East Africa

In July 2022, leading Network members in East Africa came together to reflect and map out opportunities in the years to come. Given the adoption of new legal aid laws in many countries in the region, distilling lessons learned on public recognition and financing for community paralegals is a major focus in the region.

West Africa

In March 2022, members in the West Africa region developed the Lagos Declaration on Community Driven Justice, in which they committed to strengthening their legal empowerment work across the region by deepening learning. In particular, the group is committed to sharing strategies for building community power. To follow the ongoing conversation, check out a recent webinar on how to build power! 

From April to June 2023, members and Legal Empowerment Fund grantees met virtually and in person to exchange learning and best practices on how to build community power to fight injustice.

Latin America

In April 2022, Network members gathered in Chile for learning on legal empowerment and environmental justice in the region. Collective learning efforts in Latin America focus on how to catalyze reforms that expand inclusion and public participation. Network members are synthesizing what they’ve learned about access and inclusion to develop recommendations for an Ibero-American Convention on Access to Justice that centers the needs indigenous people, women, the urban poor, and other marginalized communities.

Network members also fought for the landmark Escazú agreement – a major win that set progressive new commitments on the right to information and the right to public participation. Now they’re thinking about how to advance implementation at the national level. Over the next three years, action research projects in Mexico, Chile, and Peru aim to generate practical insights on how to bring these rights to life in practice.

Land and Environmental Justice

Legal empowerment organizations who work on Land and Environmental Justice are coming together to fight for communities to have more control over what happens on their lands. We’re identifying priorities for learning and advocacy to 1) advance a more robust vision of free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), and 2) ensure the climate transition centers communities’ own priorities for investment.

Southeast Asia

In Southeast Asia, members are sharing practical strategies for responding to closing civic space. By reflecting together on new restrictions on civil society organizations and opportunities to advance justice in difficult contexts, we are learning how to defend fundamental human rights even as the political environment worsens. Members gathered in Manila, Philippines in November 2022 to set a collective learning agenda for the coming years.