The benchmark of Huron Banke, and one of the objectives of the partnership with MS is our volunteers, LHRA's (local human rights activists). Youths from the villagers in the district are trained in human rights in order to raise the awareness in the community. After the training they are expected to go out and talk to people, telling them about their rights. They also work as watchdogs for us in the community, and occasionally as mediator in cases of violations. The strength of the LHRA is that they are local people, they are known in their community, now who to talk to, and hear what's going on. Since Huron started this, the general monitoring we perform has become much more effective.
This is the third and last time this training is taking place in Banke district, the district of Nepalgunj. However other branches of Huron have seen the benefits and are starting similar training. The next step for us is evaluation, what difference have they made in the villages, and how can we go on from here. This is the next work for Huron, finding the strengths and weaknesses of the LHRA's, giving them further training if they need, and developing their strengths to claim HR performance by the authorities.
