Enabling Virtual Knowledge Networks for Human Rights Monitoring for People with Disabilities

Holistic disability rights monitoring is an imperative approach to permit translation of rights on paper into rights in reality for people with disabilities. However, evidence-based knowledge produced through such a holistic monitoring approach has to be accessible to a broad range of stakeholders, e.g., groups such as: researchers, representatives of disability community, people with disabilities, media, policy makers, and the general public. Besides, the collected evidence should contribute to building capacity within disability community around human rights questions. This article explains the design process of a Virtual Knowledge Network (VKN) as an operational tool to support mobilization and dissemination of evidence-based knowledge produced by the Disability Rights Promotion International Canada (DRPI-Canada) project. This VKN is embedded in the more general framework of DRPI, grounded in a human rights approach to disability that acknowledges the importance of creating knowledgeable communities in order to make the disability rights monitoring efforts sustainable.