The access to justice gap remains one of the most daunting challenges facing the justice and development sector and, amidst a global pandemic, is getting worse. One year ago, the World Justice Forum 2019 convened hundreds of justice actors to share best practices and collaborate on strategies to close the justice gap by 2030, as promised under the Sustainable Development Goals. The Forum concluded with the announcement of five winners of the 2019 World Justice Challenge: Access to Justice Solutions competition. To mark the occasion, WJP caught up with each project to learn how their work has evolved over the past year, as recounted in this blog series. 

These projects, which captured the attention of our judges at the World Justice Forum in The Hague, were among 30 finalists chosen from over 250 applications from around the world. They each represent innovative efforts to bring justice to individuals and communities that have seen little of it in the past.
Please join WJP and representatives of four of these projects for an online discussion of how their work has evolved over the past year in terms of impact, reach and innovation, and the challenges they have faced, particularly in the face of the global COVID-19 crisis.

In addition to the webinar, WJP caught up separately with the fifth winner, the Alaska Legal Services Corporation project on Native Health. You can listen to our podcast interview with Executive Director Nikole Nelson and Walter Flores of the Center for the Study of Equity and Governance in Health Systems in Guatemala on how the COVID-19 crisis has affected indigenous communities, available on WJP’s Rule of Law Talk podcast channel and as part of its ongoing series on the Twin Crises of Public Health and Rule of Law.

Speakers
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Shreya Sen
Senior Program Officer, Nazdeek (India)

Tripti Poddar
Legal Officer, Nazdeek (India)

Fiona Sampson
CEO, The Equality Effect (Canada)

Sandra Lynn Babcock
Faculty Director, Cornell Centre on the Death Penalty Worldwide (United States)

Chimwemwe Chithope-mwale
Chief Legal Advocate and Head of the Zomba Legal Aid Office, Malawi Legal Aid Bureau (Malawi)

Carolina Piwowarczyk Reis
Lawyer, Protection and Land Rights Component, Instituto Socioambiental (Brazil)

Ana de Francesco
Anthropologist, Protection and Land Rights Component, Instituto Socioambiental (Brazil)

Joel Martinez, moderator
Director of Engagement, World Justice Project