About the Rights Made Real Hub

Overall Aim of The Hub: To provide a range of high quality ‘opportunities’ to care home residents and family members related to exploring and enhancing human rights.

The work will also focus on engaging with care home staff to support them to integrate the learning generated through these opportunities. This learning, along with existing learning and resources on human rights in care homes, will be shared widely through online platforms and events. The Hub will also be home to online conversation events about a range of different topics related to realising human rights in care homes.

The Hub represents the central focus of Phase 2 of the Rights Made Real Project. The content on The Hub pages will grow in response to the learning, stories and experiences generated in the project which will run from February 2022 until October 2022. The Hub will continue to exist online after that point as a place in which to find rich insights, generated by those who live, visit and work in care homes, about what enables rights to be realised.

Human Rights

The work of exploring and expanding human rights in care homes is multi-faceted and can include:

• Identification of human rights breaches and holding people/ organisations/ systems to account for these breaches
• Campaigning for improvements and developments which help human rights to be realised
• Exploring what helps human rights to be experienced, and working to help this happen more of the time

Within the Rights Made Real project there is a sincere recognition that all the approaches above have a place within furthering human rights for people living in care homes. The particular focus within this project is to build on existing knowledge, stories and experience about what helps human rights to be enhanced in everyday practice, through relationships, in care homes. And then, to use this learning to support the ongoing expansion of understanding about bringing human rights to life for people in care homes.

This phase of the Rights Made Real Project will focus on 4 human rights:

• Human Right to Personal Expression
• Human Right to Participation in Cultural Life
• Human Right to Participation in Public (and Community) Life
• Human Right to a Private and Family Life

Continue reading below to find out more about where the Rights Made Real Project began.

Visit our Opportunities page to find out more about the scope of the high-quality opportunities that have been developed in conjunction with a wide range of collaborators.

A Note to What Has Been

2022 has brought with it the possibility that there will be a significant lessening of the health and well-being implications and disruption to family & community life for care home residents, than has been the case during 2020 and 2021.

As we embark on Phase 2 of Rights Made Real in Care Homes, we dare to be hopeful that it will be possible for a range of people to visit care homes, and for care home residents to return to engaging in community life, we do so with our hearts remembering what has been. We remember the significant personal and community losses, challenges and sacrifices that people have experienced, and the impact these have had.

Rights Made Real Project

The Rights Made Real in Care Homes Project was established in 2019, funded by Life Changes Trust and the National Lottery Community Fund, and delivered in partnership with Scottish Care and the University of the West of Scotland.

In the first phase of Rights Made Real, 7 care home settings across Scotland, demonstrated how human rights can be embedded in practice across all aspects of care home life and support whilst showcasing real examples of creativity, innovation and dedication in upholding and respecting human rights.

Learn more about the work in each of these 7 care homes here.
In Spring 2021 a short series of workshops was held which focused on:

• sharing of experiences of human rights during the pandemic
• delving into stories from practice to draw out learning that may previously have been hidden
• incorporating learning and resources developed by care homes involved in Rights Made Real Phase 1, and inviting people to try these out themselves

From these workshops, and further conversations with care homes involved in Phase 1, came the idea to create a testimony of how Covid-19 impacted on day-to-day life in care homes. Their vision was that these stories would be an account of this time, as well as a resource to inform future discussions around human rights in care homes. Read and/or listen to these stories by visiting the Trying to Keep Connected section of our Resources and Learning Page.

Project Partner, Leads and Collaborators

Project Partner
In February 2022 My Home Life Charity became a Partner for Phase 2 of Rights Made Real.

My Home Life Charity works to support quality of life for all people who live, die, work in and visit Care Homes. Read more about the work of the charity here.

Project Co-Leads
The project is lead by Belinda Dewar and Edel Roddy

Belinda Dewar is Lead for Development and Sharing of Learning

Edel Roddy is Lead for Project Co-Ordination and Website Development

To get in touch with the Project Leads email: connect@rightsmadereal.org.uk

Illustrations copyright of Jennifer Mijatovic 2022

Privacy Statement

To read a copy of the Project’s Privacy Statement click here