During 1998, Rights and Humanity elaborated a strategic framework for a comprehensive programme for the practical implementation of a human rights approach to development. Over the next two years, we planned its development in cooperation with UN, governmental and civil society partners.

The Programme included:
• research and analysis of key issues, identification of successful strategies and preparation of good practice guidelines
• implementation through participatory demonstration programmes of a human rights approach to development at the national level in pilot countries in co-operation with governments, UN agencies, civil society and donors
• contributions to national and global strategy development and national and international policy analysis and formulation
• contributions to normative development of human rights law and standards
• education, information and training on human rights and development
• the development of methodologies and indicators for monitoring and evaluation.

The Executive Director of UNFPA, Dr Nafis Sadik, proposed that instead of advising each of the UN agencies separately, Rights and Humanity should develop a multi-agency initiative. She suggested that we host a Heads of Agency meeting to discuss this suggestion, and provided UNFPA’s financial support in this regard.

Rights and Humanity Meeting with Heads of UN Agencies
In June 2000, Rights and Humanity’s hosted a private lunch for the Heads of UN Agencies involved in development issues. The lunch, hosted at the UN headquarters in New York, included the heads of UNDP, UNAIDS, UNCTAD, UNFPA, UNIFEM and the OHCHR as well as a Vice-President of the World Bank.

There was consensus that the co-ordinated effort proposed was desirable and should be pursued. Each of the participating agencies agreed to identify someone in their office to act as a focal point to take the Comprehensive Programme forward with Rights and Humanity.

Between 1999 and 2001 we held meetings with many governments and inter-governmental bodies to advocate the implementation of our human rights approach to development. There included meetings with:

• the head of the Canadian and Norwegian Governments’ development departments and a Vice President of the World Bank, in Paris 1999, to discuss our Comprehensive Programme and to gain their support for its implementation
• various UN Agencies to advise them on the implementation of a human rights approach to development and help meet their training needs
• representatives of Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK, Norway, and Sweden to gain their support and enable them to play an active role in the planning and implementation of the Comprehensive Programme.

These meetings helped develop a common understanding of a human rights approach to development. An inter-agency working group of the UN on the human rights approach was subsequently initiated and met in Princeton, New Jersey in 2002 and in Stamford, Connecticut in 2003.

At the Stamford Meeting, an agreement was reached by most participating agencies defining a Common Understanding of the human rights based approach to programming. This adopted the key elements of the approach we had advocated and provides the basis for coordinated policy and programmes across the UN.

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