Supporting Human Rights Defenders: A Guide to Conducting Assessment Missions

This handbook the process of conducting an assessment that best assists human rights defenders either in a particular country or a region within a country. It is intended to guide a team in executing an assessment that addresses the challenge of creating effective programs to assist human rights defenders (HRDs). Sections of this handbook are dedicated to topics including operating environment, organizational capacity assessment, tips for assessments in closed societies, tips for working with translators, etc., while including sections of questions that teams should critically ask of themselves in the process.
This guide is informed by the work undertaken by Freedom House and the RIGHTS Consortium, and is intended principally for use by USAID, its Missions abroad, its grantees and contractors to develop useful assessments for future HRD assistance programs. International human rights organizations, governmental and private donors, and others who seek to empower local human rights defenders may also find this guide helpful.