Non State Actors
Developing the Capacity of IRCT Member Centres to Deliver Holistic Torture Rehabilitation Services through South-South and South-North Peer Supervision and Support.
This project is now in its second year of implementation and will run until end 2012 with an overall budget of EUR 2.6m against the EU budget line for Non-State Actors and Local authorities in Development. It is expected that over 10,000 torture victims will benefit from the work of the project partners in 11 centres, namely CRAT-Cameroon, ACTV-Uganda, SACH-Pakistan, MAG-Philippines, Survivors Associated-Sri Lanka, EATIP-Argentina, CAPS-Peru, CCTI-Mexico, Restart and KRC-Lebanon and TRC-Palestine. Regional Coordinators are in regular contact with the partners to discuss the activities, prepare work plans and centre budgets and provide input on the implementation of activities.
In the first project year partners participated in 15 exchanges focussing on health rehabilitation or organisational management. The second year’s exchanges are now underway and include one collective exchange, a Media and Advocacy Workshop open to staff from all partner centres that took place in London in May. Other topics for exchanges in the second year include rehabilitation monitoring and evaluation, best rehabilitation practices, documentation of torture, data collection and financial management.
In the first project year four regional seminars were implemented. The seminars were hosted by EATIP-Argentina, Survivors Associated-Sri Lanka, KRC-Lebanon and ACTV-Uganda respectively. Each seminar included sessions on the region’s strategy and the sharing of lessons learned during the exchanges. An additional thematic seminar was hosted by EATIP.
This year’s regional seminars will take place in the third and fourth quarter of the year and will be hosted by CRAT-Cameroon, MAG-Philippines, CAPS-Peru and Restart-Lebanon. Furthermore, one thematic seminar is planned to take place in the MENA region and at least two thematic seminars are planned to take place in Latin America.
The project also focuses on livelihood development, the social-economic support necessary for holistic rehabilitation, Partners are employing a variety of approaches, either in cooperation with livelihood organisations or alone, with or without external support for capacity development. Some are already implementing these services, others are in the final stages of preparation. Two Latin American partners have made plans for the provision of legal, economic and social support to victims of torture.
The secretariat has also monitored and given input to the partners’ advocacy plans, as the project includes coordinated advocacy for national governments to ratify and effectively implement UNCAT and OPCAT. Various advocacy and lobbying activities have already taken place, including awareness-raising workshops targeting government officials, police officers, civil society organisations and the general public. Lobbying at the regional and international level continued, with secretariat and project partner staff participation in the 49th session of the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and NGO Forum, supported by staff from Prawa-Nigeria and CAPREC-Senegal.
The project includes a sub-grant scheme for the project partners to further develop capacity or implement activities building on the lessons learned through other project activities. Implementation of these activities is progressing as planned. Some partners are integrating the sub-grant budget with their livelihood development activities to create a larger synergy effect of the project’s activities. Other partners are planning to participate in conferences, enlist support to develop and implement a new fundraising strategy.
