Political Advocacy Program in Human Rights

The Political Advocacy Program in Human Rights (PIPDH, for its Spanish acronym) is dedicated to promoting and strengthening strategies for the protection of human rights in Mexico. The PIPDH was created in 2003 after the Fund for Global Human Rights and a group of Mexican human rights advocates convened to analyze the needs within the human rights movement in Mexico. They identified that one of the movement’s principal obstacles was the lack of advocacy tools that local organizations had.

Political Advocacy Program in Human Rights

The PIPDH was created in response to these organizations’ needs with the idea of providing training workshops in the field and to provide technical support to groups organizing political advocacy campaigns. The PIPDH is coordinated by the Proyecto de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales (ProDESC, Project for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) and funded by the Fund for Global Human Rights. PIPDH’s Leadership Committee members are: Ana Paula Hernández, an international consultant; Miguel Ángel de los Santos, Red de Defensores Comunitarios de Derechos Humanos (Community Defenders of Human Rights Network) from Chiapas; Mónica Jasis, Centro Mujeres, A. C., de Baja California Sur (Women’s Center )from Baja California; Alejandra Ancheita, Proyecto de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales (ProDESC, Project of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights); and Edgar Cortez, an advocate in various human rights organizations in Mexico. In its first two years of operation, thirty organizations from the Mexican states of Chiapas, Guerrero, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Oaxaca, Guanajuato and Distrito Federal participated in these workshops. The workshops provided them with support in starting projects to generate concrete impacts regarding the protection of human rights in these states.

Now in its third year, the participating organizations are from the states of Chihuahua and Coahuila. Until now, the program has organized three workshops in collaboration with international consultants and members of ProDESC.

Program Objetives

• To build capacity and provide participating organizations with tools to identify opportunities to impact the human rights situation at the local, regional and national level.
• To facilitate coordination between organizations through participation in the program.
• To develop strategies that allow participants to take advantage of best-practices and the successful experiences of other participants in formulating their organizational agendas.
• To increase the capacity to develop common goals for reforms, coordinate campaigns, and create initiatives to share resources, experience and skills.
• Provide training and technical assistance in strategic planning and communication in campaign management.