This post is brought to you by....

The Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA)!  Well, not necessarily brought to you by -- it is certainly not paying for the production of this post! :P  But, this blog entry is certainly about the work of IHRDA as I continue my quest for an organization to center this research project on.

As with last week, the research behind this post involved the casting of many fishing lines...most of which turned up empty.  Through the International Federation for Human Rights website, I found a convenient map of human rights NGOs located all through out Africa.  However, I encountered the same issue I mentioned in my last post --> many of these websites contained broken links, had not been updated in several years, and generally lacked basic information about the NGO.  Sigh.  So I retreated to my good old standby:  Google.  Which is how I miraculously came across the IHRDA, and so far, the research possibilities centered on this organization are looking promising.

www.ihrda.org

IHRDA is an organization headquartered in the Gambia that seeks to increase the effectiveness and availability of the human rights protections provided through the African Union.  To do so, IHRDA focuses on educating and training local communities on how to use the provisions of these legal mechanisms to defend their human rights.

IHRDA was founded in 1998 by two human rights lawyers from the Secretariat of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights.  The staff of the organization today represent seven different African countries, illustrating the pan-African nature of the organization.  I am drawn to studying this organization because it is a clear example of the effectiveness and presence of African NGOs in Africa, as opposed to the over-studied presence of Western organizations on the continent.

More information on this organization coming soon!

Sources:
www.ihrda.org/our-history/
www.ihrda.org/staff
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_Human_Rights_and_Development_in_Africa_%8IHRDA%29 (though I am ashamed to admit it....I promise that wikipedia will not be in my final bibliography! :P)