Legal tools

Legal tools for community empowerment - Securing local resource rights within investment projects in Africa

Our "Legal Tools" project helps local communities in Africa whose lives depend on land and natural resources, maintain control over these resources. We do so particularly within the context of large-scale investment projects. The project combines legal expertise with participatory problem solving (action research) and training that encourages engagement with policy making.

In March 2008, FIELD lawyers participated in an international workshop to promote the exchange of experience among legal practitioners of securing local resource rights in Africa. The workshop was jointly organised by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), and the Faculty of Law of the University of Ghana.

Over the two day workshop, some 25 practitioners shared knowledge and learned from each others' experiences with legal empowerment. The workshop report captures the highlights of workshop discussions.

FIELD implements the Legal Tools project in partnership with IIED, and with the Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL) and the Faculty of Law of the University of Ghana in Ghana; with the Groupe d'Etude et de Recherche en Sociologie et Droit Applique (GERSDA) in Mali; with the Centro Terra Viva (CTV) in Mozambique; and with Innovations Environnement et Developpement en Afrique (IED Afrique) in Senegal.