Human rights organizations are increasingly interested in employing video to advance and strengthen their advocacy. But most groups are not equipped or experienced enough to make the most of video and other forms of media. WITNESS collaborates with NGOs worldwide - our "partners" - to bridge the gap between conventional campaigns and campaigns that incorporate video into advocacy to accelerate the process of human rights reform.

Since there are many more innovative human rights groups that seek WITNESS' support each year than we can work with directly, we have a multi-prong approach intended to simultaneously enhance the depth and breadth of our work, consisting of the Core Partners portfolio, the broader WITNESS Partner Network.

Please note: WITNESS is a nonprofit organization, not a grant-making foundation. We do not provide cash grants to our partners.

Core Partners

To achieve the greatest impact, WITNESS focuses on providing intensive support for a maximum of 13-15 Core Partners in a given year. This Core consists of campaign-specific relationships of 1-3 years in length designed to achieve high impact and visibility. Since partnerships are staggered in length and stage of involvement, the Core Partner portfolio is constantly rejuvenated as concrete goals are achieved and new challenges undertaken. We invite you to read more about our Core Partnership program and about our current Core Partners.

The Partner Network

Once the period of intensive collaboration with a Core Partner is over, each of these groups becomes a member of the WITNESS Partner Network. This network consists of all the human rights organizations with which we have worked since our founding, now numbering over 250. Read about how many of these partners have successfully used video to create change in WITNESS' Case Studies.

Seeding Video Advocacy

Seeding Video Advocacy was a WITNESS initiative that provided short-term trainings and training materials to a range of human rights organizations and networks to incorporate video into their campaigns. As part of the Seeding program, WITNESS has conducted two Video Advocacy Institutes, a two-week intensive training course for 25-30 global activists. The initiative also enabled us to share lessons learned from our Core Partners' experiences with the broader social justice community.

As part of a new organizational direction, WITNESS will shift from conducting hands-on training activities to focus on a more scalable model, with an expanded focus on online training and training-of-trainers.