The online Human Rights for Health Workers – IFHHRO Training Manual shares materials developed to train health workers in health and human rights issues. It intends to bridge the gap between the legal conceptualization of the right to health and the daily practice of health workers by providing human rights education materials specifically designed for them.
The manual is available in English (below), Russian, French and Spanish.
Basic knowledge on human rights
Human rights education is generally not integrated in medical and nursing school curricula and most health workers have limited knowledge about human rights. When introducing health workers to human rights it is extremely important not to overwhelm them with only legal information. This is why the relation between health-related human rights and the daily work of a health worker plays a central role in most of the session plans provided in the Human Rights for Health Workers – IFHHRO Training Manual.
Health workers do not need to become human rights specialists, but having basic knowledge does matter. In their daily work health workers need to take decisions that can mean the difference between the protection or the violation of human rights. What exactly health workers need to learn depends on the country they work in, their specialisation and their previous knowledge about human rights.
Participatory training approach
There is no fixed format for a human rights training programme for health workers. Experience learns that it is possible to interest health workers in human rights as long as they can establish a connection with their own work. An effective way to do this is by using a participatory training approach based on the principles of adult learning in which recognizable situations are used as a starting point to stimulate new insights.
It is this way of thinking that forms the basis for all the session plans available on this website. All session plans have been tried out during IFHHRO trainings. Some session plans are suitable for all trainings, others need to be adapted to the local situation, the learning objectives, or the target group.
Contents
The IFHHRO Training Manual consists of 6 basic parts, each of which contains three or more session plans.
1. Suggestions for planning a training:
- One-day training – Health and Human Rights
- One-day training – Access to Pain Treatment and Human Rights
- One-day training – Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights
- One-day training – Human Rights Mechanisms
- Two-day training – Health Workers as Human Rights Actors
The training plans for these sessions can be found in our useful syllabus. It contains direct links to some of the session plans below.
2. Suggestions for the introduction of the participants and the programme:
- Puzzling with Human Rights - Introducing participants and the subject
- Definition Game – Introducing participants and the subject
- Keeping all the Balls in the Air – Introducing participants and the subject
3. Essential basic information on health and human rights:
Download the Game Board: A3 format | A4 format
- Stepping into the Right to Health – Combining the board game with the basics of the right to health
- Further Steps – Linking the human rights framework to a health issue
- Human Rights Tools
- Health as a Human Right – the basics
- One Big Family – A role play about the link between health and human rights
- Adaptation of material Stepping into Human Rights – emphasis on UN Human Rights Treaties
- Adaptation of material Stepping into Human Rights – with a regional emphasis
- Adaptation of material Stepping into Human Rights – emphasis on patient care
- Adaptation of Health as a Human Right – the framework with case studies from Africa
4. Health workers and human rights:
- Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve – The role of health workers in human rights issues
- Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve – The role of health workers in sexual and reproductive rights issues
- Mind Your Step – Human rights and human wrongs in health worker practice
Download Steps for Change – A human rights action guide for health workers
- Dual Loyalty and Human Rights – Caught between two players
- Spheres of Influence – Health workers and human rights
- Site Visits – Applying the AAAQ framework in health institutions
- Steps for Change – Human rights action by health workers
Download Steps for Change – A human rights action guide for health workers
5. Different health issues in relation to human rights:
- Everyday Stories – An introduction to sexual and reproductive health rights
- Introduction to Mental Health and Human Rights
Download PowerPoint on mental health
- Barriers to Access to Pain Treatment
- Access to Pain Treatment as a Human Rights Issue – The Basics
- Introduction to Palliative Care and Human Rights
- Domestic Violence, Health Care Providers & Human Rights
- Introduction to Human Rights in Patient Care
- Introduction to Harm Reduction and Human Rights
- Sexual Health and Human Rights – A triplet game with special focus on LGBT persons and sex workers
- Examining, Documenting and reporting Torture – An introductory session
6. Human rights mechanisms and other issues:
- The Reporting Procedure Under UN Human Rights Treaties & Civil Society
- The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health & Civil Society
- Human Rights for Everybody? An introduction to discrimination as human rights violation
Download PowerPoint on discrimination
Components
All sessions are structured in the same way and consist of the following components:
- Learning objectives: explains what participants should have learned at the end of the session
- Target group: identifies the type of group for which the session is appropriate
- Duration: gives the recommended duration of the session
- Training materials: gives a list of stationery and supplies needed during the session
- Training aids: lists any supporting tool(s) that are provided at the end of the session plan
- Handouts: lists documents to distribute also provided at the end of the session plan
- Session plans: a step by step guide for training delivery including indication of time
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use the materials for free?
Yes, you can use and reproduce all the training materials provided that the source is specified.
I like a specific session plan but the case study used is not suitable for my target group, what should I do?
The session plans are meant to give you suggestions about how to structure a session and which method might be useful. Of course you should change it according to the needs of your target group. Feel free to use different case studies, to change the script of a role play, or otherwise adapt it to the local situation.
May I translate the materials?
IFHHRO welcomes applications for rights of translation. Please take the following rules into account:
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- © IFHHRO and IFHHRO logo on the cover page
- Name(s) of author(s) on the cover page
- Name of translator on the cover page under authors
- The same layout as the original version
- A copy of the translated material should be sent to IFHHRO. All translations will be published on the IFHHRO website.