From April 28 to May 1st, the Defenders in Development campaign is organizing an in-person global gathering in Tbilisi, Georgia. If you are interested in join us, please register here before February 15.
The “Defenders Exchange on Development Finance” will bring together human rights defenders and advocacy groups engaging on development finance and civic space issues. Through information-sharing, capacity building, and strategic planning activities, this meeting will be an opportunity to strategize together on how to:
– press development financiers to address risks to human rights defenders;
– push back against shrinking space for civil society and public participation.
Objectives
During the gathering, participants will:
- strategise on ways to advance our collective agenda, reflecting on the achievements so far and setting objectives for the next years;
- exchange tools, skills and resources for gaining access to information, influencing development activities and addressing security risks for defenders;
- share experiences around specific development projects and development-related human rights issues;
- discuss risk analysis and protection strategies, in the context of development projects;
- identify key advocacy and capacity-building opportunities, and a plan for concrete activities going forward.
The expected outcomes will be:
- increased linkages between advocacy groups and human rights defenders
- stronger coordination at the global level;
- a joint plan on how to go forward over the next few years.
A Planning Committee, composed of around 10 human rights defenders and civil society experts from all over the world, will be defining the agenda for the gathering, but any input is welcome, so get in touch if you have any proposal!
Please note the Defenders in Development gathering is taking place just before the Asian Development Bank Annual Meetings. We will share further information soon, but we will be closely working with our members (such as NGO Forum on ADB and CEE Bankwatch Network) to plan some joint activities on the last day of the gathering, with a specific focus on the ADB.
Logistics
If you would like to join us, please complete this registration form by February 15, 2024.
Please note that we’re looking to ensure global coverage, but spaces and funding for participants is limited. Priority for funding will be given to participants from the Global South. Due to space restrictions, we may not have place for all those who register. In that case, together with the Planning Committee we will be selecting participants prioritizing geographic/gender diversity, but also on a first-come first-serve basis. Self-funding participants will be also asked to make a contribution (exact amount still to be confirmed) to help cover some of the costs of the event.
A bit of history
The Defenders in Development campaign was officially launched in 2018, after a first meeting in Tbilisi where a group of around 60 people ( including HRDs, protection organizations, bank-watchers, and some representatives from the UN) met to discuss issues around reprisals, civic space and development finance, and to define some initial objectives and main focus areas for the campaign.
In 2020, we developed a collective online process to set together the objectives and main priorities areas for the three following years (check this document to read about the 2020-2023 objectives).
Now we’d like to take stock, reflect on what we achieved and get some new momentum around the campaign. This is why in November 2023 we started a new objective-setting process, with an initial online survey to set the scene and start identifying some possible priority areas. We hope that the gathering in Tbilisi could be a key moment to boost the campaign and define collectively the next objectives.
If you have any question, please email the Defenders in Development campaign’s team at the Coalition for Human Rights in Development: Mark Fodor (mfodor@rightsindevelopment.org), Dalile Antunez (dantunez@rightsindevelopment.org) and Lorena Cotza (lcotza@rightsindevelopment.org).