Building a trail: From policy to action

In February 2024, more than 30 human rights educators and Equitas partners from all over the world came to Montreal for a week of exchanges, learnings and practical activities. During one of the activities, all participants were invited to Build a Trail. The objective was to reflect on strategies and solutions to turn recommended policies and action plans to advance gender equality, participation of women and to fight gender-based violence into implementable actions.  

The recommended policies and action plans were developed by women’s rights organizations in the Advancing Equality Through Human Rights Education project funded by Global Affairs Canada. 

Too often, conflicting laws, lack of budget, corruption and bribes, gaps in capacity of those enforcing the law and gaps in existing legal frameworks hamper the possibility of turning recommended policies for advancing equality into concrete actions.  

At the learning event, participants shared their insights by creating a trail of solutions and strategies for turning recommended policies into implementable actions.  

After discussing in groups on pre-prepared questions, they wrote down their answers on construction paper cut in various shapes, acting as rocks, and glue them on a long stretch of paper, each rock representing one solution or strategy.  

Thus, the laid-out rocks formed a trail, which we depicted digitally to share participants’ answers. The answered questions have been rearranged into sections to facilitate comprehension. 

Browse the interactive graphic to discover the trail!