The Dorothy Cotton Institute

Building Global Community

for Human Rights Leadership

Dorothy Cotton Institute 2010

Our Vision:

The full realization of a just and peaceful beloved community in which all people

understand, respect, protect, and exercise

full human rights.

Our Mission

• To develop, nurture and train leaders for a global human rights movement.

• To build a network and community of civil and human rights leadership

• To explore, share, and promote practices that transform individuals and communities, opening new pathways to peace, justice, and healing.

Why focus on human rights?

• Beyond the on-going struggle to exercise constitutionally guaranteed Civil Rights in the US, people are currently struggling for their full human rights, both in the US and around the globe.

• While there are over 2 million organizations working world-wide and a tremendous amount of activity in the area of human rights, there is no “center” and no universally recognized sense of a national or global “movement”.

• DCI wants to bring visibility, interconnection and strength to local, national and international work for human rights.

Human rights are:

• The basic standards without which people cannot live in dignity.

• Generally accepted principles of fairness and justice.

• those freedoms and entitlements  a person is due simply because he or she is a human being.

Some Categories of Human Rights

Personal & Collective

Struggles for Justice

•Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR-1948)

•The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

•The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

•Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1969)

•Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (1981)

The Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Forms of Treatment or Punishment (1987)

•Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990)

•Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007)

•The Declaration of Human Duties and Responsibilities (1998)

Key Elements of the International Human Rights Framework

Environmental Rights

• There are conventions on climate change and environmental rights that are now being crafted by the United Nations.

• Some people are discussing drafting a declaration on the rights of the earth.

Human Rights Education is:

• A comprehensive lifelong process by which people at all levels of development and in all societies learn respect for the dignity of others and the means and methods of ensuring that respect in all societies.

• All learning that develops the knowledge, skills, and values required to fully exercise and protect human rights.

Key DCI Components

Education, &

Leadership Development

AnnualGathering

Education & Visitors’ Story

Center

Youth Development

Fellowships &

Think Tank

Beloved Community

Website

The Citizenship Education Program (CEP)“The Best Kept Secret” of the Civil Rights Movement

• A critical, but often overlooked, component of the Civil Rights Movement’s overall organizing strategy.

• CEP played a foundational role helping disenfranchised people recognize their own capacity, intelligence and power, and transform themselves from a stance of “victims” to full “citizens.”

• 1956-1961: Citizenship Schools began on Johns Islands, South Carolina and grew from there, supported by the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee.

• 1961-1970: CEP sponsorship moves to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and spreads throughout the South. Led by Dorothy Cotton, Andrew Young, Septima Clark, Bernice Robinson, and others.

Dorothy Cotton Institute 2010

recognition that

human rights are

being denied

learning that our rights are codified in

treaties and laws

connection with others

who care about justice

sharing "how things are" & "how things

ought to be"

healing from

oppression,

regaining self-

esteem & personal power

inspired to action to secure

rights for self and others

Share Stories & Aspirations for Transformatio

n

Our Theory of Change

Learn about Civil & Human

Rights

Join a Learning

Community of Peers

Share Strategies &

Mutual Support

Dorothy Cotton Institute 2010

Share Stories & Aspirations for Transformatio

n

Take Action, Leadership, & Inspire Others

Levels of Transformation

PERSONAL•Move from the role of “victim” to “agency” in one’s life

INTERPERSONAL•Practice non-violence to build a Beloved Community, where all are treated with love, compassion and respect, and our humanity and dignity are affirmed.

COMMUNITY•Build our community’s capacity to work for social justice.

INSTITUTIONAL•Take collective action to transform institutions, policies and laws.

Dorothy Cotton Institute 2010

CEP Core Principles

Affirming human dignity and strengths

Learning in and through collective action

Living democracy in classrooms and programs

Dorothy Cotton Institute 2010

Dorothy Cotton Institute 2010

Core Principles: Living Democracy in Classrooms & Programs

• Use interactive,

participatory,

inclusive methods.

• Minimize the

hierarchical

distance between

teacher & students.

• Use question-

posing to support

dialogue & critical

thinking.

• Ask learners what

they want to learn.

• Help students see

themselves as

collective “experts”.

• Use student-directed, participatory action research.

• Offer experiences for self-discovery & building relationships.

• Encourage sharing students’ multiple cultural perspectives.

• Foster peer learning and teaching; process learning in groups.

•

Citizenship Education Program Citizenship Education Program OutlineOutline

• Building community and the moral case for change

• Seeing how the status quo is maintained

• Understanding that we have rights

• Creating a vision for change

• Preparing for leadership & effective action

• Ongoing support and movement building

Dorothy Cotton Institute 2010

Ongoing Support & Movement Building

• Share what we’re learning—Share what we’re learning—

information & strategiesinformation & strategies

• Build a knowledge base Build a knowledge base

about what’s workingabout what’s working

• Share struggle—bring Share struggle—bring

attention to problems & attention to problems &

initiatives, here & elsewhereinitiatives, here & elsewhere

• Share resources—support Share resources—support

one anotherone another

• Share networks—connect Share networks—connect

people to each otherpeople to each other

• Build LeadershipBuild Leadership

• Build a Global Movement: Build a Global Movement:

Sustainable Justice, Sustainable Justice,

Sustainable ChangeSustainable Change

Dorothy Cotton Institute 2010

• Helping to meet future learning needs

• Developing and supporting leaders

• Supporting school—community teams– Sharing what people are

learning together & from each other

– Trouble-shooting

• Generating Ideas for– Building democratic

classrooms & programs

– Innovative school – community partnerships

• Strategies to get others involved

• Movement building• Documentation

– What impact is HR Education having

• on students?• on teaching staff?

– How is the community benefitting?

– What is working best?

• Build the knowledge base.

Dorothy Cotton Institute 2010