Human Rights Leadership Lab

Liz Griffin is an honorary academic and professionally certified leadership coach and mentor. Liz empowers people working in social and climate justice spaces to make bigger strategic impacts, nurture leadership ability, presence and skills and build healthier organisations and sustainable ways of working.

Liz is an Executive Fellow of the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex where she previously lectured in International Human Rights Law.

Liz has over 25 years of leadership experience working with the UN, human rights NGOs and universities, rising to the level of Professor of International Human Rights Law. She established and managed Amnesty International’s first ever field office and she has served as expert consultant and leadership coach to a large number of NGOs, IGOs and foundations, including the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the ICRC and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

Liz is a recognised expert in the theory and practice of human rights, with a specialisation in the practical aspects of human rights work. She has lectured and directed large programs and human rights centres at the University of Oxford (UK), the UN-mandated University for Peace (Costa Rica), and Jindal Global University (India). 

Find out more about Liz.   

The idea that human rights values and principles motivate, inform and inspire us as leaders is the central theme of the Human Rights Leadership Lab and shows up in all six 4-hour modules.

Module 1: Values-Based Leadership and Organisational Culture

• Learn about human rights values-based leadership and how you can put your values into practice as a leader.
• Gain a clear understanding of the challenges and opportunities of organisational culture and the interplay between culture and leadership.

Module 2: Leadership Styles and Emotional Intelligence Framework

• Learn about different leadership styles, including feminist leadership, and how and when to use them to get results in different situations and support the diverse needs of staff.
• Understand emotional intelligence and why it is a superpower for human rights values-based leaders.

Module 3: Coaching to Empower, Inspire and Motivate

• Learn how to use a coaching approach to empower and motivate staff to reach their maximum potential.
• Develop key coaching competencies including active listening and powerful questioning while learning how to create an inspiring and reflective space.

Module 4: Open Space Leadership Lab Work

• Share and reflect upon real leadership challenges and/or opportunities brought by members of our cohort, that we work though using a group coaching approach.

Module 5: Leading Yourself and Others Doing Human Rights Work

• Understand the occupational hazards of human rights work and its potential negative impacts on the mental health of you and your staff.
• Learn how to formulate and implement individual and organisational strategies to prevent, mitigate and respond to vicarious trauma and burnout.

Module 6: Self-Leadership and Self-Care

• Understand how great leadership starts with leading yourself.
• Formulate a practical action plan to hold yourself accountable for your own self-care as a foundation for preventing burnout and chronic stress at work

You will learn how to:

• Put human rights values-based leadership into practice in your daily work
• Take your leadership presence and impact to the next level by learning new competencies and skills
• Further develop your leadership style and be more effective in responding to different situations and the diverse needs of staff
• Enhance your leadership ability and emotional intelligence though greater self-awareness and self-reflection
• Empower, motivate and support staff using a coaching approach
• Implement strategies to lead yourself and others in ways that improve organisational culture as well as individual and team health and wellbeing
• Formulate and implement individual and organisational strategies to prevent, mitigate and respond to vicarious trauma, stress and burnout

The content of the course is specifically tailored for human rights professionals and human rights defenders who currently occupy or are soon to occupy leadership positions. It is not suitable for other people who do not meet this key criterion.

You are a human rights activist or professional who is…

• A new or experienced manager or supervisor seeking professional leadership development
• Seeking confidence, new leadership skills and a broader peer network
• Looking to take your leadership in the social justice / human rights sector to the next level
• Working to develop your self-awareness, self-reflection, self-leadership and individual and collective wellbeing
• Seeking practical tools to support teams dealing with traumatic content and high levels of stress

This is an ideal course for those working in NGO’s or for organisations that are working to support and respect human rights values.  

The application form includes a brief questionnaire relating to your leadership experience and credentials, which you are required to complete as part of your application.

The course is delivered entirely in English. Thus, you are required to be highly competent in English.

If you are interested in wider human rights issues, the HRC offers a highly successful Human Rights Summer School which may be far more suitable to your needs and interests. We are also developing a selection of professional short courses and CPDs designed to meet the human rights needs of a wide range of different human rights students and defenders.

The fees for the Human Leadership Lab are:

The delivery of this course is dependent on a minimum number of applicants. In the unlikely event that this minimum is not met, we would have to reconsider the feasibility of running the course