‘HRDs in action’ is a photobook that portrays the grassroots human rights defenders of the social justice centres in action.
Community-based organisations (CBOs) in Kenya have had exponential growth in recent years, and have become the engine of Kenya’s human rights movement. These CBOs have made impressive strides in pushing the human rights agenda and bringing more and more people into the movement. PBI aims to contribute to the strengthening of this community-based movement and enhance the ability of the HRDs to handle internal difficulties like burnout, stress, and conflict, increase their ability to analyse their risks and to implement security and protection strategies, raise their ability to bring issues of human rights violations, and solutions, to the national debate, by advancing in their advocacy capacities and building of networks. The project further aims to contribute towards the building or improving relationships between social justice centres, local and national authorities especially the police and members of the international community, as well as to improve the relationship of social justice centres with community members.
Over the last seven years, PBI Kenya has established great collaboration with the members of the social justice movement. Amid perpetual reports of violations and abuses, they have remained at the heart of campaigning for a free and fair society by protecting and promoting human rights. Essentially, they form an extremely vital and robust group in upholding the rights of all. PBI Kenya is glad to have worked with them and opened up spaces for peace through local and international advocacy, security training and through mentoring sessions and psychosocial support sessions.
The photobook was produced with the support of the German Federal Foreign Office’s funds by ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), Funding Programme zivik.