Our new partnership with the University for Peace expands access for practitioners

A new collaboration between Freedom Collaborative and the Human Rights Centre at the University for Peace (UPEACE-HRC) aims to improve access to high-quality training for grassroots organizations and strengthen links between academia and frontline work. The partnership will create opportunities for Freedom Collaborative members to access postgraduate-level courses focused on human rights, trafficking, and development, while also ensuring that course content reflects the real-world challenges faced by practitioners.

Through the partnership, members of Freedom Collaborative will be eligible for a 30 per cent discount on a range of UPEACE-HRC courses, including the six-week Trafficking in Persons course, starting on 29 April. Other programs of study include Forced Migration and Human Rights, Child Rights and Development, and Gender, Development and Human Rights, aligning closely with the day-to-day work of many organizations across our network.

UPEACE was established by the United Nations General Assembly with a mandate to provide an international institution of higher education for peace. It specializes in sustainable development, international law, and peace and conflict studies, with a global student body and a strong emphasis on applied learning. Its Human Rights Centre, created as part of its broader mission, focuses on advanced training and capacity building for key actors and stakeholders working at the intersection of human rights, globalization, and peacebuilding.

Beyond improving access, the partnership is designed to ensure that academic programming remains grounded in the realities faced by practitioners. Both organizations plan to co-facilitate cohort sessions alongside selected courses, creating space for participants to reflect on the ways in which course concepts reflect field realities and apply to their work in diverse local contexts. This approach is intended to foster peer learning while also strengthening the practical relevance of course material.

Freedom Collaborative will also contribute practitioner-driven insights to support the ongoing development of course content. By feeding back lessons from the field, we aim to help align academic frameworks with emerging trends, challenges, and needs within the anti-trafficking and human-rights sectors.

Post-course engagement will form another key component of the collaboration. We intend to jointly organize debrief and reflection sessions, allowing participants to share experiences and provide structured feedback. These insights are expected to inform future iterations of the programs and support continuous improvement.

For Freedom Collaborative, the partnership reflects a broader commitment to connecting our global network of civil society organizations with opportunities for professional development, including access to accredited and structured learning. For UPEACE-HRC, it offers an opportunity to deepen engagement with frontline practitioners and ensure its courses remain responsive to evolving global challenges.

Freedom Collaborative members interested in applying should indicate their affiliation in the referral box of the Statement of Purpose when submitting applications for UPEACE-HRC courses, in order for their membership to be verified.

Here’s a roundup of other noteworthy news and initiatives:

A new report by Equidem draws on multi-year research and worker interviews to document widespread labour abuses among migrant delivery riders in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, including wage theft, coercive conditions and indicators of forced labour within platform-based supply chains. The report points to structural accountability gaps created by third-party logistics models, with companies able to retain operational control while limiting responsibility for labour conditions.

The Paris Criminal Court has convicted Lafarge and several former executives at the French cement maker of financing terrorist groups in Syria, following a decade-long case driven by civil society organizations, including the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) and Sherpa. The ruling underscores the critical role of civil society in advancing corporate accountability, while highlighting persistent barriers to redress, with affected Syrian employees denied compensation despite the findings.

Ethiopian authorities have dismantled a trafficking network accused of luring thousands of migrants to Libya and subjecting them to detention, torture and ransom demands, with more than 100 deaths linked to the group. The arrests follow a multi-year, internationally supported investigation, pointing to the scale and persistence of organized trafficking networks operating across the East Africa–Libya corridor.

An updated Datahub from SOMO finds that revisions to the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive have reduced the number of corporate groups in scope by 71 per cent, leaving around 974 covered despite thousands initially meeting the thresholds. The data suggests a substantial contraction in the directive’s coverage, raising questions about how far it will apply across global supply chains in practice.

This blog article from Civic Strength Partners reflects on efforts to support organizations facing widespread funding shocks over the past year, with survey data indicating nearly 60 per cent risked closure, and prompting new approaches to mergers, partnerships, and responsible wind-downs. It highlights an emerging recognition that civil society lacks the infrastructure to manage organizational transitions, pointing to the need for earlier, ecosystem-level support to preserve capacity, relationships, and knowledge during periods of contraction.

The Freedom Fund has opened applications for its Survivor Leadership Fund, offering unrestricted grants to survivor-led organizations in Nepal to support organizational development and programming, with a deadline of 4 May 2026.

We are currently gathering information on the recruitment of third-country nationals into armed forces in Russia and Ukraine, as well as the recruitment of young women into the Alabuga Start program in Russia. If you have come across these issues in your work, please reach out.