The TAP Network is excited to present “Advocacy: Justice and the SDGs,” a guide for civil society, activists, and policy practitioners. It is our hope that it will help its users use the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to successfully advocate for a national justice plan in their country. We are united in our belief that legal empowerment and access to justice are essential to the overall success of the SDGs.
This how-to resource guide is an online version of the “Advocacy: Justice and the SDGs” guide, which is available to download as a complete resource here. The online version that follows below separates the publication into individual chapters and includes links to related resources in each section.
This Guide by the TAP Network provides a comprehensive approach to translate international justice commitments into national reform. The steps in the Guide will support individuals working to promote legal empowerment and access to justice at the national level.
Justice in the Global Development Goals – We Won!
A blog post by Namati that provides context and background to the inclusion of justice and legal empowerment being included in the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.
Advocacy: Justice and the SDGs Blog
A blog post by Temitayo O. Peters that summarizes the launch of the “Advocacy: Justice and the SDGs” toolkit created by Namati and other members of the Transparency, Accountability, and Participation (TAP) Network.
Webinar: Advocacy: Justice and the SDGs
This resource is a recording and summary of a webinar hosted by Namati regarding the structure, uses, and implementation of the Advocacy: Justice in the SDGs toolkit.
The introduction section of the Guide that summarizes the purpose and outlines the five chapters in the Advocacy: Justice and the SDGs toolkit and covers the following topics:
• understanding the SDGs and the important part legal empowerment plays in their success
• funding opportunities available to you,
• what a national justice plan is,
• how to advocate for a national justice plan in your country,
• how this plan ties in with Global 16 and all the SDGs,
• how to monitor success,
• how to hold your government to account.
The toolkit contains unique tips and advice throughout, based on years of experience of using the SDGs as an advocacy platform for justice reforms.
This section contains background information about the SDGs and the need for justice to be included. Legal empowerment and access to justice principles are found in the 2030 Agenda, but guaranteed access to effective and affordable legal services are missing. In order to meet Goal 16, to provide access to justice, action must be taken to use governments’ commitment to the SDGs to push for national justice reforms.
Chapter: A Brief History of the SDGS
A chapter from the Guide that outlines major key events that led to the adoption of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Together 2030 Implementation Series
The “Implementation Series” webinars provide members of Together 2030 with an opportunity to discuss technical and political aspects related to the implementation and accountability of Agenda 2030 at global, regional and national levels.
Chapter: The MDGs Failed to Address Links Between Justice and Development
A chapter from the Guide detailing the reason why the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) would not achieve sustainable development.
Chapter: When People are Legally Empowered, Development Improves
A chapter from the Guide that outlines how legal empowerment improves development.
Access to Justice Assessment Tool: A guide to analyzing access to justice for civil society organizations
The manual provides civil society organizations with the tools they need to conduct useful and reliable research on access to justice.
Chapter: Principles of Justice and Legal Empowerment in the SDGs
A chapter from the Guide that outlines where principles of access to justice and legal empowerment can be found in the 2030 Agenda.
Chapter: What’s Missing?
A chapter from the Guide that emphasizes the importance of including access to effective and affordable legal services.
Chapter: Now is the Time to Act
A chapter from the Guide that details the work needed to be done to meet Goal 16’s promise to provide access to justice for all.
This section discusses the use of SDGs in pushing for national reform and the importance of advocating for a national justice plan. Advice and other complementary guides are included for those who do not believe that a national justice plan is applicable to their situation or if the promotion of a national justice plan is not successful.
Chapter: National Reform Recommendations
A chapter of the Guide that contains the toolkit’s recommendations for using the SDGs to push justice reforms.
Chapter: The Importance of a National Justice Plan
A chapter from the Guide that outlines the impact a national justice plan can have on achieving reform and addresses alternative options to a national justice plan.
Sustainable Development Goals: A Practical Guide for National Action and Accountability
A practical guide on how to meet Goals 5, 10, and 15 of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals to Advance Women’s Rights and Gender Equality: An Advocacy Guide
This guide aims to equip women’s rights advocates with the tools and knowledge to ensure they can take full advantage of the opportunity that the SDGs offer to galvanize gender transformative change by 2030.
Global Agreements, Grassroots Advocacy: Youth and Governance in a Post-2015 World
This toolkit by Restless Development and Plan International UK is designed to inform young people how they can make a difference to ensure their voices are heard in the corridors of power across the world.
Advocacy Toolkit: Influencing the Post-2015 Development Agenda
This toolkit is for civil society, other stakeholder organizations, coalitions, and individuals that wish to influence the post-2015 development agenda, including the design and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Engaging with the Media: A Companion to the Advocacy Toolkit for Influencing the Post-2015 Development Agenda
The aim of this guide is to help you get your message across to a wider audience when talking about sustainable development and the post-2015 development agenda.
Chapter: Importance of Advocacy in a National Justice Plan
A chapter from the Guide that explains why advocacy is important to the success of a national justice plan.
Advocacy Strategies: how to choose, time, and map the right strategy for your cause
This chapter presents a series of tools and exercises on how to select an appropriate advocacy strategy, draft smart objectives, map legal-political solutions to social problems, and time your strategy appropriately within the local and national context.
Evidence, Messages, Change!
This guide outlines important, basic steps to ensure that your advocacy is as effective as possible.
Participatory Advocacy: A Toolkit for VSO Staff, Volunteers, and Partners
The toolkit contains five key stages of the participatory advocacy process and circle.
Advocacy Toolkit: Influencing the Post-2015 Development Agenda
This toolkit is for civil society, other stakeholder organizations, coalitions, and individuals that wish to influence the post-2015 development agenda, including the design and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Engaging with the Media: A Companion to the Advocacy Toolkit for Influencing the Post-2015 Development Agenda
The aim of this guide is to help you get your message across to a wider audience when talking about sustainable development and the post-2015 development agenda.
This section from the Guide outlines the steps needed to determine what should be included in a national justice plan, how to enlist like-minded reformers to advocate for the plan, and the process for successfully delivering and monitoring the progress of a national justice plan.
Chapter: Assessing Justice Issues
A chapter from the Guide that describes how to conduct a baseline assessment of access to justice in your country.
Chapter: Identifying Gaps in Justice Efforts
A chapter from the Guide that explains the necessity of a gap analysis to effectively advocate for a national justice plan.
Chapter: Determining Solutions to National Justice Issues
A chapter from the Guide that provides a step-by-step overview to determine solutions for the issues identified through the assessments.
‘Legal need’ and legal needs surveys: A background paper
In general terms, legal need arises when citizens (or businesses) require support from legal services (broadly defined) in order to resolve problems which have a legal dimension. Legal needs surveys investigate the experience of ‘justiciable problems’. Legal needs surveys are distinct from crime victimisation or offending surveys, as their focus is on civil law (including…
Chapter: Is a National Justice Plan What Your Country Needs?
A chapter from the Guide that poses questions to determine whether a national justice plan is the right approach to deliver action in your country.
Chapter: Conducting a Stakeholder Analysis
A chapter from the Guide that elaborates on the benefits of conducting a stakeholder analysis to enlist the help from other like-minded reformers.
A chapter from the Guide that outlines the stages a national justice plan should go through as it is being developed for national implementation.
Chapter: Consultations and Mapping
A chapter from the Guide that describes the different components and advocacy tactics of the consultation and mapping stage.
Chapter: Planning for Delivery
A chapter from the Guide that outlines the two different steps in the planning for the delivery stage.
Chapter: Drafting your National Justice Plan
A chapter from the Guide that lists the characteristics that should be considered in the drafting your national justice plan stage.
Philippine Development Plan (2017-2022)
This resource is the Philippine’s Development Plan for 2017- 2022, where chapter 6 outlines the country’s commitment to access to justice reform.
Community Justice: Indonesia
This fact sheet was published by the Open Society Foundations and outlines Indonesia’s National Justice Plan.
Implementing SDG 16.3 in Indonesia
This resource is from Namati’s Advocacy: Justice and the SDGs webinar. The slides were presented by Constantinus Kristomo, who discusses Indonesia’s efforts to implement SDG 16.3.
Chapter: Adopting your National Justice Plan
A chapter from the Guide that explains the steps and the necessity to keep momentum in the adopting your national justice plan.
Chapter: Tracking your Progress- Ensuring Better Accountability for Justice
A chapter from the Guide that outlines steps to monitor the progress of the national justice plan after the adoption progress stage.
Assessing How Everyday Justice Data can Shape Public Policy
This resource is a blog post written by Sumaiya Islam, Peter Chapman, and Akhila Kolisetty for deliver2030.org. The blog elaborates on using case data collected by justice organizations to influence policy.
Access to Justice For All? Now That Would be a Measurably Good Thing
This article written by Stacey Cram and Vivek Maru discusses the importance of indicators when assessing the progress of goal 16 of the SDGs, which commits to “access to justice for all”.
Sustainable Development Indicators Risk Ignoring Most Peoples’ Justice Problems
This resource is a blog post by Peter Chapman, program officer working on law and development with the Open Society Justice Initiative, that discusses the need for additional global indicators to track the progress of Sustainable Development Goal 16.3.
This section from the Guide provides solutions to potential challenges advocating for a national justice plan. The section will also share ideas on how global and regional platforms can support national level advocacy.
Chapter: Common Challenges and Risks
A chapter from the Guide that provides solutions to overcoming likely challenges and risks when pushing for a national justice plan.
Chapter: Using Regional and Global Platforms to Support National Reform
A chapter from the Guide that shares ideas on how global and regional platforms can support advocacy on a national level.
Four Ways Regional Bodies Can Help Deliver SDG Justice Commitments
A blog post by Temitayo O. Peters that outlines four ways regional bodies can help countries implement and monitor justice commitments made through the SDGs to ensure their success.
Regional Consultation on Sustainable Development Goals, Access to Justice and Legal Aid
This report gives an overview of the meeting and the final outcome document ‘Jakarta Recommendations on Sustainable Development Goals, Access to Justice and Legal Aid in ASEAN’.
This section from the Guide explains how to be aware of international development in order to identify opportunities to leverage support in your own efforts through international forums and processes.
Chapter: Global Indicators
A chapter from the Guide includes a tool used to track a government’s progress towards achieving the SDGs.
The SDG16 Data Initiative
The SDG16 Data Initiative is a collective project to compile existing global data that can help track progress towards the achievement of SDG16.
IAEG-SDGs: Inter-agency Expert Group on SDG Indicators
This is the official website of the United Nations providing information on the development and implementation of an indicator framework for the follow up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The World Justice Project Rule of Law Index
The World Justice Project Rule of Law Index measures how the rule of law is experienced and perceived by the general public across the globe.
Chapter: Global Review
A chapter from the Guide that overviews the limitations of the 2030 Agenda’s promise to a systematic review process.
United Nations High-Level Political Forum
This resource is for the website of the United Nation’s central platform for follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Emerging Trends in National Implementation of SDG Goal 16 and Justice Targets
This resource is a Namati briefing paper that presents three case studies from Kenya, Indonesia, and Jordan that highlight how national champions have begun shaping and influencing processes and planning new policies.
Chapter: Global Monitoring and Review Supporting National Advocacy and Reforms
A chapter from the Guide that emphasizes the importance of civil society in influencing and monitoring that government stated facts and reform commitments are publicized.