Legal Empowerment of the Poor Knowledge Bank

Avatars of Rule of Law and Access to Justice Some Asian Aspects. "This is an essay that expresses an optimism of will in the face of pessimism of analysis about prospects for advancement of an appropriate form of the rule of law and access to justice to people who now bear the burdens of burgeoning inequality, discrimination, and multiple injustices."

This book is a guide to creating and maintaining paralegal programs that help people who are poor or otherwise lack access to legal services. The book, created by the Open Society Institute, distills lessons learned from Sierra Leone and other community-based paralegal programs. It is intended to provide practical advice and hands-on tools for use in the field, but also be of interest to anyone who cares about justice and the legal empowerment of the poor.

Based on the results of qualitative and quantitative research  this report focuses on identifying the key justice-related issues affecting citizens at the village level and the steps taken to resolve them.  Addresses formal and informal justice systems.

A description of the barriers to justice and mechanisms of exclusion, analysis of how these work and strategies to improve A2J. Stresses the need for an innovative approach to the delivery of justice.

Legal Empowerment and Assistance for the Disadvantaged (LEAD)- Fact Sheet on Indonesia's National Strategy on Access to Justice

This book focuses on practical reform.  Addresses gender justice; delays; A2J by marginalised groups; judicial integrity & accountability; judicial education & skills development.  Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vanuatu

UNDP Practice Note on Access to Justice

This paper presents an analytic framework that can be used to measure and monitor empowerment processes and outcomes.

Dan Banik reviews the relationship between legal empowerment and povery reduction and suggests that while LEP can be a tool to support poverty reduction, it does not address all causes of poverty.

Former Commissioner Naresh Singh's presentation 'Making the Law Work for Everyone: Moving Towards Implementation'

Analysis of gender equality laws (GEL) from around the world, to identify those that represent good practice from a CEDAW-informed perspective. Based on the good practice examples identified, the review analyses the strengths and weaknesses of enacted and draft GEL in five countries, namely Indonesia, Lao PDR, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Indonesia's National Consultation on Legal Empowerment of the Poor by the Indonesia Legal Aid Foundation (Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia), UNDP and the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor

Addresses: what is legal empowerment; how legal empowerment is relevant to the development community; and
how the development community can incorporate legal empowerment initiatives into their development programs.

The United Nations Secretary General's report to the 64th General Assembly: 'Legal Empowerment of the Poor and Eradication of Poverty'.

Report on the national consultation on Legal Empowerment of the Poor held in Indonesia 2006

"Legal Empowerment and Poverty Reduction: The Conceptual and Empirical Challenges Ahead"

This paper poses questions to generate ideas, stimulate discussion and seek input from the dialogue participants on how key challenges surrounding legal empowerment can be addressed and how best to take the LEP agenda forward in the region.

This report compiles the viewpoints of national governments, human rights commissions and national development planning agencies, civil society organisations, and international development instutitions, and UNDP Country Offices.

Draws on exisiting methodologies and theoretical frameworks and argues for a narrowly defined, subject-centric approach for measuring LEP.

United
 Nations 
Department 
of 
Economic
 and
 Social
 Affairs

(UN‐DESA) 
and
 the 
United
 Nations 
Development
 Programme
 (UNDP)
 organized
 a 
Special 
Event 
on
 “Legal 
Empowerment 
of 
the 
Poor 
and 
Eradication 
of 
Poverty”.  

The 
special 
event 
– 
held 
on 
16
 October 
2009
 at 
the 
Second 
Committee  
of 
the 
64th 
session 
of 
the 
General
 Assembly
– 
was 
aimed
 at
 generating 
greater
 awareness
 and
 understanding 
on 
legal 
empowerment 
of 
the
 poor
 among
 the
 member
 states
 of
 the
 United
 Nations.


Thai language version: Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor's report 'Making the Law Work for Everyone: Vol 1'

The Current Economic Crisis and Its Impact: An Opportunity for Legal Empowerment of the Poor

Vietnamese language translation of the report of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor - Volume 1

A joint research team from the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme and the International Finance Corporation took a close look at how a mobile money system might take hold in Papua New Guinea.  Despite all of the challenges in providing financial services, there is a great opportunity for mobile phone based financial services to increase people's financial and physical security in PNG.

This paper provides guiding principles and advice on how Business Economy Reform programs might contribute to the needs of the poor by reducing informality and encouraging informal business to start operating formally. Of particular concern is avoiding policies that increase formalization but concomitantly are likely to increase poverty.

Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor sponsored note on financial sector development and expanded access to credit

Professor Kannan reviews the effects of plural orders and infomality

SEWA's Experience with legal empowerment assisting informal workers in India

The Commission on the Private Sector and Development's report on unleashing the potential of the private sector and entrepreneurship in developing countries.

UNIFEM examines the rights violation risks women face throughout the migration cycle

UNDP RCB, RIPP Programme Coordinator Chandra Roy - Land Rights and Indigenous Peoples

In this CGD report, the Commission on International Migration Data for Development Research and Policy presents their five recommendations to remedy the lack of good data on migration and its effects on development.

UNIFEM review strategies to improve the rights of women migrant workers

UNIFEM's 'good practices' for empowering migrant women workers

This paper advocates for a greater understanding of the complexities in 're-empowering' communities to regain control over Common Property Resources (CPR)

ActionAid's report declares women’s rights to land and natural resources as the missing link in the analysis of the food crisis, and as critical to achieving the MDGs. 

The authors argue that increasing women's land security requires working with existing positive values, rather than focusing on formal reform or embracing informal practices. Instead they advocate 'the sociocultural value systems that determine which behavior, arguments, and actions are legitimate in a community.'

Jastis Blong Evriwan (JBE), Vanuatu, is part of Justice for the Poor, which supports analytical and programmatic work in countries where legal pluralism presents a central development challenge.
This study of 23 leases over land on the island of Epi is the first of the JBE research activities to examine land and natural resource management and access to justice on particular Vanuatu islands.

This report presents the Timor Leste Survey of Living Standards extension survey's findings related to land and property. It begins by presenting a context for land and property in Timor-Leste, goes on to discuss East Timorese perspectives on land ownership and access, and concludes with a discussion on land disputes and their resolution.