Background: What is a community paralegal? Community paralegals are dedicated to legal empowerment: they help people to understand, use, and shape the law. These advocates are called different names in different places – including “grassroots legal advocate,” “barefoot lawyer,” “community legal worker,” or a host of other titles. They are trained in law and policy and in skills like mediation, organizing, and advocacy.   Although they often are called “community paralegals,” they are not the kind of paralegals who primarily serve as lawyers’ assistants. These paralegals work with clients to seek concrete solutions to instances of injustice, often at the community or administrative levels. They form a dynamic, creative frontline that can engage formal and traditional institutions alike. Moreover, Just as primary health workers are connected to doctors, community paralegals are often connected to lawyers who may help pursue litigation or high-level advocacy if frontline methods fail. About this resource guide The guide below is a collection of national paralegal research briefs that reviews the nature of the work undertaken by community paralegals in different countries, and how that work is recognized and funded by the government. The research briefs are accompanied by supporting national-level resources and laws related to community paralegals. The briefs in this series focus on the types of community paralegals who have been formally recognized either in law or policy. We acknowledge that this is just a small part of a much larger picture: a broader, dynamic ecosystem of community paralegals operates effectively without state recognition in many countries. We aim to one day expand our research to offer a more comprehensive analysis of this larger universe. For now, however, our research briefs are limited to community paralegals who have been formally recognized by law or policy. By better understanding national recognition and financing of paralegals across various contexts, practitioners can gain valuable insight to build and strengthen legal empowerment programs elsewhere. Legal empowerment expands meaningful, people-centered access to justice across the globe. This guide offers comparative analysis to support practitioners to strengthen and innovate on their existing efforts. Contributions to the guide Each of these briefs is a living document– if you have an update, addition or a correction, please contact us at community@namati.org. You can also submit national research on community paralegals by country or region to add to each section below. New briefs will be added on an on-going basis as they are researched, revised, and published. The original desk research for each research brief was provided by the international law firm, White & Case LLP. Every brief has also been written with consultation and input from national experts who are directly involved with grassroots legal advocates in their country.