Membership process
If your organization applies for membership, any and all prospective members will undergo our application process which requires the completion of a new member application form, along with the inclusion of at least two references, ideally from within the county and/or within a coalition. Applications are then reviewed by ARD Secretariat and the Board-chair; Membership will be pending approval by the biannual meeting of the heads of member organizations. Currently ARD is prioritizing applications from Human Rights Defenders (HRD), Environmental Land Rights Defenders (ELRD), and Grassroots Organizations.
If you are interested in learning more about joining ARD, please write to: ard.headsecretariat@gmail.com or visit our website: https://ardliberia.org/
To be eligible for membership in the ARD, organizations or individuals must demonstrate:
- Relevant experience in promoting economic, social and cultural rights in their community, county, or region;
- Independence from government agencies;
- Commitment to the objectives and principles of ARD.
Rights and responsibilities of membership
- Members organizations have the right to vote on all General Assembly, make recommendation on the overall priorities of the ARD. They also have the right to participate in electing SC members for the Board. All members have the right to participate in ARD secretariat and SC, present proposals for collective action, and take part in the decision-making processes within;
- A key responsibility of membership is active participation: sharing and exchanging information that advances ARD, supporting solidarity actions on behalf of ARD members, exercising voting rights, and contributing to collective advocacy and campaigning;
- All ARD members shall pay to support campaigned for members; while the ARD Secretariat raise fund to support collective actions prioritized by members.
Benefits for members of the ARD
There are multiple benefits that organizations that are members of and/or that will join the Alliance for Rural Democracy (ARD) have benefited and/or stand to reap. These benefits are broadly covered in the By-laws & Constitution of the ARD. On a more specific level, and in line with the motto and objectives of the ARD, some of the benefits for members of the ARD include the following:
- Awareness raising and education
- Capacity building support including training
- Peer (or peer-to-peer) learning, for example, through experience sharing
- Support and solidary actions for members (e.g. human rights defenders (HRDs)) suffering harassment, intimidation, arrest, torture and detention while exercising their economic, social and cultural rights
- Supporting members in making use of appropriate grievance mechanisms including international grievance mechanisms
- Organizational development support (e.g. financial, logistical, and technical to formalize and carry on organizational operations)
- Participation in national and international forums (e.g. meetings, workshops, dialogues, training etc.) for information sharing, lessons learning, exposure, networking and capacity strengthening
- Collective advocacy to promote and defend the economic, social, and cultural rights of members, their communities, and constituencies
- Legal aid support
Contribution and Benefits of the ARD to its Members
- Bringing several different national, county and community-based organizations under one umbrella has facilitated networking in solidarity action and lifted the voices of these organizations in their advocacy for ESCR across the country.
- Facilitated establishment of bank accounts for nine (9) of the member organizations.
- Facilitated the legalization of member organizations including helping five (5) to get their respective Articles of Incorporation and two (2) others to get notarized.
- Empowered some of the founding member organizations with small grants or funding that enabled them to implement some of their important programs at the community-level.
- Provided a platform and a forum to the member organizations through the bi-annual meetings, networking, sharing of progress, challenges and plans, meet and interact with practitioners and professionals in the ESCR realm and decision makers, duty bearers whose activities impact the exercise and enjoyment of the ESCR in areas including forestry, mining, oil palm, and the environment. For example, international organizations such as SOMO of the Netherland and MADAM, Sierra Leone participated in some of the bi-annual meetings while senior government officials including Managing Director of FDA, Senate Pro-temp, Labor Minister, Head of LEITI Secretariat, and concession company executives, namely from Sime Darby and ArcelorMittal, participated in some of the meetings which were attended by scores of community and organization leaders and representatives from across the country.
- Supported member organizations to document community grievances of violations of ESCR by the government and private sector entities in a manner that laid the foundation for Green Advocates International to use its legal resourcefulness to help file community complaints, grievances and/or profile legal representation for communities against both state and non-state actors, particularly private corporate entities such as concessionaires. These actions have contributed to the changing of company behavior change and the improvement in some of their management operations for the benefits of the communities including workers.
- Provided a platform through which its member organizations in Grand Gedeh and River Cess were able to bring to the attention of the FDA and development partners through Green Advocates International the grievances from their respective communities regarding the establishment of protected areas in their traditionally held and used customary lands, including mining areas by the FDA without their Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and with adverse effects on their livelihoods.
- Provided a platform where inconsistencies between the Community Rights Law (CRL) and the Community Rights regulations to the law attributed to the FDA were identified and used to petition the house of legislature to harmonize both the regulation and the law.
- Led the conduct of a comparative analysis of the 2014 version of the Land Rights Act’s Draft and the August 2017 version passed by The Lower House. This comparative analysis exposed serious pitfalls of the house-passed version, thus provided an effective tool for evidence-based civil society advocacy for the passage of a good Land Rights Act.
- Provided psychosocial support and protective environment including particularly legal representation for community human rights defenders (HRDs), who, usually as a result of their advocacy for the land and resource rights of their communities, have faced various forms of intimidation, harassment, arrest and detention of frivolous charges and helped to secure their release by working in strong and symbiotic partnership with Green Advocates International for legal aid.
- Worked with its partner organizations in gathering the evidence and mobilizing the communities that laid the foundation for Green Advocates International to file complaints on behalf the communities in cases such as those of Project Affected Communities against Sime Darby Oil Palm Plantation in Grand Cape Mount, YNCHR against SRC in Bong/Margibi, Al-Bloteh against GVL in Sinoe, Maryland Citizens Action Movement against MOPP in Maryland, among others.
- Provide training and organization development for member organizations and communities and social mobilization for peaceful mass action such as the groundbreaking peaceful community mass action that led the organization in partnership with GAI, NRWP, YNCHR and BFA in Bong County against SRC.
- In partnership with GAI, NRWP, and regional partners, the ARD has been able to get the leaders, both male and female, of its member organizations to participate in various regional and national fora as well as international meetings and forums abroad.
Members
The ARD was formed by over a dozen organizations. New organizations have joined while some of the founding members have either become dormant generally or within the alliance. Others have changed names.
View a list of some of the ARD member organizations
