Human Rights Education A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions 3.2.1. A planned, strategic and resourced human rights education programme A successful human rights education programme moves individuals beyond knowledge into action. In order to achieve this, the programme needs to be strategic, cooperative and leveraged.58 An NHRI doesn’t have the resources available to meet a country’s human rights education requirements. Its human rights education programme therefore can maximize its impact by identifying and focusing on priorities, partnering with others involved in human rights education and motivating and enabling others to be human rights educators. The key aspects of a good human rights education programme include: • a focus on researched, assessed and prioritized human rights issues • contributing to the NHRI’s strategic direction and priorities, including identifying where it can make a unique contribution and have the most significant impact • attention to both the formal education system and the non-formal sector • human rights curricula and resources that are: –– participant-focused –– well researched, current and constantly revised –– inclusive and accessible –– socially, culturally and spiritually grounded and contextualised • internal expertise and capability in formal and non-formal education methodologies, processes and tools • collaboration with others through informal or formal partnerships, perhaps as part of the development of a national human rights action plan or a national human rights education plan • a focus on duty bearers, rights holders and influencers • a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation mechanism.59 3.2.2. Skilled human rights educators The role of the [human rights] educator is to present to people in a challenging form, the issues they have raised in a confused form. Mao Tse Tung As there is not an internationally recognised competency set for human rights educators, the following are offered as a high-level guide. These competencies are in addition to generic attributes a human rights educator may be required to have, such as project management, leadership, information and communications technology, self-management and relationship management. The competencies are divided into three groupings: • Knowledge competencies – what the human rights educator needs to know about. • Technical and professional practice competencies – what the human rights educator needs to be able to do. • Personal competencies – the personal traits that the human rights educator brings to their work. 22 58 National Human Rights Institutions: History, Principles, Roles and Responsibilities; Professional Training Series No. 4 (Rev. 1); OHCHR; 2010; p. 55. 59 A framework to measure the impact of education and training programmes has been developed by the International Council on Human Rights Policy. See Assessing the Effectiveness of National Human Rights Institutions; 2005; pp. 35-38.