Closing the global justice gap through legal empowerment
Access to justice is a fundamental human right. But two-thirds of the global population live without it.
The Legal Empowerment Fund (LEF) offers flexible funding and strategic support to the growing legal empowerment movement, enabling communities to know, use, and shape the law. Through legal empowerment strategies like advocacy, education, and litigation, communities supported by the LEF are building a world where everyone has access to justice.
Our partners
What is legal empowerment?
Legal empowerment combines law with organizing to build power among people affected by injustice. It empowers citizens to know, use, and shape the law in order to hold public authorities, individuals, and private entities accountable while advocating for systemic changes that usher in a more just and equitable society.
Legal empowerment is a people-centered justice approach that puts the power of the law into the hands of ordinary people to achieve systemic justice. Strategies used by LEF grantee partners include:
Rights awareness (know the law):
Educate others about legal rights and services
Legal response (use the law):
Monitor and document violations, and pursue strategic litigation
Rights advocacy (shape the law):
Influence legislation or policy
Behavior change:
Shift social attitudes and behaviors
Connecting and organizing:
Build networks or organize others for action
Protection:
Prevent, mitigate, or respond to threats faced by specific groups of people
Stories and Updates
Read updates from the field of legal empowerment, insights from our staff, and inspiring stories about activists standing up for what’s right.
