CHRI was founded on the consensus that, while Commonwealth countries had a common set of values and a forum from which to work, there was little focus on human rights issues.
The CHRI is also a member of the Commonwealth Family network of NGOs and often collaborates with the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The team conducts workshops and training sessions for government servants and members of civil society organisations in order to develop their skills and build their capacities.
The programme also hosts public education campaigns in order to raise awareness on the importance of the right to information.
Internationally, the ATI team works with local partners to lobby for RTI legislation in Commonwealth countries which do not have them.
The team does this with research, policy analysis, accountability monitoring, public education campaigns, and with civil society networking.
The team also aims to reform prison management, monitors Commonwealth jail conditions and encourages a better cooperation between the different judicial system branches.
The International Advocacy and Programming (IAP) unit was created in November 2017 by renaming from the former Strategic Initiatives Programme (SIP), which was expanded to include representatives from CHRI's London and Accra offices.