(BANGKOK—June 25, 2014) Echoing Green, a leading global nonprofit that supports “social entrepreneurs launching bold new organizations to generate positive systemic change,” today announced its selection of Matthew Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights, as a 2014 Global Fellow.
Matthew Smith is one of the leaders of 42 organizations selected from nearly 3,000 applicants for the competitive two-year fellowship, which provides leadership and development support. As a Global Fellow, Smith joins an esteemed network of past Echoing Green fellows, including the founders of organizations such as Teach For America, EarthRights International, and City Year.
Fortify Rights is a new organization working to strengthen the human rights movement by providing technical support to human rights defenders while documenting and exposing abuses. Fortify Rights works in Myanmar and plans to scale up its model in Southeast Asia and beyond in the coming years.
In the last year, Fortify Rights has provided technical support to human rights defenders in Myanmar in the form of workshops and trainings, and in other ways. Additionally, the organization released a series of publications on grave human rights violations in Myanmar, reaching a global audience and providing policymakers and the general public with credible and reliable human rights information.
The vision of Fortify Rights is to support the human rights leaders of tomorrow while applying effective pressure on the human rights abusers of today. The organization is seeking continued backing to address pressing human rights concerns in Myanmar and regionally, and to provide much-needed technical support to human rights defenders working with limited resources under difficult conditions.
Fortify Rights is grateful to Echoing Green for recognizing Matthew Smith’s work and leadership through this prestigious fellowship.