Education and Training
EarthRights trains defenders, lawyers, and community leaders and supports their networks.
We use training and network building to strengthen local systems for rights defense and power building. We strengthen the capacity of individuals to achieve community impact. We also leverage the power of network building to drive meaningful and structural change for affected communities around the world.
We equip the next generation of human rights and environmental defenders with the necessary skills, knowledge, and networks to protect their rights and sustain their movements.
We partner with lawyers, civil society organizations, and emerging leaders from frontline communities and provide an intensive participatory learning environment and alumni network support through both longer-term programs such as the EarthRights School in the Mekong region and the Legal Defense Program in Latin America. We also provide shorter training programs tailored to community and civil society needs, such as the Mekong Legal Advocacy Institute.
Featured Content
Bringing Out Community Knowledge: LEAD Lessons from the Mekong
Dear’s Path From MLAI Student to Environmental Leadership
Training the Next Generation of Environmental Defenders Around the World
IN 2025:
Our Programs
The EarthRights School (ERS) Mekong
A 7-month residential training program in the Mekong Region for community-based advocates from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam who are working on environmental and human rights issues. The goal of ERS is to train grassroots and community leaders about the impacts of large-scale development projects on communities and the environment, and how they can advocate for more equitable development in their communities.
Mekong Alumni Network
Since 1999, over 600 graduates from the Mekong region have completed EarthRights training programs, including EarthRights School Myanmar, EarthRights School Mekong, EarthRights School, the Mekong Legal Advocacy Institute, and the Bertha Fellowship.
More than 300 alumni remain active, using their skills and networks to defend human and environmental rights in their communities across the region.
Latin American Indigenous Legal Defense Training Program
Since its creation in 2015—formerly known as the Seminar—the program offers participants tools to strengthen their knowledge, develop skills, and foster collaboration in the defense of communities and key ecosystems.
This space has been designed so that defenders of the territory and the environment—primarily Indigenous and Afro-descendant people—can acquire theoretical and practical knowledge about legal, organizational, communication, and advocacy actions and strategies to protect their rights.
Help us fight for justice
In a world where climate disruption is accelerating, corporate harm often goes unchecked, and threats against advocates continue to rise, our victories remind us where we’re most needed and most effective.