Rights and Remedies Graduation 2025
26 May 2026
CER launches Rights & Remedies Alumni Network to empower next generation of environmental activists
13 May 2025
Johannesburg – The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) is wrapping up the Rights & Remedies monitoring and evaluation (M&E) process of its Rights & Remedies course in the coming week.
The Rights and Remedies course has produced over 100 environmental activist graduates since its inception in 2017. Alumni network activists who have completed the programme have been empowered with the necessary skills to use the law to defend their environment, in an effort to protect it for future generations.
This last activity of the M&E process will see graduates from CER’s Rights and Remedies programme come together for a three-day event to reflect on their experiences and chart a way forward in addressing various environmental challenges that they face.
The R&R Alumni Network has been designed to strengthen connections, foster collaboration, and amplify the voices of local community residents and organisations. On the last day, together with Rights and Remedies participants, CER will formally constitute the Rights & Remedies Alumni Network and end off with a celebration of the past seven years of Rights & Remedies’ impact.
CER Attorney, Danjelle Midgley said: “The vision for the Rights & Remedies Alumni Network is to bring together the passionate environmental and climate justice activists from all over South Africa who attended the Centre for Environmental Rights’ R&R course. It marks the milestone of over 100 activists having been trained through the course.”
“This new organisation provides an exciting platform for solidarity, support and mentorship for participants. The R&R Alumni Network will join other community and civil society organisations in the environmental justice movement in South Africa and beyond. It will serve as an important platform for activists to determine their own vision, goals and plans, share advocacy strategies, struggles, showcase projects, build solidarity, empower community voices and host training opportunities and resources,” adds Midgley.
Many of the activists that come through the R&R course are the lifeblood of thriving communities — deeply rooted in the needs, cultures, and identities of the people they serve. Yet many face challenges in visibility, coordination, and access to resources.
The Alumni Network empowers activists to bring themselves and their experiences to the environmental justice movement and ultimately shape it into a stronger and more resilient sector of our society.
To see a video documenting the Rights & Remedies Year of Evaluation, click here.