CEHURD set out to build community capacities and agency on health and human rights, as one of its Strategic Plan (2020-2024) objectives. The goal is to ensure that rights holders and duty bearers at community level participate effectively in promoting the right to health. The organization set to achieve this objective through its Community Empowerment Programme. This programme works towards ensuring transfer of power and resources to citizens, ensuring that vulnerable communities speak out and exercise their agency, as well as building of locally driven initiatives on the right to health. These interventions take place in over Thirty-five (35) Districts including Koboko, Maracha, Buikwe, Gomba, Kampala, Kiboga, Kyankwanzi, Wakiso,Arua, Pader, Kitgum, Namayingo, Iganga, Mbale, Kapchorwa etc.
Within the programme, CEHURD employs various models to achieve the desired objectives. These include;
We have also employed community mobilization and dialogues, media engagements, Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodologies, promoting stakeholder participation, partnerships and networking, Human Rights Based Approaches (HRBA), TB contact tracing and health camps.
We are cognizant that sustaining agency and action on the right to health and sexual and reproductive health rights requires building wider mass movements at grassroots and community levels as well as partnership with district-based partners (duty bearers and rights holders).
We thus empower communities to hold duty bearers accountable and also empower duty bearers to be accountable. We also acknowledge that total enjoyment of health and human rights requires responsiveness of duty bearers. CEHURD has thus invested in enhancing the capacities of duty bearers so that they have a better appreciation of health, human rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Further, as we nurture strategic partnerships at local levels, promote dialogue between rights holders and duty bearers, we also amplify a citizen voice at the national regional and international levels.
