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Protecting Communities in East Africa
Dear friends,
Last week I had the pleasure of joining 45 lawyers from East Africa to discuss how to defend the rights of communities threatened by the push for land and resources throughout the region.
With generous support from the Ford Foundation, ELAW partnered with Greenwatch in Uganda to host a workshop for lawyers from Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. The aim was to help young lawyers gain the skills they need to defend the rights of communities threatened by extractive industries.
More experienced lawyers came to give presentations and share their expertise. But they also came to forge ties with the next generation of lawyers and mentor lawyers just starting out. They depended on experienced lawyers to help them as they got started, and now they are happy to help the next generation of lawyers.
We are also helping build relationships between young lawyers within each country and across borders, so they know they are not alone taking on powerful interests.
In addition to Greenwatch, ELAW partners at the Institute for Law and Environmental Governance (ILEG) in Kenya and the Lawyers’ Environmental Action Team (LEAT) in Tanzania helped organize the workshop.
I left the workshop inspired and full of hope and I believe that we all went away better prepared to defend the rights of communities threatened by unsustainable development.
Sincerely,
Jen Gleason
Staff Attorney
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide