At Namati, our people are our greatest resource.
From our staff to our board, we are united through an unyielding commitment to our mission and deeply-held common values.
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167 results
Sylvia Owuor
Nairobi, Kenya
Sylvia Owuor
Nairobi, Kenya
I am a dedicated and highly adaptable Operations & Finance expert with over a decade of experience providing comprehensive operational and financial management support. An astute leader known for organizing and driving complex operations while effectively recommending and curating fitting policies to increase organizational operational efficiency.
I have a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting Option) Degree and I am currently pursuing an MBA in Strategic Management at The Daystar University. I served as the Finance and Administration Coordinator at Kituo Cha Sheria; the oldest legal aid and access to justice organization in Kenya and also served as the Operations and Impact Senior Fellow at Financing Alliance for Health; an Africa-based, African-led partnership that works with governments, donors, and the private sector to address systemic financing challenges to scaling primary and community health programs across Sub-Saharan Africa. Outside the office, I am committed to providing mentorship to final year university students on career and life skills. I am currently trying my hand at baking and pastry arts. I love reading autobiographies and trying out various board games - if you challenge me to a game of poker - I will win.Teddy Odhiambo
Nairobi, Kenya
Teddy Odhiambo
Nairobi, Kenya
Teddy has over three years of experience working in finance and administration. This is why he is confident and excited about his present position at Namati. Teddy is a CPA-K with a bachelor's degree in education arts from Kenyatta University He enjoys integrating technology into processes to increase operational accuracy and efficiency.
Teddy worked as an accountant for Kituo Cha Sheria and Blue Door Foundation before joining Namati. His commitment to the universe through Namati is to provide his services in order to ensure an egalitarian future and a society in which everyone receives justice without bigotry.Tomlin Ben-Davies
Port Loko, Sierra Leone
Tomlin Ben-Davies
Port Loko, Sierra Leone
Tran Hoang
Washington, DC
Tran Hoang
Washington, DC
Vivek Maru
Washington, DC
Vivek believes we can advance social and environmental justice by deepening democracy.
Vivek started Namati in 2011. Since then, Namati and its partners have supported cadres of community paralegals—sometimes known as barefoot lawyers—in seven countries. These advocates work with their communities to protect common lands, enforce environmental law, and secure basic rights to healthcare and citizenship.
In all seven countries, paralegals and communities have achieved concrete remedies to grave harms as well as major improvements to entire systems, including a new national program in Mozambique to ensure healthcare is accountable to local communities, Myanmar’s first legal commitment to honor the customary land rights of ethnic minorities, and in Sierra Leone, one of the most progressive laws on land, environmental, and climate justice in the world.
Globally, Namati convenes the Grassroots Justice Network, made up of more than 4,300 groups from over 185 countries who are learning from one another and collaborating on common challenges. This community successfully advocated for the inclusion of justice in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, and for the creation of the Legal Empowerment Fund, with a goal of putting $100 million into grassroots justice efforts worldwide.
Vivek is co-author of Community Paralegals and the Pursuit of Justice (Cambridge University Press). His TED talk, “How to Put the Power of Law in People’s Hands,” has been viewed over a million times.
Vivek is on the road a lot, but he has a home and family in Washington, DC. He tries to spend time in a forest or other natural place every week, wherever he is.
Vivek studies and teaches capoeira at Universal Capoeira Angola Center.
Follow Vivek on LinkedIn and subscribe here to his Substack, “Chasing Justice,” through which he offers missives about the global movement for grassroots justice.
Work life before Namati
From 2003 to 2007, Vivek co-founded and co-directed the Sierra Leonean organization Timap for Justice, which has been recognized by the International Crisis Group, Transparency International, and President Jimmy Carter for advancing justice in the context of a weak state and a plural legal system.
From 2008 to 2011, he served as senior counsel in the Justice Reform Group of the World Bank. His work focused on rule of law reform and governance, primarily in West Africa and South Asia.
In 1997-1998 he lived in a hut of dung and sticks in a village in Kutch, his native place, working on rainwater conservation and girls’ education with two grassroots development organizations—Sahjeevan and Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan.
Learning, writing, teaching, supporting
Vivek graduated from Harvard College, magna cum laude, and Yale Law School. His undergraduate thesis was called Mohandas, Martin, and Malcolm on Violence, Culture, and Meaning.
Vivek writes regularly—see links to publications below—and has co-taught the Legal Empowerment Leadership Course, which Central European University and the Bernstein Center for Human Rights at New York University School of Law co-host.
Vivek serves on the boards of Renew New England, which is pursuing a Green New Deal across that region, and the Constitutional Accountability Center, which is focused on fulfilling the progressive promise of the U.S. constitution. He also serves on the advisory council for the Climate Justice Resilience Fund. Vivek was an affiliate expert with the UN Commission on Legal Empowerment and is a member of the global Task Force on Justice.
Recognition
- Human Rights Global Treasure Award, Article 3 (2023)
- Racial Equity 2030 Prize, a $20m award granted to Namati by the Kellogg Foundation and Lever for Change (2022).
- Global Pluralism Award, granted to Namati Kenya by the Global Centre for Pluralism (2021).
- Social Entrepreneurship of the Year Awardee, co-named with Sonkita Conteh, Director of Namati Sierra Leone, Schwab Foundation and the World Economic Forum (2017).
- Skoll Awardee for Social Entrepreneurship, Skoll Foundation (2016).
- Legal Rebel, The American Bar Association (2015).
- Ashoka Fellow, Ashoka (2014).
- Pioneer Award, North American South Asian Bar Association (2008).
Selected Publications
Book
- Community Paralegals and the Pursuit of Justice, with Varun Gauri and others, Cambridge University Press (2018)
Essays and Op-Eds
- "What does Juneteenth have in common with today’s immigration raids?," Los Angeles Times (2025)
- "To save carbon projects, make them fair," The Telegraph (2024)
- "Maryland makes historic climate commitment for new fiscal year," with Shashawnda Campbell, Baltimore Sun (2022)
- "Attorneys, Fight For Enviro Justice With Both Law And Protest," Law 360 (2021)
- "Bringing the Power of Law to the People" Interview with Sonkita Conteh, The Brockovich Report (September 2021)
- "Digital IDs Make Systemic Bias Worse," with Laura Goodwin, Aisha Khagai, and Mustafa Mahmoud, Wired (2020)
- “Myanmar is confiscating land that people depend on,” with Nwe Ni Soe, Thomson Reuters Foundation News (2019)
- “The World Bank Shouldn’t Hide When It Funds Projects that Harm Communities,” The Washington Post (2018)
- “To Stop the Relentless March on Climate Change We Must Empower Those Most at Risk,” Wired (2017)
- “Only the Law Can Restrain Trump,” Foreign Policy (2017)
- “Why Norway Should Lead a Global Fund for Legal Empowerment,” Aftenposten (2016)
- “It’s Time Canada Makes Access to Justice a Reality for All,” with Adrian Di Giovanni and Lotta Teale, The Hill Times (2016)
- “Barefoot Lawyers, Communities, and the Earth: Legal Empowerment and the Struggles for Stewardship,” Article 3 Advisors (2016)
- “Skoll World Forum – Three Takeaways for the Legal Empowerment Movement” (2016)
- “Access to justice for all? Now that would be a measurably good thing,” with Stacey Cram, The Guardian (2016)
- “Law and disorder: rough justice rules in the developing world,” The Guardian (2014)
- “From Bribery to Empowerment,” with Margaux Hall, Project Syndicate (2012)
- A Letter to Rio+20: Sustainable Development Isn’t Possible Without Land Rights, with Andy White, NextBillion (2012)
- Akbar, Birbal, and a South Asia Regional Meeting on Monitoring and Evaluating Legal Empowerment (2012)
- “Legal Power to the People,” Project Syndicate (2011)
- “For the Sake of Fairness: Justice in Development,” World Bank Governance for Development blog (2011)
- “Law for the Global Poor,” with Tiernan Mennen, letter to the editor, Foreign Affairs (2010)
Journal Articles
- How Sierra Leone Enacted One of the Most Progressive Land, Climate, and Environmental Justice Laws in the World, Sonkita Conteh and Vivek Maru, Environmental Justice Journal (2023)
- A Pathway to Climate and Environmental Justice, American Journal of Law and Equality (2023)
- “Give People the Law,” Democracy: A Journal of Ideas (2020)
- “What Do We Know about Legal Empowerment? Mapping the Evidence,” with Laura Goodwin, Hague Journal on the Rule of Law (2017)
- “Transforming Policy into Justice: The Role of Health Advocates in Mozambique,” with Ellie Feinglass and Nadja Gomes, Health and Human Rights Journal (2016)
- “Access to Justice and Legal Empowerment: A Review of World Bank Practice,” Hague Journal on the Rule of Law (2010)
- “Allies Unknown: Legal Empowerment and Social Accountability,” Health and Human Rights Journal (2010)
- “Between Law and Society: Paralegals and the Provision of Justice Services in Sierra Leone and Worldwide,” The Yale Journal of International Law (2006)
Book Chapters/Policy Documents/Practitioner Guides
- Foreword, with Abigail Moy, Empoderamiento jurídico y abogacía comunitaria en Latinoamérica: experiencias de acceso a la justicia desde la comunidad,” Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia and Namati (2019)
- Foreword, “Guide to Organizing and Working with Community-based Paralegals,” Namati (2019)
- “The Case to Fund and Protect Grassroots Justice Defenders,” with Abigail Moy and Stacey Cram, Justice for All Policy Brief (2019)
- “Practice Guide for Environmental Justice Paralegals,” with Manju Menon, Meenakshi Kapoor, and Kanchi Kohli, Namati (2017)
- “Legal Empowerment and the Land Rush: Three Struggles” in The International Rule of Law Movement – A Crisis of Legitimacy and the Way Forward, Harvard University Press (2014)
- “Legal Empowerment and the Administrative State: A Map of the Landscape, and Three Emerging Insights,” with Abigail Moy, Justice Initiatives (2013)
- The World Bank: New Directions in Justice Reform, with Daniel Adler, Christina Biebesheimer, and others, World Bank (2012)
- Timap For Justice Paralegal Manual, with Simeon Koroma, Daniel Sesay, and others (2012)
- Framing Local Conflict and Justice in Bangladesh, with Maitreyi Bordia Das, World Bank (2011)
- Community-Based Paralegal Programs: A Practitioner’s Guide, with Felisa Tibbitts and others, Open Society Justice Initiative (2010)
- “Timap for Justice: A Paralegal Approach to Justice Services in Sierra Leone,” Access to Justice in Africa and Beyond: Making the Rule of Law a Reality (Penal Reform International, Northwestern University School of Law, 2007)
- “The Challenges of African Legal Dualism: An Experiment in Sierra Leone,” Justice Initiatives, Open Society Justice Initiative (2005)
- Ravaging the Vulnerable: Abuses Against Persons at High Risk of HIV Infection in Bangladesh, Human Rights Watch (2003)
- “The FTAA, Access to HIV/AIDS Treatment, and Human Rights,” Human Rights Watch (2002)
- “Poetic Meets Tragic: Tagore in the Light of Max Weber,” The Poet’s Challenge to Schooling: Creative Freedom for the Human Soul- A Generative and Critical Analysis of Rabindranath Tagore’s Innovations in Shiksha (2001)
Select Public Talks
- “Environmental justice from Sierra Leone to DC,” Empower DC 2024 Environmental Justice Summit (April 2024).
- “Conservation and grassroots legal empowerment,” Bronx Zoo (April 2024).
- “Legal Empowerment for Dignity, Democracy and Justice,” Center for Legal Empowerment of the Poor (CLEP) at OP Jindal Global University (February 2024).
- Carbon Markets and Climate Justice, Columbia Climate School (September 2023)
- Using the Rule of Law and Human Rights to Prevent Human Conflicts, SDG 16 Conference (May 2023)
- “A pathway to global environmental justice” in conversation with 350.org founder May Boeve, Temescal Works (May 2023)
- Using the Law to Unify and Empower Community Action, Keynote address, Waterkeeper Alliance Conference (June 2022)
- Fight a land grab, change the system: a pathway towards climate justice, Gruber Distinguished Lecture in Global Justice, Yale Law School (October 25, 2021)
- CEOs Commit to Helping Marginalized Communities Access Legal Resources, Global Citizen Live (October 2021)
- Ecomodern Justice for a Multi-Polar World, Breakthrough Institute (September 2021)
- Beyond Legal Aid: Legal Empowerment and Community-Based Justice, Decolonizing Justice: Advancing Community-Grown Justice Solutions (November, 2020)
- The Global Struggle for Environmental Justice, The/Nudge Global Forum (August 2020)
- Housing Injustice and the Legal Empowerment Toolkit, Public Interest Housing Workshop (August 2020)
- Jainism and the Struggle for Environmental Justice, Young Jains of America Day 2020 (July 2020)
- Environmental Justice, Harvard India Conference (February 2020)
- The Global Struggle for Environmental Justice, Stanford Law School (October 2019)
- Strategies for Deeper Transformation, Biodiversity Funders Group Annual Meeting (June 2019)
- Land, Environment & Global Justice: Sierra Leone and Around the World, World Affairs Council (May 2019)
- Leading the Change, Task Force on Justice Meeting (February 2019)
- Social Innovation Outlook, World Economic Forum (January 2019)
- Reimagined in the USA: From Inspiration to Action, Keynote address, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Annual Meeting (September 2018)
- The Global Movement for Legal Empowerment, Keynote address, Yale Law School, Bernstein Fellowship Human Rights Symposium (April 2018)
- Legal Empowerment - Advancing Human Rights by Transforming Access to Justice, NYU Law School, Bernstein Institute Conference on Legal Empowerment (April 2018)
- A Legal Empowerment Approach to Influencing Land Investment, World Bank Group: Land and Poverty Conference (March 2018)
- How to Put the Power of Law in People’s Hands TEDGlobal (August 2017)
- Can Legal Aid Change Power Dynamics? Experiences from India, Sierra Leone, and Elsewhere (October 2017)
- Legal Empowerment & Community Lawyering, Keynote address, PILnet Global Pro Bono Forum (October 2017)
- Global Goals in an Uncertain World, Skoll World Forum (April 2017)
- Rule of Law for All, Oslo Freedom Forum (May 2016)
- Access to Land, the Biggest Challenge for Women’s Empowerment, Trust Conference (2014)
- Economic and Legal Empowerment Through a Robust Rule of Law, World Justice Forum (August 2013)
- Legal Empowerment and Justice for the Poor, Council on Foreign Relations (November 2012)
- Constitutions, Institutions, and the Rule of Law, Stanford Business School (May 2012)
In The Media
- Democracy in Question Podcast with Shalini Randeria (March 2024)
- Gravity podcast with Alexandra Arneri, (November 2023)
- My Block Counts WYPR podcast with Dr. Sacoby Wilson, (September 2023).
- “The Global Struggle for Environmental Justice,” with host Rose Aguilar and co-guest Robert Bullard, KALW Public Radio in the Bay Area (60 minute program, May 2023)
- Awakin, "A Global Movement for Justice: Making Rules and Systems Work for All” (January 2023)
- “Global Grassroots Legal Empowerment: Interview with Vivek Maru,” Harvard International Review (February 23, 2022)
- “Advancing Justice: An Interview with Vivek Maru,” Leaders Magazine (2022)
- "A Global Movement for Environmental Justice," Stanford Social Innovation Review Podcast (June 28, 2021)
- "The Fight for Environmental Justice," Amanpour & Company - PBS and CNN International (2021)
- “5 Billion People Around the World Lack Basic Access to Justice. These Organizations are Out to Change That,” Ensia (January 9, 2020)
- "Funding access to justice, a 'cross-cutting enabler of the SDGs',” Devex (July 9, 2019)
- "The World Bank must clean up its act,” Nature (March 19, 2019)
- "India’s Barefoot Lawyers,” The New York Times (August 8, 2017)
- “Poor Law: The Rise of Paralegals,” The Economist (October 20, 2016), with Abigail Moy and Stacey Cram
- “When Land Laws are Not Enough, Enter the Barefoot Lawyers,” Place Animations (September 21, 2016)
- “New League of “Barefoot Lawyers” Will Transform Justice in the Next 15 Years,” Forbes (June 15, 2016)
- Leadership in Action, Sirius XM Business Radio (June 2016)
- “It Takes More Than a Law to Ensure Equal Land Rights for Women,” Reuters (April 15, 2016)
- “Vivek Maru and Namati: The Barefoot Lawyers Brigade,” Humanosphere (April 15, 2016)
- “Barefoot Lawyers’ Are Being Deployed to the Front Lines of Justice,” TakePart Media (April 11, 2016)
- “Leveraging the Law Is the New Way to Help the World’s Poor,” TakePart Media (February 19, 2016)
- “Land Rushes and the People Left Behind,” Boston Globe (February 20, 2013)
- Reverence and Transformation: Q&A on Legal Empowerment with Vivek Maru of Namati, Open Society Foundation (February 13, 2012)
Wanjiku Mwangi
Nairobi, Kenya
Wanjiku Mwangi
Nairobi, Kenya
Zulficar Buraimo
Maputo, Mozambique
