This two-day, intermediate level master class outlines the human rights issues associated with large projects (with an emphasis on the extractive industries), and provides participants with practical ways to operationalise the corporate responsibility to respect human rights as established in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which were developed by Prof John Ruggie (who received the IAIA 2014 Global Environment Award). The course seeks to bring human rights issues into the impact assessment field of practice and, by using integrated impact assessment methods, will provide an effective way to identify the human rights issues of projects. The master class is designed for practitioners involved in the impact assessment of private sector projects who have some understanding and knowledge of social impact assessment methodologies and practice and who want to increase their knowledge of human rights issues. This can include: those individuals within companies or institutions (e.g. financial institutions) who are responsible for commissioning and overseeing impact assessments; and internal and external practitioners that carry out impact assessments. The course has been developed as a partnership between the Danish Institute of Human Rights and the Community Insights Group.

Level:	Intermediate
Prerequisites:	There is no specific prerequisite; however it is presumed that participants will have a general understanding of impact assessment.
Language:	English
Duration:	2 days (18-19 April)
Min/Max:	10-30
Instructors:	Nora Götzmann, Advisor, Danish Institute for Human Rights (Denmark) Ana Gabriela Factor, Consultant, Community Insights Group (Denmark)

Course description

• This two-day, intermediate level master class outlines the human rights issues associated with large projects (with an emphasis on the extractive industries), and provides participants with practical ways to operationalise the corporate responsibility to respect human rights as established in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which were developed by Prof John Ruggie (who received the IAIA 2014 Global Environment Award). The course seeks to bring human rights issues into the impact assessment field of practice and, by using integrated impact assessment methods, will provide an effective way to identify the human rights issues of projects. The master class is designed for practitioners involved in the impact assessment of private sector projects who have some understanding and knowledge of social impact assessment methodologies and practice and who want to increase their knowledge of human rights issues. This can include: those individuals within companies or institutions (e.g. financial institutions) who are responsible for commissioning and overseeing impact assessments; and internal and external practitioners that carry out impact assessments. The course has been developed as a partnership between the Danish Institute of Human Rights and the Community Insights Group.

 

Course structure and content.

• Utilisation of participatory methods
• The training program is designed to have an effective blend of instruction and participatory process, and uses a real life case study as a central component of the learning process. The trainers establish a friendly supportive environment which enables participation by all, being mindful of the cultural background and personal learning styles of the participants. The experiences of the participants are utilised by encouraging personal contribution and general discussion. Learning is facilitated through the use of table-based group work.

 

• Details of case study exercise
• After much consideration of the many contenders for a case study, the trainers have selected the Cerrejón mine in Colombia as the case to use as an indicative example. The handout resource for the case study is included below. A video that discusses some of the issues is shown to give participants a sense of what the context is like.

• Outline of structure and content

 

• The general outline of the course is as follows.

 

• Day 1
• 1. Introduction
• What are the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the corporate responsibility to respect? What are the differences and synergies between social impact assessment and human rights impact assessment? What are the considerations in assessing & addressing human rights impacts? Where does impact assessment sit in the context of a broader human rights due diligence process, and to grievance mechanisms and access to remedy? What does a human rights-based approach to impact assessment look like? What are the course assumptions on ‘good practice’ ESIA?
• 2. Introduction to the Case Study 
• 3. Screening & Scoping
• Tools to apply during screening to decide when to do stand-alone vs integrated human rights impact assessment; and to identify the human rights themes that need to be covered in an integrated assessment.
• 4.Baseline
• Tools to assist with identifying rights-holders and duty-bearers; analysing vulnerability of rights-holders and institutional capacity of duty-bearers; benchmarking against international human rights and identifying existing access to remedy; and identifying the additional scope of issues to inform data collection and where to find the information.

• Day 2
• 5. Impact Prediction & Assessment
• Tools to help identify the human rights implications of identified impacts; and to supplement significance assessment with evaluation of human rights impact severity.
• 6. Mitigation & Management
• Tools and examples to help understand the UN Guiding Principles concepts of causation, contribution, direct linkage and leverage; including the relevance to mitigation strategies and management plans.
• 6. Terms of Reference
• Guidance on how to design a ToR for an impact assessment that integrates human rights and uses a human rights-based approach.

 

Materials participants will receive prior to or during the course

• The materials to be provided include: an agenda/program, a case study description, a quick reference guide on human rights, a USB with copies of the PPTs and PDFs of useful resources.
• A key resource for the course is the guide “Integrating human rights into environmental, social and health impact assessments: A practical guide for the oil and gas industry” (DIHR and IPIECA, 2013), which will be provided to participants to support their learning.

Qualifications of the trainers

• Nora Götzmann
• Nora Götzmann works as an Advisor at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, in the Human Rights and Business Department. She is also an adjunct researcher at the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, University of Queensland, Australia. She works with multinational companies to improve understanding of human rights risks and impacts and to develop ways of integrating human rights into business practice. Her work focuses primarily on the extractive industries, working in a range of international corporate and site-level settings. Nora also works with civil society actors and National Human Rights Institutions to build capacity to engage on human rights and business.
  
  Nora’s current project and research work focuses on: assessment of human rights risks and impacts, community-company grievance resolution, Export Credit Agencies, human rights training for business and National Human Rights Institutions, and business for development.
  
  Prior to joining the Danish Institute for Human Rights, Nora worked at the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, where her work focused on human rights due diligence and community-company grievance resolution. She has also contributed to the work of the former Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Business and Human Rights, Prof John Ruggie, on several topics, including the Corporate Law Tools Project.

 

• Ana Gabriela Factor
• Gabriela is a senior consultant at the social performance and social impact assessment consulting firm, Community Insights Group, and is currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Gabriela is an Environmental and Social Impact specialist who has over 16 years of working experience in international environmental, development and extractive projects in Latin America, South East Asia, Africa and the Arctic. She is Technical Committee member of the Community Relations Research Unit at the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, University of Queensland.

In addition to her experience in leading and carrying out social and environmental impact assessments and management plans, Gabriela has hands-on experience with the training of technical staff, governmental officers and civil society organizations in environmental and social issues, gender mainstreaming and elaboration and review of ESIA. Gabriela has provided numerous training courses, reviewed training programs and has contributed to curricula for the training components of projects in Ghana, Bolivia, Laos, Uruguay, among others. Course organisers and clients include the World Bank, DANIDA, FINIDA, SIDA and UNOPs (the UN’s operational arm). Gaby is an active IAIA member and was one of the trainers of the conference courses: “Ecosystem Services in Impact Assessment” at the 2013 IAIA Conference in Calgary; and “Social Impact Assessment and Management in Spanish” at the 2014 IAIA Conference in Vina del Mar.
Gabriela’s experience includes the assessment of impacts during construction and operation phases of major projects, stakeholder analysis, design and implementation of engagement plans, grievance mechanisms, multi-stakeholder consultations and social investments. Gabriela is currently working on environmental and social due diligences, social and human rights performance and impacts of NGOs, oil companies and renewable energy projects in Africa and Latin America.

Gabriela has a Masters in Environmental Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark and holds qualifications on gender and health impact assessment. She is a native Spanish speaker, fluent in English and Danish, and speaks some Portuguese.