1.4 What is human rights community-led development? Overview Human rights community-led development supports communities to develop the power, skills, knowledge and experience to undertake initiatives of their own to address the human rights issues that affect their lives. A HRCLD approach places the emphasis on process – on working alongside communities so that they identify for themselves their concerns and priorities and they develop their own ways of addressing them. The fundamental components of a human rights community-led development approach can be facilitated with any group, agency, and community. Its strength lies in being an approach that • encourages full participation among members of the community, • encourages the community to take ownership of work around human rights, • and builds capacity and confidence among individuals and groups so that they can apply human rights in their work and daily lives. Rather than being a service or training approach to human rights capacity-building where a NHRI is seen as ‘the leader/provider’, HRCLD is about facilitating processes and structures that encourage the community to take the lead. What do we mean by this? For much of its work, NHRIs operate from a ‘top-down’ approach. They are guided by a set of functions that are established internationally and are mandated to ensure that certain rights and obligations are promoted, protected and fulfilled. Human rights community-led development is a ‘bottom-up’ approach where communities are the ones who decide what matters to them, what is troubling them and what they can do about it. A bottom-up approach is more likely to result in: • community ownership • trust in, and openness with the NHRI • lack of dependency on the NHRI, and • sustainable outcomes. HRCLD is about a ‘bottom-up’ approach. It involves the community holding the power and making the key decisions, not the NHRI. A HRCLD approach also recognises ‘insider’ perspectives, emphasising that the experiences, values and knowledge of community members take precedence. As an outsider to the community an NHRI has a legitimate interest and an investment in it, but the emphasis is not about the NHRI or its mandate. There are also insider groups within the community such as women, disabled, or children. A HRCLD facilitator works to ensure that these diverse perspectives, including those that may be silenced by dominant voices, contribute equitably to the community decision-making processes. HRCLD is about valuing insider perspectives, recognising that these will be diverse and include sometimes conflicting viewpoints. Long-term, human rights community-led development, if facilitated effectively, can result in: • strengthened community resilience, cohesion and self-reliance • increased equality, inclusion and non-discrimination, and • improved economic, social, cultural, civil, political and environmental conditions. APF HRCLD Guide 17