This site offers an overview of the ‘legal tools for citizen empowerment’ programme and access to results and resources and downloads.

Getting a better deal from natural resource investment in Africa

Can a half-acre of dry earth be more precious than gold? To farmers in some of Africa's poorest countries, the answer is very literally yes. Goldmining, agribusiness and other interests are pushing them off the land they need for crops, and polluting their waterways.

Effective use of legal rights can be a powerful tool in helping local people get a better deal. This is the aim of ‘legal tools for citizen empowerment’, a collaborative initiative to strengthen local voices and help communities benefit from natural resource investment in Africa. Led by IIED, Legal Tools is put into practice by a range of partners (see programme overview).

Since 2006, the Legal Tools initiative has researched issues of direct relevance to people’s lives, strengthened capacity through training and exchange of experience, and advocated for better policies.

Mali's legal caravans

Case study:

The caravans bound into Africa's history carried everything from salt and dates to gold, ivory and silk. These days, the cargo can be something perhaps even more precious in Africa's current context: legal knowhow.

In Mali — a West African country that is one of the world's poorest — IIED partner GERSDA, a group affiliated to the University of Bamako Law Faculty, is testing a new method to deliver legal training and assistance to villagers losing ground to goldmining concerns; a 10-day legal literacy 'caravan'.

Working with local councils, GERSDA lawyers and law students camp near villages and deliver training on issues such as land rights, gender and access to justice. They give tailored advice, and community paralegals are now being trained as part of the approach.