Access to justice is a core state function. Yet billions of people continue to lack access to justice. This has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
This paper focuses on low-income countries – where the financing issues are most pressing and the need for scaling up access to people-centred justice most pressing. There are potentially high rates of return for targeted investments, especially in front-line providers of justice advice and assistance at the community level, often delivered by paralegals. Such investments are also low cost when done at scale – just 40 cents per person a year.
Donor support for justice has been limited and poorly targeted, resulting in unaffordable unit costs. Yet Sierra Leone’s new Legal Aid Board shows that where funding is provided, cost-effective scaling up is possible.
The paper concludes by reviewing the lessons from other sectors on the case for a targeted results-focused global fund. Better coordination and targeting of existing aid could enable community-based advice and assistance to be accessible for everyone in low-income countries.
