Legal Empowerment of the Poor Knowledge Bank

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.

University Kabangsaan Malaysia, Denison Jayasooria - Forest Based Communities and Land Rights

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

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.'

Poverty Reduction in Thailand

This study characterises street vending in Thailand, Mongolia and Cambodia and highlights the role of policies especially concerning the legal status of vendors, their social security, and allocation of urban space.

Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) Manager, Sultan Tiwana, 'Empowering SMEs by Facilitating Access to Legal Services'

Bridging the Gap: Policies and Practices on Indigenous Peoples' Natural Resource Management in Asia. Contains in depth natural resource management country studies on Bangladesh, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand. 

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

DRAFT PAPER - Not to be cited. Notes that positive impacts of migration on development have been diluted because of poor governance and a lack of cross-border cooperation. Discusses the role of government, CSOs and the media.

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

This publication examines the link between legal identity documents and access to benefits and opportunities; HR protection; and development planning in Bangladesh; Cambodia; and Nepal. It also examines alternative markets for legal identity.

Aims to provide a briefing to dialogue participants by outlining the key issues around legal empowerment. Provides participants with an overview of the key themes within a legal empowerment framework and outlines potential regional concerns.

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.

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

This kit enhances understanding of why and how prevention of discriminitation and abuse should be addressed as issues of promoting gender equality & sustainable development; upholding basic human rights; and principles of good governance.

From the World Conference of Religions for Peace, this paper looks at Islam's perspective on legal empowerment of the poor through Qur'anic verses and Hadith.

Assessing and measuring legal empowerment of the poor - some important considerations

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.

This report notes that not only are basic social protections a human right, they also generate growth, reduce levels of poverty faster and promotes peace, stability and social cohesion through social justice. Warning that the costs of excluding people will get higher and higher, the report advocates for increased spending in effective social protection.

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.

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

Steve Golub reviews 4 papers on the Commission's work and offers'steps forward' for the international community, including, investments in civil society, creating incentives for government to support LEP, and making LEP a focus for a development goal.

This paper argues that the degree to which migrants are able to affect structural change is real but limited and concludes that  it would be naïve to think that despite their often considerable benefits for individuals and communities, migration and remittances alone can remove more structural
development constraints.

This paper analyses a newly available dataset of migration policy decisions reported by governments to
the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs between 1976 and 2007 and finds evidence indicating that most governments have policies aimed at either maintaining the status quo or at lowering the level of migration.

This case study reviews benefits and obstacles to migration reform in South Africa

This draft paper examines legal plural orders and donor/international engagement with them. It provides an extensive literature review and offers recommendations for programme implementation.

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.

A series of papers by LEP practitioners covering areas from land rights for MDGs, to LEP and social accountability theory, transitional justice, non-state justice systems, legal identity and more.

The Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor Report, Vol 1

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.

This overview does not seek to cover the full range of the
mapping toolbox; rather, it seeks to frame how technology-assisted community mapping is related to the broader goal of
empowering rural people, a central objective for many of ILC’s partners. This paper seeks to show how mapping can facilitate community empowerment, but also how it must be employed with care, being mindful of the risks for ommunities that such activities can entail.

This brief highlights some issues when considering LEP as an agenda to enahnce poverty reduction, MDG achievement and rights-based development

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.


While succeeding in raising the profile of legal empowerment,  the Commission's failure to properly tackle the political economy of reform and to justify its policy agenda with empirical data will limit its effectiveness.

Former Commissioner writes of the importance of governments to work with civil society as important as civil society working with government

'Transnational Labor Citizenship' is an effort to demonstrate that it is possible to respond to the reality of temporary labor migration while refusing to treat temporary migrants as commodities to be traded on a global market.

UNDP Practice Note on Access to Justice

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

The recent turmoil in financial markets worldwide has emphasized the need for adequate consumer protection and financial literacy for long-term stability of the financial sector. This Working Paper aims to summarize key lessons from reviews of consumer protection and financial literacy in nine middle-income countries -Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, the Russian Federation and Slovakia.

This paper provides a brief overview of the intersection of state and customary laws governing land in peri-urban settlements around Honiara, focusing on their impact upon landowners, particularly women landowners.

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

Director of Law and Human Rights at BAPPENAS outlines the Indonesian National Strategy on Access to Justice