Jamaican Researcher

Empowering Community Residents as Human Rights Advocates

The Social and Economic Justice (SEJ) Project (of which there are various reports on the My Reports page) attempts to empower community residents and leaders about economic and social rights (ESR) and prepare them to be active change agents in the development process.

In light of this the SEJ Project sought to:

1. Educate community residents about human rights,
2. Gather primary data about their living situations and experiences realizing ESR, and
3. Equip residents with the skills necessary to participate in and execute advocacy and community mobilization.

The slideshow below shows residents of local communities actively engaged in advocacy to national leaders about ESR–the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Alvin McIntosh and the Minister, Hon. Pearnel Charles–of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security in July 2008. Community leaders got an opportunity to articulate needs, challenges, and fears in relation to disability rights, youth unemployment, limited access to credit, etc. They were informed of the new initiatives and plans of the Ministry in addressing some of the issues that they raised.

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