Search Results for: open society

The four-day workshop, a collaborative effort by Namati, the Open Society Foundations’ International Women’s Programme and the West Africa Civil Society Institute, responds to demand at last year’s African Regional Workshop for Community-Based Paralegals in Kampala for further advanced thematic trainings.

Over the weekend, George Soros, founder and chairman of the Open Society Foundations, argued before high-level decision-makers that justice is essential to combat the intractable issues that place and keep people in poverty. “If justice is included in the next development goals, success will be assured,” he said.

Efforts to strengthen access to justice are making tangible and measurable impacts on development outcomes across a wide range of sectors, from health to gender equity to the environment.

In 2008, the United Nations High Commission on Legal Empowerment for the Poor proposed global priorities aimed at ensuring legal protection and opportunity for all. Among its recommendations, the Commission called on multilateral agencies, foundations, grassroots movements, and civil society organizations to form a global forum and virtual arena for legal empowerment. The report also…

Sierra Leone’s parliament has just enacted one of the most progressive legal aid laws in Africa—with an innovative approach to providing access to justice for all that will reinforce the rule of law in a society still scarred by the brutal civil war that ended in 2002.

Namati Sierra Leone director Sonkita Conteh and Open Society Justice Initiative’s Lotta Teale explain the importance of the bill, which calls for a scale up of paralegal services.

Governments around the world are moving rapidly towards digital identification systems. These schemes can make public services more efficient, but they can also jeopardize the right to privacy and exacerbate systemic discrimination. Civil society organizations are playing critical roles to ensure identification initiatives reflect the lived experiences of the people most affected by these systems…

This December, we’re bringing together 60 inspiring voices for the fifth annual Legal Empowerment Leadership Course (LELC) at Budapest’s Central European University. The course is an opportunity to learn from first-rate faculty, tackle challenges we face in our work, and grow the movement for legal empowerment together. We want you to be with us! Applications are now open…

The guide, originally published in English by the Open Society Justice Initiative in 2010, draws from paralegal experience in several countries to provide practical advice to program designers and managers. The Burmese translation, a collaborative effort by Namati and U Kyaw Myint Law Firm, makes advice accessible to the growing number of legal empowerment practitioners in Burma.

Ralf Jürgens, Director of the Open Society Law and Health Initiative, explains the key role legal empowerment is playing in the struggle to end AIDS and shares a video showing the powerful grassroots efforts of UGANET paralegals in Uganda.

James Goldston, Executive Director of the Open Society Justice Initiative, argues: “Failure to incorporate the rule of law into the post-2015 MDGs would send an unacceptable message: that states cannot muster the political capital needed to change course. As the idea of the rule of law gains currency around the world, political leaders will have to do better.”