This guide was prepared by Pact in collaboration with USAID’s Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) under the USAID-funded, Freedom House-led Human Rights Support Mechanism (HRSM). The purpose of the guidance is to help USAID staff understand, adopt, and implement rights-based approaches (RBAs) across a range of sectors. Using practical tips, case studies, and program examples, this brief guide explains how to integrate human rights approaches into other sectors, such as health, education, food security, the environment, and economic growth.
The primary audience for this guide is DRG officers who are interested in cross-sectoral integration as a way to improve development outcomes and strategically address rights issues. The secondary audience is technical officers from other USAID offices who are coordinating with DRG officers to integrate a rights focus into their programming. This document is not intended to serve as comprehensive guidance on how to implement an RBA, but rather to introduce the key concepts and provide practical tools for planning an RBA.