The Legal Empowerment Fund (LEF) is announcing a new funding opportunity for grassroots groups working at the intersection of legal empowerment and land and environmental justice in the Caribbean. Grants of USD $10,000–$30,000 are available to support efforts that use legal empowerment to address the climate crisis, secure land rights, and protect communities from environmental harm.
This call is open until September 29, 2025. Applications are available in English, French, and Spanish below.
Focus of the Call
Supporting Grassroots Groups Working on Land and Environmental Justice as a Solution to the Climate Crisis
This call seeks to support grassroots justice advocates who use legal empowerment to pursue land and environmental justice. We are focusing on this issue because we know grassroots justice advocates play a vital role in combating the climate crisis by protecting their land from pollution, securing communities’ right to land, and supporting community-driven solutions.
Why the Caribbean
Communities across the Caribbean face intensifying environmental threats—including land dispossession, pollution, and climate-related disasters—driven in large part by extractive industries that exploit natural resources and displace local populations. Despite these challenges, grassroots groups continue to defend land, hold powerful actors accountable, and organize for long-term solutions.
Many of these groups do so with limited resources and little recognition. With this call, the LEF seeks to provide direct support to Caribbean-based groups advancing justice from the ground up.
Who Should Apply
This opportunity is open to grassroots organizations in:
Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
We are looking for groups that:
- Use legal empowerment strategies to support land and environmental justice
- Are rooted in the communities they serve
- Intentionally center historically excluded communities, such as Afro-descendant, Indigenous, rural, or LGBTQ+ communities
- Have an annual organizational budget of less than USD $200,000
- Are requesting funding between USD $10,000 and $30,000
About the Legal Empowerment Fund
The Legal Empowerment Fund is a 10-year, multimillion-dollar effort at the Fund for Global Human Rights to give frontline activists and grassroots groups the support they need to close the global justice gap. The LEF was created with the support of a constellation of funders and allies—including the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Namati, the International Development and Research Centre, and Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies.
Legal empowerment combines law with organizing to build power among people affected by injustice. When people are able to know, use, and shape the law, they can access justice, protect the lands and resources they depend on, and hold governments and other powerful actors to account.
How the Process Works
- Submit your application via the links below before September 29, 2025
- Applications will be evaluated by a Grants Selection Committee made up of Caribbean legal empowerment practitioners.
- We will reach out to at least two of the references you provide.
- You can expect to hear a response around November 2025.
- If your application is successful, you will receive funds around January 2026.
- The grant term will begin on February 1, 2026.
Support During the Application Period
LEF staff will host office hours each Wednesday during the application period to answer questions and provide support. During this time, you can meet with Aimee Seligstein (or another member of the LEF team) via Zoom to ask questions about the application or process.
The application is available in English, French, and Spanish in the below links. If you would like to apply in another language, please email lefsupport@globalhumanrights.org.
Apply Now
Deadline: September 29, 2025
More details
Please download the relevant PDF to read more details.
Questions? Contact: lefsupport@globalhumanrights.org
