Grantee name: The Women’s Human Rights Education Institute (WHRI)

Mission: The Women’s Human Rights Education Institute (WHRI) is a program of the Centre for Women’s Studies in Education (CWSE) at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT).

At WHRI participants from around the world can learn in-depth about the theory and praxis of women’s human rights. Participants develop a practical understanding of the UN Human Rights system and how to apply a women’s human rights framework to a multiplicity of issues, as well as developing the skills to execute human rights education workshops.

Initiated in 2004, WHRI was created by feminist jurist and activist Alda Facio, Founder and Executive Director of the Programa Justicia, Mujer y Genero of the UN Latin American Institute for Crime Prevention, Justice, and Treatment of Offenders of Costa Rica.

The Institute integrates in-depth learning about the UN Human Rights system, with a particular focus on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), with wider feminist understandings about the gender bias inherent in the law, feminist understandings of the impact of globalization on women’s human rights, and with training in facilitation and workshop techniques to ensure replication of the training around the world.

The full institute runs for six weeks, with a team of international and intergenerational facilitators who bring considerable experience and expertise regarding the law, education, activism and positive social change. For those who cannot attend for the full six weeks, the one-week “CEDAW for Change” module offered in collaboration with International Women’s Rights Action Watch-Asia Pacific is opened up for additional participants.

The Institute is run in partnership with the Fundacion Justicia y Genero based in Costa Rica and the International Women’s Rights Watch Asia Pacific based in Malaysia.

Location: Toronto, Canada

Website: learnwhr.org

YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/user/TheCwse

Channel Grants: Channel has made grants to support the participation of several women’s rights activists from various countries around the world for the six week Women’s Human Rights Education Institute: Building a Peaceful World in an Era of Globalization, (July 19th – August 26th, 2010 and May 2-June 10, 2011) and the CEDAW for Change one week institute (August 16-20, 2010 and May 16-20, 2011) at the University of Toronto. (2010, 2011)