WOLA: Advocacy for Human Rights in the Americas
5 Nov 2006 |

Objectives

One of WOLA's most important roles is to function as a key resource and interlocutor for Latin American non-governmental organizations (NGO's) working for human rights and social justice.  WOLA also plays an important role in fostering dialogue, debate, and policy-consensus among U.S. and Latin American NGO's with diverse perspectives that share the same goals.  WOLA plays a leadership role in several advocacy coalitions and regularly organizes workshops, conferences, roundtables, and briefings designed to stimulate policy debate.  More specifically, WOLA's programs seek to:

  • Strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations in Latin America and in the United States to formulate and advocate policies that advance democracy and equitable economic development while protecting human rights;
  • monitor and analyze ongoing programs to strengthen democratic institutions and foster economic growth in order to develop new policies and programs better able to achieve these objectives;
  • engage with policy-makers in multilateral lending institutions to promote greater access by civil society organizations to the policy-making process and more coherent policies by those institutions linking equitable development to greater democracy;
  • strengthen democracy and human rights in the Andes and reorient U.S. drug control policy to the region; and
  • promote increased public support and coherence of United States policies to strengthen democracy, promote and protect human rights, and foster equitable economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean.