Dr. Felisa Tibbitts
Both scholar and activist, Dr. Felisa Tibbitts is currently a Lecturer in the Comparative and International Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She cofounded the NGO Human Rights Education Associates (HREA – http://www.hrea.org), which she directed from 1999-2011, and co-founded Human Rights Education (USA HRE USA). She has published practical resources on curriculum, program development, and evaluation on behalf of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UNICEF, UNESCO, OSCE/ODIHR, the Council of Europe, and non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International and the Open Society Foundations. Her scholarship has appeared in numerous books and journals including the Journal of Peace Education, Intercultural Education, Prospects, and the International Review of Education. Previously she was an adjunct faculty member at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the UN-mandated University for Peace. She remains affiliated with the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice in South Africa. One nominator said of Dr. Tibbitts, “Felisa is an inspiring model for all of us. … As much as I am impressed with her intelligence and speaking ability, I am even more appreciative of her personally. …I find Felisa to be a light in the darkness, the consummate professional with no self-serving nature. She is the ideal human rights educator and activist.”
Washington D.C. Human Rights Learning Project
Recognizing that young people have been the backbone of social cutting edge work throughout history, the DC Human Rights Learning Project engages at least 150 District of Columbia students per school year to learn about human rights and to get the support they need to become educated and engaged citizens. The project currently works in DC public schools and a few community centers on a weekly basis. Students attend a ten-week course taught by local college and university students followed by a summer learning program called “The Human Rights Summit.” American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) integrates two equally important components: workshops dedicated to discussing human rights that
relate to each participant and social projects dedicated to fostering responsible citizens.
Students learn principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, identify violations of those principles in their community, propose solutions, and apply what they have learned through a community effort to remedy the violations they have identified. In this way, participants will learn to become agents of social change and able to build communities and transform lives – both on a personal and societal level. Jean-Louis Peta Ikambana, Director of the AFSC-DC Peace and Economic Justice Program will accept the award on behalf of the project.
hreusa.org 