Community paralegals engage with citizens during an outreach campaign on citizenship rights in Nairobi. (Photo credit: Namati)

The Citizenship Program invites journalists from Nairobi to join an in-person media workshop on citizenship and digital identity in Nairobi from July 24 – 25, 2023.

The 2-day Citizenship and Digital Identity Journalism workshop is aimed at building the capacity of local journalists to understand, advocate and defend citizenship rights in the age of digitization of identity thereby contributing to greater public awareness on key digital identity issues and the implications of the introduction of digital identity systems on citizenship rights.

With the imminent introduction of a new digital identity system in Kenya, now more than ever, the subject of citizenship rights is becoming vital with digitization shaping access to public services. Namati will provide subject experts and affected communities who will provide meaningful engagements with journalists to enhance their knowledge on citizenship rights, implications of digital identity systems and real-life challenges faced by communities in obtaining nationality documents.

The workshop will be held in Nairobi, Kenya on July 24 and July 25 2023. 

Eligibility Criteria

• The workshop is open to journalists based in Nairobi, Kenya.
• Journalists from print, television, online and radio, with a demonstrated track record of producing incisive, in-depth stories.
• Demonstrate interest in social justice, digital rights and citizenship issues.
• Permit Namati to have the right to re-publish and distribute any stories produced as a result of journalists’ participation in the workshop, once they are published in media outlets.

Please note:

• Participants must commit to attending all two days of the workshop from July 24 to July 25, 2023.
• Meals and local travel allowance will be provided.
• Select journalists will receive a small reporting grant to undertake a Citizenship and Digital Identity investigation after the workshop.

How to Apply

• Click here to apply.
• Applicants must submit two published writing samples or links to stories that have appeared online.
• Applicants must provide an approval letter from their editor or media outlet; freelancers may apply without a letter.

About the Citizenship Program

Namati Citizenship program works with communities who are Kenyans by law but are subjected to differential treatment when applying for documentation. Namati and our partners train and deploy community paralegals in six countries, including in Kenya. Paralegals are grassroots organizers with a sharp understanding of the law. They form a dynamic, creative frontline that can squeeze justice out of even broken systems. Rather than treating people like victims requiring expert service, community paralegals build power among the people – justice seekers – with whom they work.

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This week is a good week for our community.

After its historic launch in September of last year, the Legal Empowerment Fund (LEF) is now set to distribute millions in long-term core funding to grassroots justice groups across the globe. The Fund for Global Human Rights, which hosts the LEF, is accepting applications for the first-round of funding through February 18th, 2022.

Apply Now

Historically, legal empowerment work has been severely underfunded. World leaders and donors have overlooked or avoided supporting grassroots groups that combine law and organizing to equip communities to fight back against injustice and bring about systemic change.

The Legal Empowerment Fund marks a normative shift — one that our community made happen.

For over three years, members of the Legal Empowerment Network have come together through the Justice For All campaign to call for increased funding and protection for grassroots justice defenders. The Legal Empowerment Fund is a direct result of our collective action.

Apply Now

The LEF aims to raise $100 million over 10 years to strengthen the legal empowerment movement. In its first funding cycle, it will focus on grassroots groups that have had difficulty accessing traditional grant opportunities. To this end, proposals can be submitted in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, or Arabic, and in written or video/audio format.

We encourage you to apply or share this information widely using this social media toolkit. By driving resources to critical justice work on the ground, we can bring new power to our movement.

In solidarity,

Abby, Stacey, Sonia, Caitlin, Luciana and the rest of the team supporting the Legal Empowerment Network

This post was originally sent as a mailer to our subscribers.
If you would like to join our mailing list, click here.

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The Legal Empowerment and Community Lawyering Innovation Lab for Latin America aims to support and strengthen grassroots justice organizations, providing them with small grants (5,000 USD) and technical support to implement innovative ideas, experiment with new approaches, or undertake small projects that can be implemented within a maximum of 8 months.

The eligible projects can, for example, be focused on work with community paralegals or advocates, developing community capacity-building materials (texts, videos, audios, etc.), strategic litigation, social auditing, or the use of new technologies, among many other activities. The key is for projects to use legal empowerment to help people, groups and/or communities to overcome injustice in any of its diverse forms.

Faced by the global crisis generated by COVID-19, people more than ever need tools to demand their rights and participate in the decisions that affect their lives. For this reason, initiatives aimed at adapting work and supporting communities in overcoming challenges in the context of the pandemic will also be eligible.

A panel of judges will determine the four selected organizations to participate in the Innovation Lab. The deadline to apply is July 1 at 23:59 GMT.

This post was originally sent as a mailer to our subscribers.

If you would like to join our mailing list, click here.

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As countries respond to the pandemic, governments are asking for more powers and more funds. Restrictions are tightening, not only on freedom of movement, but also on freedom of information and freedom of expression. The security sector—police and military—are increasingly engaged in the enforcement of lockdowns, quarantines, and other government actions.

Is the pandemic being used as justification to entrench policies that constrict civic space? Is the crisis aggravating the human rights situation in many countries?

On Wednesday, June 10th, 2020, at 9am ET / 1pm GMT, members of the Legal Empowerment Network, CIVICUS, and the Justice For All campaign will host a virtual roundtable discussion on how grassroots justice groups can respond to the challenges of constricting civic space and increasing human rights violations during the pandemic.

Join us for a discussion with leading network members as we tackle questions such as:

• How do government responses affect the fundamental freedoms of association, assembly, and expression—of citizens, generally, and civil society, in particular?
• How does this crisis affect citizens’ access to information? Are right to information mechanisms and other accountability measures working during the pandemic?
• How is the human rights situation affected by the increasing role of the police and military in enforcing government actions?

Together, we will explore ways in which legal empowerment groups can contribute to a just response to the COVID-19 pandemic, protect their people and communities, and push back against rights violations and policies that further constrict civic space.

This post was originally sent as a mailer to our subscribers.

If you would like to join our mailing list, click here.

The post Webinar: Defending Rights and Civic Space during COVID-19 appeared first on Namati.

There is much to do, but we are dealing with many unknowns. We must be responsible, careful, and creative in our role as justice advocates.

To help our community navigate this crisis, we’ve put together the following offerings, accessible in our new online space dedicated to COVID-19:

• Justice During a Pandemic: A Virtual Roundtable on Legal Empowerment Approaches During the COVID-19 Crisis
  April 14th, 2020 @ 10am ET / 2pm GMT – Recording now available!
  Join us for a discussion on how our legal empowerment work can address the justice challenges brought about or aggravated by the pandemic. This webinar will feature a conversation with Namati CEO Vivek Maru and key members of our network. Register here.

• Ask a Pandemic Expert: Virtual Q&A with Whitney Adams
  Whitney is a global public health specialist who has implemented and advised on a number of pandemic preparedness programs. For the next few weeks, Whitney will answer questions posed by network members on how to best prepare for and respond to COVID-19. Please ask Whitney your questions here.

• COVID-19 References for Legal Empowerment Groups: A Community Resource
  The Network team has assembled a living document that collects useful resources on protecting vulnerable communities affected by containment measures, adapting to remote work, and more. Access the resource here. This crowdsourced document will be continually updated; please contribute your ideas for additions on our resource discussion forum.

Please visit our online space for updates on future resources and opportunities. In a time when physical contact must be limited, we are working hard to leverage our network’s extensive e-learning and virtual convening capabilities in service of justice seekers everywhere.

Stay strong, vigilant, and safe. We are in this together.

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Who Will You Choose to Win the Grassroots Justice Prize?  

The biennial Grassroots Justice Prize is the world’s only competition recognizing grassroots organizations and institutions that are working to put the power of law into people’s hands. And now you have the chance to choose one of the winners! 

Our panel of judges shortlisted five candidates from a pool of nearly 200 applications from around the world for the public vote award. These pioneering organizations use legal empowerment to tackle some of the most pressing issues of our time—land rights, women’s rights, children’s rights, and migrant rights. They work every day to narrow the justice gap that has left billions of people behind. Which one will win is up to you. 

We’ll announce the winner of the public vote—along with the winners of the Grassroots Justice Prize’s three main awards—at a special event on July 15, 2019, during the High-Level Political Forum in New York. The public vote winner will also receive an award of $1000 USD and a seat at the 2019 Legal Empowerment Leadership Course.

Learn more about the candidates and vote for the one that most inspires you! 

  Vote Now  

Voting closes at 23:59 GMT on Thursday, July 11, 2019. Only one vote per person permitted. 

The post Cast Your Vote for the 2019 Grassroots Justice Prize appeared first on Namati.

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 for the LELC. The deadline to apply is August 8th.

“The course was extremely useful for me. I learned a lot in terms of methodology, using technology to showcase our efforts, and organizing communities to generate greater impact,” notes Fatima Diallo of Natural Justice who attended the 2018 LELC. “I would recommend this course to my colleagues 200%!”

The course will run from December 1st through December 6th and is co-sponsored by Central European University’s School of Public Policy, the Robert L. Bernstein Institute for Human Rights at New York University School of Law, the Global Legal Empowerment Network, Namati, and the Open Society Justice Initiative.

Participants will dive deep into three case studies and explore vital questions for our movement, including:

• How can legal empowerment efforts adapt to changing political context, including a rise in repression?
• How best to blend legal services and organizing?
• How can legal empowerment advance gender equality? Land and environmental justice?

The course includes practical skills sessions on topics like power mapping, community legal education pedagogy, and using case data for advocacy. Participants will also have an opportunity to distill research questions to advance the evidence base behind legal empowerment.

The participants themselves are the best part of the course. Our emphasis is on peer learning. Everyone will come with challenges or live questions they are grappling with and, by working together, will leave with action plans to advance their work.

“To be in this space and learn about data, programming, strategic partnerships, and building power is extremely important. That is often not taught in our communities, not passed down,” recalls Jhody Polk, a 2018 LELC participant and Soros Justice Advocacy Fellow. “The course gave me confidence as a marginalized, directly impacted person that the dreams I have are possible. It has been a privilege and an honor to be in this space.”

We invite applications from practitioners, policymakers, donors, and researchers. Scholarships are available for a limited number of applicants on a competitive basis.

The legal empowerment community is a kind of archipelago. We are scattered across the globe, and often work isolated from each other, even when we hail from the same country. But when the tides bring us together at the Legal Empowerment Leadership Course, it’s a rare communion where we can learn, build bridges, and extend our movement to meet injustice wherever it may live.

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The Global Legal Empowerment Network is growing by leaps and bounds, with over 1,700 organizations and 6,000 members part of our borderless movement.

While many governments slide towards authoritarianism, Network members in over 150 countries are supporting communities to expand their sense of agency, find their power, demand their rights, and turn the tide towards justice.

We have a lot to be proud of, but we’re just beginning. We need your help to set the direction for our community in 2019.

Please help determine what we take on together next year by filling out our annual network survey.

Last year, members voted overwhelmingly to prioritize advocacy on financing and protection for grassroots justice defenders. In response, we launched a new global campaign, Justice For All.

Last year members asked for greater learning opportunities within their regions. We organized in-person exchanges in Latin America, Sierra Leone, and Kenya.

What else should our community prioritize as we build the movement for legal empowerment? Please take the Network survey now – it takes less than 10 minutes to share your voice.

We all have a stake in each other. Our movement’s power lays precisely in each other’s work, in each other’s justice. Let us continue to meet the great challenges before us, together.

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Applications are now open for the Legal Empowerment Leadership Course. The deadline to apply is August 12, 2018.

The Legal Empowerment Leadership Course cultivates a global cadre of leaders who are committed to legal empowerment and share a common understanding of our field.

The course, which will run from December 2nd till December 7th, is co-sponsored by Central European University’s School of Public Policy, the Robert L. Bernstein Institute for Human Rights at New York University School of Law, the Global Legal Empowerment Network, Namati, and the Open Society Justice Initiative.

Under the theme Designing Effective Legal Empowerment Programs, a faculty of respected practitioners and academics will lead course participants in an in-depth exploration of key subject areas, including the conceptual framework of legal empowerment, community organizing and social movements, and the role of grassroots legal advocates in realizing systemic change.

The participatory course design will emphasize peer-to-peer learning through small group work, where each participant will have a chance to present and seek feedback on challenges or opportunities they encounter in their work.

We invite applications from practitioners, policymakers, donors, and researchers. Scholarships are available to a limited number of applicants on a competitive basis.

Opportunities to reflect, learn, and grow together are rare, but they fortify and deepen the movement we are building. Let us continue to unite our voices for legal empowerment.

The post Apply for the World’s Only Legal Empowerment Leadership Course appeared first on Namati.

That’s why we’re excited to offer this important opportunity. From October 7 – 19 in Kenya, the Global Legal Empowerment Network will host its first learning exchange focused on citizenship and legal identity. The deadline to apply is June 3, 2018.  

Citizenship is a foundational human right, yet millions of people around the world are unjustly denied identity documents to prove their nationality. These denials, often based on poor implementation of the law or outright discrimination against minority groups, make it impossible for individuals and families to enroll in school, apply for a job, or exercise their rights. They are excluded from society and denied opportunities as a result.

Legal empowerment strategies are challenging these injustices. Paralegals support affected communities to learn how to apply for identity documents, navigate through tangled bureaucracies, and challenge discriminatory systems. They help communities understand, use, and shape the law.

This learning exchange is tailored for legal empowerment practitioners who focus on citizenship and legal identity and will be hosted by Namati and three dynamic organizations: Nubian Rights Forum, Haki na Sheria, and Haki Centre.

It’s been three years since we hosted our first learning exchange in South Africa. Nondo Nobel Bwami, who works at Asylum Access in Tanzania, attended that exchange and wrote this:

“The learning exchange program is such a powerful program that one [should] never miss…I was able to identify a unique perspective of legal empowerment approaches to bring back to my office and add value to my work.”

That is exactly the kind of impact we were hoping for, and in the seven learning exchanges we’ve coordinated to date, we’ve seen over 100 participants bring valuable lessons back home with them.

As the global movement for legal empowerment continues to grow, these exchanges are a powerful magnet for creativity, solidarity, and problem-solving.

Click here to apply.  Application Deadline is June 3, 2018. 

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