Gender and Development

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Gender and Legal RETAs

Legal Literacy for Supporting Governance, 1999

'Legal literacy' is often defined as the acquisition of critical awareness about rights and the law. In most developing member countries, economic, religious, social and cultural constraints make it very difficult for women and other disadvantaged groups to assert what legal rights they may have and to access to knowledge of the laws that protect their rights.

Therefore, legal literacy programs have to be catered not only to the general public but also targeted at these disadvantaged groups. At the same time, officers of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the state must be sensitized to the rights of people, especially of disadvantaged groups. This is particularly the case with regard to gender sensitivity in the enforcement of laws.

The RETA, covering Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam, will

• study the current theory and practice of legal literacy and identify techniques for the effective delivery of legal literacy programs
• assess, in the context of ADB's operations, the effectiveness of legal literacy as a tool for empowering women and other disadvantaged groups to assert social and economic rights and demand accountability
• make recommendations for incorporating legal literacy components in Bank-funded projects

The RETA has been working on the following five key components:

1. A bibliography of current legal literacy theory and practice
2. A country study of legal literacy, including (a) review of current practices in legal literacy programs; (b)assessment of the impact of major legal literacy programs on the actual exercise of legal rights by citizens; (c) identification of constraints in access to legal systems; (d) assessment of the effectiveness of legal literacy programs in sensitizing legislators, the judiciary, and administrators; (e) assessment of the effectiveness of legal literacy programs in empowering communities and individuals
3. An overview study synthesizing (ii) and recommending functionally effective and cost-effective methods of delivering legal literacy programs potentially as components under ADB-financed projects
4. A pilot project based on (iii)
5. n evaluation report of (iv)

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