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Funding Strategies of the Foundation from October 1998 to December 2010


⋅ 28 mai 2011

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The Human Rights at Work Foundation was created in Geneva by François Beaujolin — expert of 40 years in the fight for economic inclusion and social justice. The Foundation does not intend to play an operational role, rather, it finances, or more often, co-finances activities or projects by other institutions (associations, social actors, etc.) who are directly implicated in the work of protecting labor and human rights in the workplace.

Activities supported by the Foundation favor those that are international in scope – both as pertains to the subject at hand (that must meet the strategic objectives of the Foundation), as well as to the organizations and people involved. These activities must tie back to strategic positioning outlined by the Foundation.

As of September 1st, 2005, the Human Rights at Work Foundation received 230 grant requests (thus approximately 30 or so per year). After reviewing them, the Foundation funded nearly three-quarters of these, thus 160 projects.

The projects that received support from the Foundation can be grouped as follows :

Workers particularly effected by globalization :
In the garment industry :

  • Support for the creation within NGOs (in India, Pakistan, Bulgaria and Romania) of activities that improve workplace conditions for garment workers,
  • Help organizing international conferences on the challenges of the garment sector (France, Great Britain, Nicaragua, Korea, Germany, Spain and Mexico),
  • Support for communication tools on the challenges of the garment industry : films (Sweden, Ireland, Belgium) and books (Germany, Eastern Europe, Bangladesh)
  • Development of the « CCC – Clean Clothes Campaign » : at the level of the international office for training workers in the sector, for setting up the European office in Amsterdam, financing national campaigns (France, Great Britain, Poland)

In Agriculture :

  • Export products (Kenya, Tanzania, Great Britain, Benin, Sri Lanka),
  • International bi-annual conferences in Europe on Bananas (2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010),
  • Educational tools on globalized sectors (rice, sugar).

Rug Manufacturing :

  • Initial support for the development, in Germany, of a labeling program,
  • Training for young factory workers in Nepal.

Homeworkers :

  • Creation of homeworkers unions in the garment sector (Chili, Pakistan, Balkans, Turkey),
  • Conferences of the phenomenon of globalization in the garment sector (Peru, Turkey).

Merchant Marine :

  • Creation of a monthly bulletin (France),
  • International Conferences (France).

Worker representation organizations in light of globalization :

  • Re-emergence of union representation respecting ILO conventions (Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, United States, Southeast Asia, China, Colombia).
  • Training unionists on the challenges of social responsibility (European Union, Korea, Bangladesh, and Switzerland).
  • Reinforcement of direct trans-national linkages (Great Britain, France, European Union).

Improvement of enabling environment for social audits :

  • Members of ISEA (Institute of Social and Ethical Accountability – Great Britain) creator of the AA 1000 standard (from 2000 to 2003).
  • Training of auditors in the garment sector in Central Europe ( 2003).
  • Development of a European certification for CSR auditors-verifiers (conference in Paris in 2003 and research on European activity on this subject in 2004-2005).
  • Research and critical analysis of the social audit in the garment sector (three studies in 2004 and 2005).
  • International seminar on the future of the social audit (Brussels in 2005).

Collective development of tools and methods for using the current array of international initiatives :

  • Guiding Principle of the OECD (Netherlands in 2003).
  • Guide on International Legal tools (Europe, 2001).
  • Guide to code of conduct complaint mechanisms (Netherlands, 2003).Glossary of the vocabulary of globalization (Netherlands 2002).
  • International meeting on the Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights(Netherlands 2004).
  • Guide to international social standards and norms (France in 2003).

FDHT financed more than 2,5 millions € since 1998 :

  • globalization and impact on production process : 1 100 000 €
  • Social Audit – social assessment : 500 000 €
  • Home Workers : 450 000 €
  • Trade Unions’ Rights : 450 000 €

The Foundation appreciates requests that seek other sources of international and national financing. These co-financed projects, while not required, do underscore the quality of the proposed projects and strengthen the ties between co-financers.





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