Policy from Practice 

The Law is not something that you invent in a university – the law is something that you discover. Poor people already have agreements among themselves, social contracts, and what you have to do is professionally standardize these contracts to create one legal system that everybody recognizes and obeys. Hernando de Soto

To break new ground on legal empowerment, the next step is to compare lessons learned from the experiences of those who live and work in slums and settlements around the world. The Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor will be partnering with grassroots organizations, governments and institutions, and then using these lessons to influence real outcomes for the poor.

Legal Empowerment will do this through these main initiatives:

Working Groups bring together some of the world’s greatest experts and practitioners in the key areas of Legal Empowerment’s work:

• Rule of Law and Access to Justice
• Property Rights
• Labor Rights
• Entrepreneurship
• Road Maps for Implementation of Reforms

These five groups collaborate with international and civil society organizations, donor governments and countries that have implemented reforms, analyzing lessons learned from past projects and participating in ongoing development initiatives. The Working Groups will produce final reports that will inform and guide policymaking.

National and Regional Consultations are hosted in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe and involve local stakeholders, ranging from high-level policymakers to representatives of the poor. These national and regional processes ground the work of Legal Empowerment in local realities, and contribute to recommendations that reflect diverse cultural, socio-economic and political environments.