Applications for the 2026 Leadership Program are now closed. Thank you for your interest. We accepted more than 800 participants representing more than 75 countries, and the inaugural program is now underway. If you were not selected, remember: this is just the beginning of the Academy. Please check our learning opportunities or join the Network to stay updated on future offerings.

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Grassroots Justice Network Academy logo with smiling Network members

Learn to build power and advance justice when you join the Grassroots Justice Network Academy’s Leadership Program! 

This is a free, three-month program to help you master core legal empowerment strategies, with a blend of live sessions, working groups, hands-on workshops, and resources you can access 24/7.

You’ll go behind the scenes of inspiring moments when ordinary people were able to win against grave injustice. Meet a community leader in Sierra Leone who led a successful fight against a land grab of 75,000 acres of rainforest, and then teamed up with others to envision and pass one of the most progressive land laws in the world. Learn how grassroots movements in the Philippines overcame one authoritarian regime and then, thirty years later, adapted their strategies to confront another authoritarian threat. Learn how to take law out of books and courtrooms and combine it, instead, with our greatest asset: our own people power.

You can explore the content of the program here.

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What you can expect from the Leadership Program

  • Master core legal empowerment strategies through live sessions and asynchronous materials.
  • Participate in expert-led workshops to build the specific skills your organization or community needs.
  • Develop a practical work plan to address your justice challenge and share it with a trusted cohort of peers for feedback and refinement.
  • Connect with fellow members of the Grassroots Justice Network, the world’s largest community of justice defenders.
  • Access curated resources that strengthen your knowledge of legal empowerment or hone advanced skills, available on a range of issue areas.

Additional details

  • The program is 100% free to apply and participate.
  • The program is virtual, and will offered in both English and Spanish. 
  • The expected time commitment is 2-4 hours per week, for 3 months.
  • Live sessions will take place 9-10.30am ET – you can click here to see the time in your timezone.
  • Participants who complete the full program will be eligible to apply for a limited number of $10,000 USD action grants for their organization, collective, or community-based group.