Programs
IDLO works on legal and regulatory change in three main areas. Within each area, the Organization works on specific program themes, prioritized by their potential to achieve development aims. The cross-cutting themes of Gender and Human Rights are built into all of IDLO’s programming. |
Institutional Development Legal and Institutional ReformThe legal system is today one of the fundamental element of institutional infrastructure to the extent that inadequacies in the legal system constraints the effectiveness of democratic institutions.
IDLO recognises that in the thorough reform of the legal system, the priority is to adopt a holistic approach to legal and institutional reform that is focused on the creation or expansion of institutions and the technical skills needed to operate them.
GovernanceFor the realization of life in dignity, public institutions must conduct public affairs fairly and manage public resources equitably. This decision making and implementation processes relates to governanceIDLO works to strengthen the government, the private sector and civil society in improving their efficiency and accountability as key entities vital to good governance. In Public ProcurementIDLO implements a variety of programs designed to further the development of well-governed public and private sector institutions in developing countries. Project activities have addressed issues such as improving the integrity of corporate governance, ethics and compliance in the public sector, anti-corruption mechanisms and the overall improvement of regulatory systems. Access to JusticeAccess to justice is a vital component of fair hearing guarantees and empowers the poor and disadvantaged individuals, groups and communities to seek remedies for injustice. IDLO underlines the linkages between access to justice and human rights.
Legal Pathways for Sustainable Economic Development: Economic Growth and Trade Programs Trade and Investment LawTrade and Investment Law programs aim to support the meaningful participation of developing countries and their peoples in global markets, supporting new trade, investment and financing opportunities through implementation of recent treaty obligations for sustainable economic development. Legal Preparedness for the Green EconomyLegal Preparedness for the Green Economy programming aims to ensure the meaningful and equitable participation of developing country actors in the new opportunities of the global green economy. It supports the development of a legal and regulatory environment that promotes sustainable use and equitable access to the benefits of biodiversity and natural resources. Legal Preparedness for Climate FinanceLegal Preparedness for Climate Finance programming aims to assist developing countries to establish legal foundations to attract and absorb international climate finance in order to support climate-compatible development and effectively address the emerging global legal challenges related to climate change adaptation.
Social Development Health LawGlobal health is an essential pre-requisite for the sustainable development of lower and middle income countries. According to UNAIDS, in 2009, some 33.3 million people were living with HIV. Since the beginning of the epidemic, more than 60 million people have been infected with HIV and nearly 30 million people have died of HIV-related causes. Yet few countries have taken steps to reform their legal frameworks consistent with international guidelines and best practice. In those countries which do have appropriate legal frameworks, implementation is generally weak. Similarly 10 million people needed HIV treatment but did not have access to medicine, which are clearly important for conditions other than HIV, e.g., malaria, tuberculosis and non-communicable diseases. The latter cause 60 percent of deaths in transitional and developing countries through cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes. The IDLO Health Law Program consists of three initiatives: HIV and Law, Intellectual Property Law and access to Medicines, and Public Health Law. Human TraffickingThe trafficking of human beings is widely recognized as presenting a threat of global proportions. Human trafficking is usually exacerbated by the lack of legal assistance services available to victims and by the lack of awareness concerning the existing legal protection. Based on cutting-edge research and results-based approaches, IDLO is carrying out a series of projects and activities to address human trafficking in affected regions, aimed at making victims and witnesses of human trafficking aware of their rights and providing law enforcement officials and judicial organs with adequate resources and training to combat human trafficking and ensure full victim protection.
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Large Field Operations fall within several program themes. These are:
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Large Field Operations AfghanistanFollowing the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the International Development Law Organization identified the promotion of the rule of law as a fundamental necessity to create a sustainable development for the country.
IDLO began working for the reconstruction of the justice system in Afghanistan in late 2001. It conducted initial activities such as undertaking a needs assessment, building a network of Afghan legal experts and conducting a worldwide search for legal resources resulting in a collection of over 2,400 laws, which assisted the international and Afghan community analyze the applicable law following the Bonn Conference of 2002.
EthiopiaEstablished in 2000, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has sought assistance from IDLO to build institutional capacity in the area of management and investigation of allegations. Building on its previous work with the EHRC and subsequent discussions to identify the Commission’s most pressing needs, IDLO has designed this Project which aims to further develop the EHRC into a functional institution able to protect and enforce human rights in line with Ethiopian laws and international human rights norms and standards. KyrgyzstanWhile many of the Kyrgyz laws have been modernized, a great deal of work is required to ensure that the legislation is fully implemented. Furthermore, Kyrgyzstan lacks an effective mechanism to properly prepare new judges for their duties or to provide continued professional training to sitting judges. Perhaps most significantly, many judges lack any real sense of the role of an independent, impartial judiciary in a democratic society. IDLO is currently implementing a multi-faceted commercial law judicial capacity-building project in Kyrgyzstan, in partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and in collaboration with the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan. The project aims to enhance the competence of judges in commercial law to ensure greater efficacy, uniformity and predictability of court rulings, assist in the creation of a business enabling environment in Kyrgyzstan and help build lasting institutions capable of providing effective capacity-building programs for the judiciary.
Republic of South SudanIDLO is working in partnership with the Judiciary of Southern Sudan (JOSS) and the Ministry of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development (MOLACD) to enhance the capacity of the legal profession and the judiciary in South Sudan.
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IDLO Uses the knowledge generated in its projects and research to anchor and advance its strategic objective of using legal empowerment approaches to secure the legal rights of vulnerable populations and those in crisis |
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Legal Empowerment Program Legal Empowerment: Practitioners' PerspectivesA series of qualitative and quantitative scholarly articles on approaches to integrating justice and development in ways that benefit the poor and other disadvantaged populations. The articles will be published in an edited volume and on the IDLO website as an online working paper series. Community Land Titling Initiative Action-oriented research in cooperation with local partners in Uganda, Liberia and Mozambique into how best to support communities to make use of existing community land titling procedures, and thereby increase the land tenure security of the rural poor. Enhancing Legal Empowerment through Engagement with Customary Justice A combination of research-related activities that aims to provide insights into how it may be possible to improve the functioning of customary justice systems and identify entry points for how they can be used as vehicles for the legal empowerment of the poor.
Activities include field research in Namibia by the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law Governance and Development at Leiden University, provision of 4-6 small grants for independent action-based research and a call for papers by academics or practitioners to be published in an edited volume. Strengthening the Legal Framework for Girls in India, Bangladesh, Kenya and LiberiaResearch in cooperation with local partners in India, Bangladesh, Kenya and Liberia into the legal protection framework for girls in 7 key thematic areas: birth registration, access to education, access to property, child labor, child trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation of children and child marriage. This will be followed by pilot work by local partners responding to recommendations arising out of the research. Consumer Protection in the Microfinance Industry: Loan Agreements, Dispute Resolutions and Debt Collection PracticesA comparative study of the state of consumer protection laws, regulations and administrative practices in relation to microfinance borrowing by the poor, many of whom are financially if not functionally illiterate. Survey of law and practice in 20 countries focusing on contracts for microfinance loans, microfinance dispute resolution mechanisms and debt collection practices; more in-depth research of these issues in Kenya, Egypt, Cameroon, India (Tamil Nadu) and Colombia. Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Cultural Heritage of Indigenous Communities with a Special Focus on the Agricultural SectorSelected communities in Kenya will be encouraged to learn about their legal rights to protect their traditional knowledge and to experiment with the development of new community-based mechanisms (such as a traditional knowledge commons) that will enable them to set the conditions under which they share such knowledge with non-traditional users.
Each of these initiatives expand upon work that IDLO has undertaken in recent years. They were selected for their complementarity with IDLO strategic objectives and in response to growing recognition of the utility of these subjects in meeting broader development goals.
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