General Purposes

About this grant

This grant will assist Namati in their efforts to cultivate a strong global movement for legal empowerment. The grantee will work to strengthen the Global Legal Empowerment Network which now brings together over 3,000 organizations. The grantee will further build the capacity of regional anchor organizations to move greater responsibility for convening, learning and advocacy from its U.S. headquarters. The grantee will also continue country-level programs in Kenya, Sierra Leone, Myanmar, India, Mozambique and within the U.S., focusing on specific issues such as land tenure, health rights, citizenship and environmental justice. Additionally, through an extensive program of research and analysis, the grantee will gather and distribute compelling evidence of the efficacy of legal empowerment approaches in addressing people’s justice needs. In 2021-22, communities supported by the grantee in Kenya successfully petitioned for easing of that country’s identification procedures. In Sierra Leone, new laws protecting land rights were adopted following years of local legal struggles to secure these rights. The grantee also helped establish the Mid-Atlantic Environmental and Economic Justice Coalition of 30 organizations in U.S. Mid-Atlantic states. Established in 2011, Namati works to build a global movement of grassroots legal advocates who give people the power to understand, use and shape the law.