Background to the Project

The Defending Rights Project began in 2008. Since then it has carried out a range of initiatives aimed at increasing the involvement of the non-environmental voluntary sector in climate change issues. The earlier stages of the Project focused on  initiating cross-sector discussions as well as developing a training programme tailored to Human Rights and Refugee NGOs.

The "Climate Refugee" Roundtable

Set up jointly by COIN and Jean Lambert MEP in 2008 the “Climate Refugee” Roundtable brought together professionals from a range of key organisations to discuss emerging concerns about climate change and forced migration.  Climate change was off the radar for most human rights and refugee groups and COIN was concerned that environmental groups were moving into work on this issue heedless of the refugee and human rights sectors’ experience.  The roundtable grew from 6 – 36 participants over the course of a year and was lucky to have input from a great range of organisations including:  The Refugee Council, Refugee Action, Asylum Aid, Amnesty International (IS), Amnesty International UK, UNHCR London, Migrant Rights Network, International Institute for Public Policy Research, Refugee and Migrants Justice (formerly RLC), PRAXIS, PANOS London, WWF, City of Sanctuary Sheffield, the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Christian AID, The World Development Movement (WDM), OneWorld, and The Evelyn Oldfield Unit.

The Roundtable met for the last time in January 2010 and the discussions laid an important foundation for the recent launch of the UK Climate Change and Migration Coalition.
 

Training for Refugee and Human Rights NGOs

In 2009/10 COIN ran a dedicated programme of work with a few of these organisations including the Refugee Council, Refugee Action, Asylum Aid and Amnesty International (IS). Funding from the Baring Foundation allowed us to develop a sector specific training programme to support organisational learning and action on climate change issues.  We also supported partners to measure and reduce their organisational carbon footprints.  If you are interested in taking these issues on yourself then you can download the support resources we developed as part of the project here. Our participatory training session aims to support any organisation that is grappling with the international dimensions of climate change.  Our carbon footprinting kit guides any voluntary sector organisation that wants to monitor its impact. We’ve used it in organisations with 5 employees and 400 employees alike.  We continue to support partners in the implementation of changes and are currently revamping our training.

Recently we have undertaken new work with The Asian Health Agency, Global Action Plan, Praxis, The Intercultural Leadership School and African Youth in the North East. If you are interested in training, please email our Training Manager, Marion on Marion@coinet.org.uk.