Local communities (be they villages, districts, towns or cities) provide a unique context for human rights work. They define both the limitation and opportunity for realization, protection and promotion of human rights.
Local community human rights work takes many forms in accordance with the needs of people in a specific locality. Human rights work includes enhancing the capacity of rural women in undertaking economically beneficial farming activities. It includes engaging the members of the community on how to change community perception and systems affecting persons with disabilities. It covers the provision of information to victims of human rights violation or abuse to enable them to seek protection from and remedy for their suffering.
Most significantly, local community human rights work is crucial in helping build the confidence of disadvantaged or marginalized people in asserting their rights and in participating in societal and local governmental processes. Both individuals and families, as basic units in every community, benefit from local community human rights work. This is seen in the case of human rights workers helping persons with disabilities develop their confidence to become “independent and engage society” by encouraging them to enjoy “independent living at home” with the support of the family.