UNDP Initiative on Best Practices in Legal Empowerment (2013)

(Supported by Danida)

The Context: Rio +20 ‘The future we want: our common vision’

• “... democracy, good governance and the rule of law, at the national and international levels, as well as an enabling environment, are essential for sustainable development, including sustained and inclusive economic growth, social development, environmental protection and the eradication of poverty and hunger.”

• “... there are different approaches, visions, models and tools available to each country, in accordance with its national circumstances and priorities, to achieve sustainable development in its three dimensions which is our overarching goal...”

• “…needs of rural communities through, inter alia, enhancing access by agricultural producers, in particular small producers, women, indigenous peoples and people living in vulnerable situations, to credit and other financial services, markets, secure land tenure, health care, social services, education, training, knowledge and appropriate and affordable technologies…”

Key Questions on Legal Empowerment

What works and why?

What does not work and why?

What are the takeaways for theories of change and for policy?

What are the lessons for development programming?

Guidelines for Identifying Situations for Research

Beneficiaries poor and/or disadvantaged;

Do not enjoy the protection of the law, e.g informal settlements/businesses

Initiatives aimed at addressing practical obstacles that prevent individuals/communities from realizing their economic rights

Initiatives in place for a sufficiently long time, and impact on constraints to poverty reduction and human development is clearly visible. Or…

The interim results should be such as to reassure that the further analysis will provide valuable learning for future interventions

Situations in the Study

Cameroon: Indigenous people’s rights to land and forest resources

Ghana: Approaches to reforming ‘gate-keeping’ practices affecting women’s economic rights to run business and access to land; Land rights for farming communities in the Ankasa Forest Conservation

Kenya: Informal settlements/Toi Market Savings Scheme and the Business Advocacy Fund (BAF) India: Impact of the Delhi High Court judgment Empowerment of rickshaw pullers and the

Rickshaw Bank in Guwahati; LE of waste-pickers in Pune through a cooperative model

Egypt :Legal empowerment of the ‘Zabbaleen’ (waste-collection workers)

Kyrgyzstan: Women’s land rights

Tajikistan: Women’s land rights

Methodology

Desk review

Key informants

Focus group discussions

Survey

Impact of the Delhi High Court Judgment on Empowerment of Rickshaw Pullers

Measures Impact

Licensing approach to promote ownership of rickshaws by individual plyers. But licenses restricted to 99,000 as against 0.6 to 0.7 m. existing rickshaws.

-A regime of rampant corruption such that individual rickshaw pullers could not get license.-Seizure and destruction of rickshaws to sustain the corrupt regime (see photo)

Challenge to licensing regime infructous as Delhi High Court judgment (2006) ruled that rickshaw pulling “offends human dignity and that the State should eventually eliminate the trade altogether.”

Lack of recognition led to further tightening of the licensing regime and brutality in implementation

Second challenge in Delhi High Court in 2012 successful. Full bench ruled that rickshaw pulling is at par with other livelihood options

-Recognition led to constitutional protection to livelihood (licensing regime struck down)-Yet implementation very tardy as awareness about judgment very negligible-No impact on rickshaw ownership

Conclusions Licensing approach does not work when dealing with informal players. Empowerment

approach required Recognition of rights by judiciary a necessary but not a sufficient condition Matching organizing, awareness and empowerment also necessary

Results of the Rickshaw Licensing Regime in Delhi

The Rickshaw Bank: An Empowerment-based Approach Measures Impact

Applied ‘rent-to own’ principle by converting daily rent for rickshaw into installment for loan repayment.

Transfer of ownership to the rickshaw plyer after payment of 375 daily installments.

Easy norms for identity such as name in village voter list and a certificate from the village-level officials. Also, concept of group security.

Problems relating to proof of local address and identity which prove insurmountable for migrants overcome.

Supplementary services such as municipal license, health insurance facilitated.

An enabling package.

Conclusions Approaches tailored to the circumstances of the informal players work well. An overall empowerment-framework is necessary. It’s a good and creative example of financial inclusion.

The Rickshaw Bank in Guwahati

The Women Waste-pickers in Pune

Measures Impact

Mobilization around the notion that what they were doing was ‘productive work’ and ‘useful contribution’ to society.

Feeling of self-worth and rights awareness.

Quantification of contribution supported by (ILO)

-Feeling of self-worth and rights awareness.-Positive response from municipal corporation to set up inclusive waste-management model.-Policy response from state government.

Setting up a trade union and later a cooperative on inclusive waste-management.

Trade union’s focus on education

Do

Rapid upward mobility in the next generation.

Conclusions Capturing the economic and social contribution of informal sector players is key to

mobilization and productive partnership. Organization is critical for engaging in partnerships (inclusive waste management models). Integration of human development approaches with legal empowerment approaches is key

to social and economic mobility.

Economic Empowerment Sans Human Development

Findings: What Works and Why?

Recognition of livelihood generation in the informal economy as ‘productive social/economic activity’ or as ‘work’ in terms of self awareness, by the community, by public agencies and by courts (qquantification of contribution, enumeration, registration and suitable identity devices, use of evidence)

Addressing both the formal and informal systems and norms in a context specific manner

Balance between enabling state policy response and legal literacy and awareness at the community level

Organising informal sector players and partnership

Findings: What Does Not Work?

• Traditional approach to regulation and promotion of economic rights of informal sector workers

• An approach to economic empowerment that is not rooted in the local social and cultural traditions and economic environment

• Narrowly focused and short duration development programming/project intervention

• Legal empowerment without social inclusion and human development

Key Conclusion and Lessons

Need for a fresh look at the traditional theories of change - Towards a holistic strategy for change that goes beyond the currently popular approach of

narrowly focussed economic support or service delivery -Synergy between LE, social inclusion and human development -LE as a tool to engage the full productive capacity from the ecosystem Legality, legitimacy and sustainable development - As important as the purpose and content of the formal law is the reality of how the law is

seen at the community level -Engaging with customary and informal systems -Suitable models for legal literacy and access to justice to bridge the gap between legality

and legitimacy , and problems arising from asymmetry of power and information Lessons for development programming -Gender disaggregated data, gathering of evidence on circumstances and contribution of

informal sector players, engaging with customary and informal systems, integration of access to information and legal literacy (through paralegals, legal aid etc), capacity development of intermediaries (NGOs/CBOs, SHGs, communities), simultaneous interventions at multiple, levels and long-term engagement, focus on organising and long-term partnership creation

Implications of the Study for Green Growth and Sustainable Development

• Large masses of green workers (waste-recyclers, rickshaw pullers, small and marginal women farmers) are not recognized for their social and economic contribution. Hence their contribution remains stunted or sub-optimal

• LE as a tool to engage the full productive capacity from the ecosystem

• Identify and remove confusing signals and incentives emerging from international initiatives (e.g. waste to energy projects when composition of waste is not suitable for it).

Thank You