Namati has a program called Grassroots Legal Advocates. It has paralegals trained in the basics of local law, as well as complementary skills like community organizing, training, advocacy, and strategic mediation.
The paralegals and advocates can help empower local communities with legal knowledge and procedures. Namati intends them as a frontline that can be in touch with community needs, adjust legal training and advocacy to these local contexts, and empower people to know and use their rights.
Grassroots legal advocates in our global network tackle justice challenges across a wide variety of communities and issues, from women’s empowerment to prisoners’ rights. Namati’s specialist grassroots advocates work on land, health, citizenship and environmental justice, but we also support the work of generalist advocates who provide primary justice services where lawyers are rare and injustice common – such as in post-war Sierra Leone.
We are also overseeing a global research study into how paralegals operate in different contexts.