Unlocking Human Potential

This is a wholly different approach to the poverty debate… our Commission will focus on a unique and overlooked aspect of the problem: the inextricable link between pervasive poverty and the absence of legal protections for the poor. Madeleine K. Albright

Co-chaired by Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State, and Hernando de Soto, Peruvian economist and founder of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy, the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor (Legal Empowerment) is the first global initiative to focus specifically on the link between exclusion, poverty and law.

Legal Empowerment is backed by the personal commitment of more than 20 world leaders, making it an influential force among policymakers, and a catalyst for change within the development community.  Legal Empowerment also partners with grassroots and civil society organizations through its Board of Advisors and other alliances, making it a platform for ‘bottom-up’ action.

Legal Empowerment is the first global anti-poverty initiative led not by development experts and academics, but by policymakers and practitioners from around the world – the very people looking for practical solutions to solve the challenges of poverty.