The Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights - Nairobi Office

Our vision is of a world where the human rights framework reflects the real world experiences of all of us, effectively furthering social and economic justice and human dignity, and catalyzing change from the local to the global, back to the local.

To realize this vision, our role is one of catalyzing social change through leveraging of strategic spaces. This is work that we undertake in close partnership with local partners and advocates from around the world; what we like to call “making the UN work for the poor,” although it also encompasses strategic spaces beyond the UN.

GI-ESCR believes that reaching that next, needed scale of impact requires both the amplification of voices of local advocates by leveraging international law and mechanisms – and informing the content, meaning, and interpretation of international human rights law from the perspectives of marginalized groups and communities. It is no longer enough to think globally and act locally; GI-ESCR works with partners to think and act, globally and locally, where work at one level is enriched by, and strengthens and supports the other.   Indeed, the complex problems and issues of our day require thinking and acting across boundaries, sectors, disciplines and fields. If we have learned anything over the decades, it is that certainly people themselves affected by rights violations should be engaged in designing the solutions to those violations.