Open Briefing is launching three exciting new programmes: funded support, open resources, and collaboration and engagement.
Our funded support programme will deliver donor- or partner-funded advice, capacity building and mentoring to at-risk civil society organisations, collectives, and individual defenders, particularly those based in the global south. Although the support will be open to all those in need, we will prioritise those organisations and individuals from countries with closed, repressed or obstructed civic spaces (according to the CIVICUS Monitor) in order to maximise our impact. We will endeavour to provide support in English, Spanish, French, and Arabic. While we will provide face-to-face mentoring and training, our focus on remote support where appropriate will reduce costs and carbon emissions and allow us to provide assistance even when travel restrictions and other Covid-19 related measures are in place.
Our open resources programme will deliver multilingual tools, apps and guides to strengthen the individual and collective safety and resilience of defenders and humanitarians. These resources, ‘(Em)powered by Open Briefing’, will help under-resourced civil society organisations and civic actors in the global south ensure their own safety and security. This will allow us up to concentrate our expert support on the most at-risk organisations and individuals or on particularly challenging and complex cases. This programme will include the further development of our current innovative resources, including the Holistic Security Protocol for Human Rights Defenders and the forthcoming Frontline Policies.
Our collaboration and engagement programme will focus on collaboration and advocacy to defend civil society and protect civic space. This includes undertaking funder advocacy on safety and resilience and integrating our work into wider efforts to strengthen civil society, including the ‘protection ecosystems’ for human rights defenders and campaigns to counter closing civic space. This will include continued work as a member of the security working group of the Defenders in Development campaign, as an ally in the technology and security action team of the Vuka! Coalition for Civic Action, and as a voting member of the CIVICUS global civil society alliance.
These new programmes will sit alongside our renowned consultancy and training programme, which delivers bespoke consultancy, training and retained support for charities, foundations and social businesses with the resources to self-fund our work with them.
Together, these four programmes will help us achieve our mission: to defend, strengthen and empower those on the frontlines of civil society.