Social Justice and Strategic Litigation
Legal empowerment and pro bono litigation securing land, food and livelihood rights for people who could never afford a lawyer.
Most people whose land, food or livelihood is taken never see the inside of a courtroom. Lawyers cost money they do not have, and the process is written in a language they were never taught. This programme exists to close that gap.
We take cases on behalf of people who cannot pay, and we choose them carefully. A case is worth running when winning it changes something beyond the individual: a precedent that other lawyers can cite, a practice that a district office has to stop, a reading of the Constitution that becomes harder to ignore.
Alongside the litigation we train paralegals, journalists and community leaders in what the law already promises them. A community that knows its entitlements often does not need us at all, which is the point.
What we are working towards
- Make the right to adequate food justiciable in Ugandan courts.
- Provide free legal representation to people facing land and livelihood violations.
- Build a body of precedent that other lawyers and communities can rely on.
How we do it
Pro bono docket
Free representation in land, food safety and livelihood cases, prioritised by how far the outcome travels.
Legal clinics
Walk in advice sessions held in districts where the nearest lawyer is a day of travel away.
Paralegal training
Community members trained to spot a violation and start a file before it becomes a crisis.