About Us

Inspiring and equipping activists to change the world.

We believe that informed and connected citizens are the key to lasting human rights improvements in their communities.

New Tactics helps activists become more effective through strategic thinking and tactical planning.

A program of the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT), New Tactics emerged from CVT'S  experience as a creator of new tactics, a leader of coalitions, and as a center that also advocates for the protection of human rights from a unique position – one of healing and of reclaiming civic leadership. Read about the New Tactics team.

Since 1999, New Tactics has created unique resources – organized around the analysis of potential solutions rather than that of specific issues, geographic regions, or target groups – that allow advocates to clearly recognize the unique elements of their situation, and to seek promising approaches that have worked elsewhere in order to apply them to new regions or issues. New Tactics develops and disseminates these unique resources in three key ways:

Creating and sharing information and materials: New Tactics developed a range of online materials for human rights defenders to use in their work. These publications are available in our Resource Library and include:

Training and mentoring: Training and mentoring for human rights advocates supports them in their work. In the early years, the training focused on creating a forum and tools for the sharing and exchange of tactics. Since 2005, the training has focused on the tools and methodology to create strategy and then connect the strategy with tactics that help organizations be more effective in advancing human rights. New Tactics has:

  • Conducted workshops in all six regions of the world, including a five-day International Symposium that drew nearly 450 participants from 89 countries
  • Reached thousands worldwide through tactical innovation and strategy effectiveness trainings

Building an online community: Peer-to-peer online conversations have enabled the strengthening of a global community of human rights advocates. Activists connect with others, share what they’ve learned, and ask questions. New Tactics is also active on Facebook and Twitter so defenders can interact with each other in a variety of ways. New Tactics has:

  • Held more than 100 online conversations featuring experienced practitioners
  • Built a growing online community network of human rights defenders in more than 120 countries

New Tactics in Human Rights has strengthened the work of thousands of human rights defenders and organizations worldwide. Partners and participants consistently report that the tools, resources and methodologies make a significant difference in the way they approach their work. Human rights defenders in countries as diverse as Uzbekistan, Cambodia and Albania credit the program with making key contributions to successful human rights initiatives in those nations.

In 2009, CVT began building on these accomplishments by launching an initiative to strengthen the capacity of human rights defenders in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. In 2011, New Tactics opened an office in Amman, Jordan to create a virtual network of human rights activists across the region and train human rights defenders, particularly in Egypt and Tunisia, on the New Tactics strategy and tactics tools and methodology.

The New Tactics program is made possible by the support of a number of generous funders. The opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed on this site are those of New Tactics and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funders.

Read about how people are using New Tactics.