Tools for Rights was a project funded by The Legal Education Foundation. The project aimed to educate women’s organisations on current equalities and human rights legislation enabling them to use the legislation to challenge public sector decision making. Tools for Rights also aimed to raise public and women’s sector awareness of how to implement the spirit of equalities legislation in service delivery, so creating a fairer more equitable society.

To achieve this, WRC:

• Created an engagement video and conducted focus groups / a roundtable discussion to explore gaps in current knowledge and involve project beneficiaries in the co-design of the project delivery.
• Developed online training and resources portal – a secure log-in site that leads the participant to a personalised dashboard that will guide them through the learning process and provide them with resources and support along the way
• Delivered online training for women’s organisations, and also made this available to others from the public, private and voluntary sectors. This training was designed to develop a basic understanding and familiarity with equalities and human rights legislation.
• The online training was consolidated by face to face specialist training with women’s organisations and their partnerships and

We expected we would engage 20 organisations, but interest exceeded expectations and there were over 70 registrations.

What were the outcomes?

The project created:

An initial teaser video to engage interest:

Following that: 4 online modules - an overview; section on human rights; section on equalities; module on how to use this information to influence or campaign; webinar that had 150 viewers with 6 submitting questions; a personalised dashboard for accessibility and engagement; an open access online area for women's organisations to share information and engage in discussion; activity quizzes and learning recaps; a comprehensive resources library and glossaries at the end of each module and supportive face to face training.

The project increased understanding of legislation in the women's voluntary sectors through the education provided by online resources, training and interactive discourse and provided development of thought leadership on equalities and human rights.