As part of its Responsible Business Programme, A4ID in partnership with EALS (East Africa Law Society) is organising a series of webinars that aims at building the capacity of lawyers in East Africa to support businesses in upholding responsible business practices. Working in collaboration with national bar associations, global leading law firms and other stakeholders from East Africa, A4ID seeks to create awareness among commercial lawyers and in-house counsel on the international legal framework they can rely on.
A4ID’s ROLE UK Programme commissioned this mapping report to better understand and disseminate learning on the landscape of business and human rights in East Africa.
Saturday 25 January 2020 saw the launch of A4ID’s Law and Development Training Programme with the opening module: ‘Harnessing the Law to Eradicate Poverty’.
An interview with Commissioner Jedidah Wakonyo Waruhiu of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.
Based on the assumption that trade is an engine for economic growth and development, SDG 17 calls for a deeper integration of developing countries into global trade. But is the multilateral trading system really favourable to developing countries? And how can the law and lawyers help developing countries defend their interests to ensure that increased trade benefits all fairly?
When lawyers and judges deliver legal training internationally, the outcome of these assignments does not only derive from the legal and technical expertise provided. Success and impact are also a result of the ability of legal experts to understand their audience and adapt to the different legal, cultural and social environments that surround them. International legal experts should focus on the development of soft skills such as adaptability and communication to provide more effective training.
Whilst such skills may seem obvious, putting them into practice is challenging. This article draws on interviews with UK judges who deliver international legal training; but the lessons learned can apply to all legal experts undertaking international pro bono technical assistance. We intend this short article to prompt readers to consider how they can develop their soft skills and adapt to local contexts, and thereby improve their international legal technical assistance.
Farooq Ullah is one of the speakers of our 2019 Law & Development Training Programme. He will be delivering a session on ‘Environmental Law and Development, and SDG 17’ during the next module on ‘Sustainable Development’ (9 February 2019).
Water is essential for life, human dignity, and the health of people and planet. To rise to the challenge of delivering SDG 6, Peter Newborne, specialist researcher and consultant on water policies and programmes, first shares his thoughts on the issue of equitable access to water using a case study from Burkina Faso.
Then, in the following text, A4ID highlights how a project led by the Center for Water Security and Cooperation to build an online water law database for Africa, is contributing to strengthening legal infrastructure around SDG 6.
There are so many reasons to undertake legal pro bono, but a reason that is often overlooked is that pro bono makes business sense.
Koldo Casla, Research Associate at the Institute of Health & Society of Newcastle University and the Policy Director of Just Fair (@JustFairUK), shares his thoughts on the poverty and inequalities that still plague the United Kingdom. Achieving the objectives of the SDGs in terms of poverty (SDG 1) and inequalities (SDG 10) not only concerns developing countries but is also a challenge for our wealthy countries.
As this contribution shows, poverty and inequality are the products of policy decisions and constitute breaches of human rights. A4ID believe that the law and lawyers have a role to play to help redressing these injustices, both within the UK and abroad.
