Rights and wrongs: the need for legal empowerment in Africa

In Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania and other African countries, foreign investment was limited until the early 1990s, but all that has changed. Now it's booming in many sectors, including agriculture, tourism, mining and petroleum.

A boost in investment creates opportunities for raising local living standards, and is also significant at the national level. But it brings challenges in its wake — not least, large-scale land acquisitions.

With local people losing access to the land and resources they depend on, this kind of investment can actually work against their ability to meet basic needs. The tradeoff for such communities may amount merely to vague promises for projects or jobs.

Innovative legal solutions

Local participation in investment decisions and benefits is essential if the investment is to translate into real improvements in people’s lives.

If used effectively, legal 'levers', such as the right to access government information on negotiations with investors, can empower and bring benefits. But they can be tough to implement. Recent attempts at reform in this area in several African countries also remain incomplete.

What is called for is innovation — pushing the boundaries of existing legal entitlements, while promoting the reform of strategic levers; investing in local capacity to make better use of the law; and combining legal work with awareness of politics and power relations and efforts to strengthen the negotiating power of disadvantaged groups. And that is precisely what the Legal Tools initiative offers.