Defenders of Human Rights and Activists of Democracy play a unique role in monitoring the compliance of States with international human rights instruments, imperatives of democratic reforms and promotion of sustainable development. Although the latter is largely dependent on the first two, it should be noted that approaches that exclude full consideration of Sustainable Development Goals, specifically goal 16 and 17 have not been effective enough to solve or propose a model leading to the active participation of African countries in achieving these objectives in the medium and long term.
Programs are implemented through a combination of activities including a) action oriented replica gmt master ii research, monitoring and documentation b) evidence based advocacy c) strategic litigation d) public information, e) capacity building and f) community outreach, sensitization and empowerment. PIP believes in this multi-faceted approach because it ensures diverse coverage, reach and inclusion of all social groups and audiences. The multifaceted approach is also effective because it allows for evidence based advocacy as well as knowledge sharing through dissemination of information tailored for diverse audiences.
The program seeks to promote the right to education for all children in Uganda. The focus is on the child as the primary beneficiary of the right to education. PIP contributes to problem solving by advocating for a rights based web link approach to education service delivery in the country. The overall goal is to ensure access to quality education for all children in Uganda, regardless of their background or social status in an environment where education is maintained as a public good that is adequately financed, regulated and supervised by the state. The program emphacises that the state has the primary responsibility for realization of the right to education and private/non-state actors should only supplement that role.
The Right to Health Program promotes the right to the highest attainable standard of the physical and mental health as stipulated in domestic, regional and international human rights instruments. Projects under the right to health contribute to advancing the right to health in Uganda by catalyzing citizen participation in health rights advocacy and promoting accountability in the health sector. PIP ensures a deliberate and systematic strategy to get communities to participate in health rights advocacy, enable access to information, strengthening the capacity of grass root groups nationally to monitor and self advocate against health rights violations, continuous monitoring and documentation of violations for advocacy, including budget advocacy and legal empowerment for the realization of the right to health.
Under social accountability and citizen participation, the organization seeks to explore the strengths and limitations of existing social accountability tools and mechanisms as used in local government processes with a view to making proposals for strengthening them. The program is exploring the links between social accountability and the legal and policy framework in order to understand the possible benefits and limitations of legalizing or institutionalizing social accountability mechanisms, as well as propose alternatives that will enable the poor and marginalized to be sufficiently informed, facilitated and involved in processes that concern their lives. The general objective is to contribute to improved community participation and Social Accountability for better service delivery in Local Governments.