What we’re hearing from our partners and human rights defenders in the various communities we work in is that budget cuts are hurting local organizations—for example, in Kenya, Tanzania, and Sri Lanka—but these people are adapting their work. They aren’t shutting down yet, but they’re adjusting their approach. Strategies are shifting. Perhaps the number of people approached within the community is altered.
I am talking about very concrete experiences and concrete findings we gathered just two months ago in Kenya. Despite the lack of concrete resources, human rights defenders continue to carry out important work in their respective contexts. What must be emphasized above all is that the changes they are bringing about are of great importance in the local context, whether in terms of women’s right to inheritance and access to property titles, or their political or civic participation in community-level decision-making spaces.
This is where, at minimal cost, we can have a profound impact that will subsequently extend to broader civic or democratic spheres. In my opinion, the community level is where we truly achieve concrete, promising results.
Just like other countries, Canada should continue to support initiatives in this vein, which mobilize people and help maintain this last line of defence for democracy at the local level.