Centre for Environmental Rights – Advancing Environmental Rights in South Africa

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Johannesburg – The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) is wrapping up the Rights & Remedies monitoring and evaluation (M&E) process of its Rights & Remedies course in the coming week.

The Rights and Remedies course has produced over 100 environmental activist graduates since its inception in 2017. Alumni network activists who have completed the programme have been empowered with the necessary skills to use the law to defend their environment, in an effort to protect it for future generations.

This last activity of the M&E process will see graduates from CER’s Rights and Remedies programme come together for a three-day event to reflect on their experiences and chart a way forward in addressing various environmental challenges that they face.

The network has been designed to strengthen connections, foster collaboration, and amplify the voices of local community residents and organisations. On the last day, together with Rights and Remedies participants, CER will formally constitute the Rights & Remedies Alumni Network and end off with a celebration of the past seven years of Rights & Remedies’ impact.

CER Attorney, Danjelle Midgley said: “The vision for the Rights & Remedies Alumni Network is to bring together the passionate environmental and climate justice activists from all over South Africa who attended the Centre for Environmental Rights’ R&R course. It marks the milestone of over 100 activists having been trained through the course.”

“This new organisation provides an exciting platform for solidarity, support, and mentorship for participants. The R&R Alumni Network will join other community and civil society organisations in the environmental justice movement in South Africa and beyond. It will serve as an important platform for activists to determine their vision, goals, and plans, share advocacy strategies, struggles, showcase projects, build solidarity, empower community voices, and host training opportunities and resources,” adds Midgley.

Many of the activists who come through the R&R course are the lifeblood of thriving communities — deeply rooted in the needs, cultures, and identities of the people they serve. Yet many face challenges in visibility, coordination, and access to resources.

The Alumni Network empowers activists to bring themselves and their experiences to the environmental justice movement and ultimately shape it into a stronger and more resilient sector of our society.

Watch a Trailer of the Rights & Remedies Year of Evaluation

ENDS

About CER Rights and Remedies

The Activist Support and Training Programme hosts the CER’s Rights & Remedies: A Course for Activists. This is an annual course that focuses on practical training outcomes and provides participants with a range of skills to facilitate engagement with government and industry, including the use of statutory remedies (e.g., writing complaint and objection letters, reporting environmental violations, and using access to information laws).

The programme continuously reviews the different topics it covers during the course to ensure that it responds to the needs of communities and activists. As such, the course goes beyond legal training and also includes training on organisational strengthening, media engagement, and discussions on gender and sexual harassment.

Designed to capacitate seasoned activists from communities affected by environmental rights violations, the course empowers participants to use the law to assert their rights, push for compliance, and hold government and the private sector accountable for violations of environmental law. Successful participants are asked to return to their communities and act as focal points for environmental rights.

For all media enquiries

Alexandra Kayle

[email protected]

0828278429