Entrants's Name: Shulamith Koenig

Country: United States

Field: Community Development

Innovation - idea: The holistic human rights framework prescribes a participatory way of life to which most nations have made commitments and undertaken obligations that assures economic and social justice, but people for whom these human rights have been adopted do not know about them. The human right cities are a microcosm of the world where people learn about human rights as a way of life and use the acquired knowledge as a powerful tool for action for all to belong in dignity in community with others.

Innovation - why it is pioneering: Human Rights are viewed by most as a litany of violation and not a meaningful strategy for development providing a moral and political world view protected by law. Capacity building through human rights learning, as relevant to people’s daily lives, moves people to engage in societal development in dignity and equality for women and men alike with systemic analysis and critical thinking that all are capable of.

Strategy - how it achieves impact: A steering committee in a human rights city representing the full spectrum of civil society community leaders and the authorities, the police and the judiciary plan the learning strategies , map the violations and realization of human rights in the city and examine the laws, policies, resources and relationships in the city. Alternative budgets are drawn by the neighborhoods guided by the human rights framework, for which lobbying strategies are drawn , for all to become agents of change.

Strategy - growth plans: Twelve human rights cities are already in development in Latin America, Africa, Europe and North America. Plans are being drawn to facilitate the development of 20 more cities in the coming two years. These are being attended to only when there is genuine interest, commitment and collaboration in the city itself for the women, men, youth and children in the community to have full ownership of this program. The program gains viability through the social responsibility being manifested in the city

Impact to date: One example: Children in Thies Senegal learning that education is a human rights asked If ‘education is a human rights that belongs to all why their neighbors do not go to school?” They were told that the parents of these children did not register them when they were born. In a city of 250,000 inhabitants, cadres of 12 to 16 year old children went form house to house and registered 4312 children and the lobbied for more school rooms and teachers. More on our website http://www.pdhre.org/projects/hrcommun.html

Future impact: We except to have at least one human rights city in at least 100 countries from where the practical knowledge about human rights as away of life will radiates to the rest of the country and where people continuously develop creative an viable pedagogies, strategies and methodologies to have all people in the world know human rights as a way of life. This accompanied by developing a new vocation: human rights learning at the community level, i.e. the training of thousands of community leaders to bring the message, the promise and actions necessary to realize human rights.

Sustainability - resource base: Most of our resources come form Northern government and the Human Rights Cities themselves raise finds for specific projects within the program. Small amounts are granted by PDHRE to jump start the program. Much of the work is undertaken by volunteers who take great pride in maintaining the reputation and contribution that their experiences can bring to their immediate surrounding and through the network of human rights cities to the world. The whole idea of a human rights city is built on partnerships and collaborations.

Major challenge for the field: That we have no other option but human rights!! That all people must know human rights as a ay of life if we are to work to overcome poverty, inequality, patriarchy and degradations…-- for all to realize humanity's expectations and hopes.

Contact Information:

Name: Ms. Shulamith Koenig - Founding President
Mailing address: 526 WEst 111th Street, 4E
Country: United States
Email: pdhre@igc.org
Tel: 1-212-749-3156
Fax: 1-212666-6325
Website: www.pdhre.org

Bio: Shulamith Koenig - founder of PDHRE, People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning , recipient of the 2003 United Nations Award for Outstanding Acheivments In The Field of Human Rights She is the Founding President of PDHRE, the People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning –formerly known as- People’s Decade for Human Rights Education- which she had founded in 1988 with the goal of creating --in the words of Nelson Mandela --a new political culture based on human rights—and to enable women and men alike to participate in the decision that determine their lives, people belonging in community in dignity with others..

To that end, Ms. Koenig had - as a strategy for human, social and economic development advocated and facilitated, in more the 60 countries, dialogue, and training to effect societal change through learning about human rights as a way of life, and enhance critical thnking and systemic analysis within a holistic human rights framework that leads to action for social justice., for all.

-worked successfully to have the UN declare a Decade for Human rights educations and develop international public policy to enhance these learning worldwide. - initiated the “Human Rights Cities” program to demonstrate the rpacircal vaue of he vison and mission of human rights now working to develop 30 human rights cities and train 500 young community leaders as human rights educators to strengthen democracy as a delivery system for human rights.

For more then 20 years she worked as an industrial engineer. With her husband Jerry they manufactures water saving products for irrigation and water systems. She published numerous articles, training manuals , and supervised the publication of Passport to Dignity –a comprehensive volume in the human rights of women