This report documents the proceedings and outcomes of an international symposium on the impact of human rights education (HRE), organized by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Equitas - International Centre for Human Rights Education in 2007.

Evaluating the impact of HRE is a complex undertaking, as this type of education, whose ultimate goal is greater respect for human rights leading to social change, is difficult to measure in isolation from political, economic and social factors. Strengthening evaluation will enable HRE practitioners to better measure and demonstrate with reasonable confidence the transformative effect of HRE and ultimately, to strengthen its effectiveness. The Symposium brought together 27 international experts, researchers, practitioners and educators.

The goal of this Symposium was for HRE practitioners to share new ideas, knowledge, skills and other practices to effectively evaluate human rights education, particularly over the longer term.

The objectives of the Symposium were to:

• Review the various approaches to HRE evaluation within different contexts,
nationally and internationally, with a view to drawing some conclusions around the
current status of HRE evaluation.
• Identify the successes and challenges of different HRE evaluation methodologies and
the appropriate tools to effectively measure the results of the HRE over the longer
term.
 

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