights

Human rights are basic rights that humans have by virtue of being humans, regardless of age, sex, race, ethnicity, religion, or any other differentiating factor. These are the standards to protect the dignity of an individual and grant basic rights that enable a basic tenet by which we live in a society.

Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination. Searching for the proposal on Human Rights? Want to get assistance in your proposal based on Human Rights? Are you a non government organization? Want to work towards the promotion of Human Rights? Get a detailed look at the sample proposal.

The project seeks to promote and protect human rights in the Gambia through an integrated approach, wherein children, adults, and the elderly will all come together. The proposed project will help in strengthening the human right movement in the Gambia. The project will facilitate in sensitizing the marginalized communities about the various government schemes and policies that would empower them.

The objectives of the proposal is to sensitize and raise awareness of the local population and marginalized communities on human rights and strengthen knowledge sharing and advocacy campaigning community-based organizations that represent the marginalized communities to help in strengthening the human rights.

Brief background of the organisation, including goals and current programme focus

Established in the year YYYY we are trying to create a society that respects and provides equal rights to all its members. Our dream is to see every member of society have access to quality education, healthy life, and a society free of exploitation and violence. The mission of the ABC human foundation is to empower people by equipping them with knowledge so that they can improve their socio-economic status and participate meaningfully in the development of society.

Project Purpose

The project seeks to promote and protect human rights in the Gambia through an integrated approach, wherein children, adults, and the elderly will all come together.

Target Area and beneficiaries/stakeholders

Marginalized communities- women, girls, widows, children, people with disabilities etc.

Total budget requested and duration

USD XXXX for a period of 3 years

Project background

The Gambia is the smallest country in mainland Africa and is located in West Africa. It gained independence on 18th February 1965 and achieved the status of a Republic on 24th April 1970. The country is currently going through a political and economic transition following democratic elections, which ushered in a coalition government led by President Adama Barrow in December 2016, effectively ending a 22-year dictatorship. Despite the efforts of civil society and the international community, the government has so far failed to pass a new Constitution.

The current state of the country’s legal landscape reveals that few constitutional and statutory provisions, as well as judicial decisions (case law), discriminate against women and girls, directly or indirectly. Furthermore, the country also witnesses trafficking of women and girls, both for commercial sexual exploitation and domestic servitude. Young boys are often exploited for forced labor and begging. Several oppressive laws are in practice that are restrictive in nature for the marginalized communities, journalists and media.
Human rights are basic rights that humans have by virtue of being humans, regardless of age, sex, race, ethnicity, religion, or any other differentiating factor. These are the standards to protect the dignity of an individual and grant basic rights that enable a basic tenet by which we live in a society. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination. Despite continuous efforts to enable human rights across the globe, there are regions and communities that struggle to secure human rights for themselves.

The proposed project will help in strengthening the human right movement in the Gambia. The project will facilitate in sensitizing the marginalized communities about the various government schemes and policies that would empower them.

Objectives (not more than 3 objectives )

• • Sensitize and raise awareness of the local population and marginalized communities in the Gambia on human rights and global conventions through media, publications, and events.
  • To strengthen knowledge sharing and advocacy campaigning community-based organizations that represent the marginalized communities to help in strengthening the human rights movement in The Gambia.

Activity plan (Please identify the main activities, and detail their sub-activities and timeframe.)

• • Research and Knowledge Creation: The first and foremost step will be to conduct an in-depth research on the status of the marginalized communities and the existing schemes and policies for the protection and promotion of human rights. Our research time will undertake an in-depth study of the social, economic, and political situation of the marginalized groups (People with Disabilities, Women, Widows, and Elderly) in The Gambia. The following sub-tasks have been planned:
    • Secondary Research: As part of the secondary research our research officers will collate and analyze existing data and studies on the state of the marginalized groups in The Gambia. Data will be sourced and synthesized from the internet, journals, textbooks, government archives, and libraries. All the data and information will be sourced only from authentic links and papers. To get verifiable data and insights we will be also be visiting government archives and if required we shall also purchase necessary datasets and published literature.
    • Primary Research: Primary research helps to find relevant and accurate information and also fill in the data gaps in the secondary research. We will be using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research to get reliable, accurate, and consistent results.
      • Quantitative Research: This will focus on getting numerical data and statistics like numbers, percentages, distribution, etc. concerning human rights indicators. The following methods will be used to collect the information:
        • Online surveys
        • Face-to-face interviews
        • Telephone interviews
        • Online polls.
      • Qualitative Research: This will focus on getting non-numerical information on human rights. The qualitative research will help to get detailed information on the plight of the marginalized groups based on the researcher’s observation of the people. The following methods will be used to collect data:
        • Direct observation
        • Open-ended surveys
        • Focus group discussions
        • In-depth interviews
        • Case studies
        • Document review
        • Film-making and photography
    • Data analysis: Data collected will be analyzed using the following steps:
      • Data processing- All the information will be organized using excel sheets.
      • Necessary checks will be done on the data and irrelevant data will be excluded.
      • Different tools will be used for analysis so that we can identify correlations between different parameters.
    • Report compilation: Once the data has been analyzed, we will compile a report. The report will be developed in formats that are simple to use and understand.
    • Mass Awareness on Human Rights: Towards empowering the local communities and empowering them to demand the protection of their human rights, we shall be organizing mass awareness camps on human rights and global provisions/ programs for the promotion and protection of human rights. Human rights activists both national and international individuals will be invited to conduct these sessions. All the sessions will be conducted in very simple and easy-to-understand language. We shall also be recording these sessions so that they can be shared with the masses and other organizations. The main objectives of the awareness sessions will be:
      •  raising awareness and building capacity
      • education and legal empowerment
      • strengthening community solidarity

Human rights awareness will be achieved through a series of camps, lectures, and interactive workshops on essential and elementary legal laws. To make the awareness programs effective we shall also be using other methods like – Roadshow, radio talks, street and theatre play, publication of relevant books, periodicals, posters, and charts that deal with particular laws, distribution of pamphlets, brochures, and stickers, display of paintings.

• • Sensitization of Marginalized Groups: Our organization will conduct a series of sensitization workshops for the identified marginalized communities. Different sections of the community have different issues and struggles and therefore the workshops will be designed to cater to the needs of each vulnerable group. We will be conducting the following workshops.
    • Workshops for organizations working on human rights: There are several NGOs in the Gambia that work on issues pertaining to human rights. We will be conducting sessions for these organizations for them to improve their understanding of human rights.
    • Workshops in Schools and Colleges: Towards making children aware of human rights and also to their rights as children and youth, we shall conduct awareness sessions in schools and colleges. We will discuss issues impacting children and will ensure that children are aware of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
    • Workshops for Women: These workshops will specifically target women and will help raise awareness on gender-based discrimination and structural barriers hindering women’s leadership roles in economic activities in households, communities, and labor markets in the local context. There are several laws that are discriminative towards women and girls which need to be repealed. These workshops will help in empowering the women to demand their basic rights and also enable them to fight against discrimination.
    • Workshop for People with Disabilities: To support people with disabilities and make them aware of their rights, we will be organizing these workshops. We shall discuss in detail the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol. Through the workshop we shall reaffirm that PWDs must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms. If required we shall also help them to contact organizations working with PWDs.
    • Training and Capacity Building of Rights-Based Organizations:
    • To enhance the outreach of our program, we will be working with other rights-based organizations in the region. We shall be training organizations working towards promoting and protecting human rights. These training courses will be organized both online and also offline to reach out to the maximum number of organizations.
  • Training for Journalists and Media Professionals: Media and journalists need to report issues on human rights. Training will help them in understanding the value of human rights reporting, which will further lead to creating systems that promote and protect human rights. The following will be covered as part of the training:
    • Introduction to human rights
    • Types of Rights and their importance
    • Journalism understandings, skills, and tools for better reporting
  • Training for paralegals: Recognized members of the community will receive training as paralegals. These paralegals will provide the necessary information, mediate between those involved in a conflict, or refer them to the appropriate authorities, in the event of human rights violations. We shall provide necessary handholding support and also oversee the work of these paralegals to ensure that the advice they offer is of the right quality.
  • Advocacy campaigning: Advocacy will be the most important aspect of the project as it will help in influencing the opinions and decisions of people and organizations regarding human rights and reducing discrimination against marginalized communities. Advocacy will play an important role in creating and changing the policies, rules, and regulations for the acceptance of marginalized communities within the community. For the advocacy campaigns, we will be engaging with like-minded organizations and will conduct meetings with parliamentarians, politicians, senior government officials and public servants, private sector leaders. We shall also involve journalists and the media, development agencies and large NGOs to make impactful changes in the discriminatory socio-cultural and regulatory frameworks.
  • Knowledge Sharing: All the reports generated during the project will be developed into knowledge products and will be shared with the communities at large. To help the people we shall be establishing a resource center that will also serve as an educational and library for people who are interested to learn about the history and the global movement of human rights. All the reports will be made available on the internet so that it can be referred by people.

ACTIVITY PLAN

Brief Evaluation Plan

Monitoring and Evaluation tools are important for any project as they help in ensuring that the planned results are achieved. Regular feedback from identified marginalized community members/ groups and organizations will be done on a bi-monthly basis. Data will be collected by questioning the participants and noting down their comments and reactions. This will provide accurate information on how the project is operating and its success or failure on the ground.

We will engage internationally acclaimed leaders and human rights activists to evaluate the project and also to help us in refining the project activities as and when required. These consultations will be done through virtual meetings during which these leaders will assess the project against predetermined criteria and evaluate how the project is delivering the various outputs.

Budget

Budget outline: Please give sub-heads to each of the main expenses accordingly, providing explanations and details.