Lamu communities spent more than a decade fighting a coal plant with persistence and legal knowledge — and they won. Read the full story: legalempowermentfund.org/stories/how-...

Last weekend, FGHR and LEF grantee partners joined thousands marching at #COP30 in Belém, Brazil, to demand an end to fossil fuels and the legal recognition of Indigenous land rights. Despite heavy police presence, communities stood firm. Their message: “The answer is us.”

Across Southeast Asia, communities are defending land and water in the face of shrinking civic space and rising authoritarian pressure. Organizers met in Manila to strengthen strategies and build cross-border solidarity. Read the full reflection: legalempowermentfund.org/updates/sout...

Across the world, activists are facing growing repression and barriers to funding. With your support, movements can keep pushing for justice and face down rising authoritarianism.

At #COP30, Girls for Climate Action are amplifying youth and feminist voices for climate justice — from accountability to the realities of displacement. Their work shows what empowerment looks like when that most affected lead the way. Learn more: forms.gle/7ZDA3s9UpA72...

From the People’s Summit at #COP30, Colectivo Casa from Bolivia shared: “In official COP spaces, women and Indigenous Peoples are rarely heard. Today, we come together to demand climate justice and respect for collective rights.”

The Fund for Global Human Rights and The Legal Empowerment Fund stand in solidarity with Indigenous peoples who continue to protect the planet, advocate for their rights, and lead the way toward a just and sustainable future. Read the full statement below.

Kenya’s High Court has affirmed the right of transgender people to self-identify after six years of advocacy led by Amka Africa. For LEF, this win shows how justice grows when people can shape the law. Learn more about Amka Africa's work: legalempowermentfund.org/updates/lef-...

When we began supporting frontline human rights groups in Syria in 2021, our goal was to help movements survive the war and work for peace. Since then, much has changed. Today, after the Assad regime’s downfall, the courage & determination of Syrian civil society are on full display. bit.ly/492o9Ab

At a convening in Panama, justice groups from Brazil, Mexico, and the U.S. explored how solidarity can reshape systems that have excluded and punished. Read more on LEF’s website: legalempowermentfund.org/commentary/t...

The Legal Empowerment Fund has launched its first newsletter—sharing stories, updates, and lessons from across the legal empowerment movement. Subscribe to receive reflections and highlights from grantee organizations advancing justice worldwide: legalempowermentfund.org/subscribe-st...

Today, we are sharing our strengthened strategy and identity. Amid huge challenges for human rights, we've been unpacking our place in this turbulent global context and preparing for the important work ahead. Read more from @gabucher.bsky.social: fundhumanrights.org/updates/investing-in-hope/

The Foundation for Youth Empowerment and Advocacy, a grantee partner of the LEF, continues its legal empowerment workshops in Kapiario, Sierra Leone—reaching 30 activists, mostly women and youth, with practical knowledge on legal frameworks tied to climate justice and community action.

We are concluding a 4-day convening in Manila with the LEF’s Southeast Asia cohort, focused on land and environmental justice. The convening centred cross-border learning and community power. Learn more about the cohort: tinyurl.com/3nhjyujy Reflections from the convening to follow soon.

What happens when ancestral knowledge meets cutting-edge tech and legal know-how? In Tamil Nadu, fisherfolk and activists are working together to defend coastal sand dunes—ecosystems that saved lives during the 2004 tsunami. Watch the video below and read the full story: bit.ly/4pgy9vd

“What’s the use of money with no water?” Developers are bulldozing sand dunes that have protected community water supplies for centuries in Tamil Nadu, India. But activists and fisherfolk are working together to defend the dunes. And it’s working. Watch our new video and share to expose the story.

The Legal Empowerment Fund is offering $10–30k grants for Caribbean grassroots organisations working on land and environmental justice through legal empowerment. Deadline to apply is 19th September. Full details: bit.ly/4fDXkDE

The Legal Empowerment Fund (LEF) is excited to launch the LEF Communications Grant—a new pilot initiative supporting ten grassroots groups that use communications to advance legal empowerment and broaden their impact. Read more: legalempowermentfund.org/updates/lef-...

“People at higher risk of HIV, such as gay men and people who inject drugs, are facing record levels of criminalisation worldwide, according to UNAIDS.” www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

ORRA has released a new documentary showing their long fight for justice after fossil fuel development displaced communities in Uganda. A direct look at legal empowerment in action. Watch and share: youtu.be/hZouBswsuVc?...

Messaging groups are becoming critical spaces of justice. A new LEF piece explores how grassroots organizers are using digital tools to support one another, resist, and build collective power. Read more: legalempowermentfund.org/commentary/w...

Explore grassroots justice in action. LEF’s video series with Mott Foundation follows amazing community leaders in Nairobi and Mexico City using legal know-how to demand rights and shape systems. Watch now: mott.org/legal-empowerment

At the World Justice Forum, LEF and Namati spotlighted how legal empowerment pushes back against authoritarianism + builds democratic resilience from the ground up. Justice isn’t just a right—it’s power in people’s hands. We’ll keep amplifying this where it matters most.

The Legal Empowerment Fund is joining global partners in Sevilla to push for more investment in grassroots justice. At this FfD4 side-event, we’re making the case: financing justice is key to equity, peace & opportunity. More: www.sdg16.plus/events/finan...

How can philanthropy use power more responsibly? We spent 18 months interrogating how power shows up—in philanthropy, in human rights, and in our own organization—and shared our findings over at Open Global Rights. Here are four key takeaways from the article:

In Uganda, Youth for Green Communities, supported by The Legal Empowerment Fund (LEF), is tackling rising human-wildlife conflict linked to oil extraction. This is what legal empowerment looks like. Learn more about LEF: legalempowermentfund.org/publications...

In the June 2025 issue of Alliance magazine, Fund CEO @gabucher.bsky.social joins Ashif Shaikh of People’s Courage International and Yasmin Madan of Co-Impact to reflect on how philanthropy can shift power, deepen trust, and support systems change. Here are six takeaways from their discussion.

Movements are shaping the future—but they’re also facing serious challenges. The Legal Empowerment Fund reflects on lessons from the African Social Movements Baraza and what it means to stand with those who are shifting power. Read more: legalempowermentfund.org/commentary/b...

Across much of South Asia, spring has brought stifling heat. In Delhi, temps topped 104°F (40°C) in April—and intense rains came early too, flooding cities and disrupting lives. For many, this “new normal” is more than uncomfortable—it’s deadly. [Image: Women working at a brick kiln near Mumbai]

Mexico’s Supreme Court has ruled that families displaced by femicide must be recognized as indirect victims—with full reparations. The ruling follows years of work by OCNF; a grantee of the Legal Empowerment Fund. Read their full statement (in Spanish): redtdt.org.mx/archivos/19351

MENA Rosa held legal literacy workshops in Algeria for women—including women with HIV and women migrant workers—with support from the LEF. Since 2010, they've built a strong network pushing for policies that reflect women's experiences. Learn more about LEF's work: legalempowermentfund.org

“The impact of...funding cuts on human rights is profound...These drastic funding cuts are resulting in the dismantling of human rights organizations and projects, increasing the vulnerability of [human rights defenders] to threats and attacks." From @frontlinedefenders.bsky.social latest report.

“As LGBTQI+ movements are increasingly abandoned by governments, philanthropy must step up. The...most important thing that foundations can do is move new, big, flexible funding to LGBTQI+ orgs on the frontlines.” Matthew Hart of @gpp-updates.bsky.social writes in @contextnewsroom.bsky.social.

On #EarthDay and every day, we stand with marginalized communities on the frontlines of climate change, and the activists pushing for a more sustainable future for people and planet. Here are 3 updates on our work supporting climate justice. ⬇️

Congrats to @bordercrim.bsky.social on being highly commended at the 2025 Social Sciences Impact Awards. Their open-source tool Detention Landscapes documents abuses in Greek immigration detention, built with @mobileinfoteam.bsky.social + @borderviolence.bsky.social

Recently, the LEF team visited grassroots organizations addressing urgent environmental and climate justice in the Caribbean. Find out what we learned and how these insights will shape our future support in the region: legalempowermentfund.org/stories/clim... #LegalEmpowerment #ClimateJustice

“Major funding sources...have been cut back...States have also passed laws to make it harder for organisations to receive international funding.” CIVICUS’s 2025 State of Civil Society Report highlights a “growing crisis of resourcing” for CSOs. But the human rights movement is persevering.

A collective of mothers searching for missing relatives has discovered the remains of victims at an alleged "cartel training site" in Mexico. Government records show 120,000+ people have been forcibly disappeared—yet the state has failed to provide justice or accountability for families.

Just Like My Child Foundation in Uganda is receiving one of the Legal Empowerment Fund’s Innovation and Learning Grants. Their Save for Justice project is preventing gender-based violence by pooling and expanding access to resources like trainings on rights. Learn more: tinyurl.com/28zcchpt

The Legal Empowerment Fund and the Children & Youth Rights Program of the Fund for Global Human Rights are launching a $1 million fund to support youth-led groups using legal empowerment strategies to protect their communities and environments. Learn more: legalempowermentfund.org/updates/anno...

"At what point does restrictions to protest rights, a deeply toxic discourse against protesters and a growing intolerance from police and the state towards any form of protest finally tip over into repression?" New laws in the UK are criminalizing protesters according to a report from @netpol.org.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been arrested on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for crimes against humanity, linked to thousands of extrajudicial killings during his controversial “war on drugs”.

The Guatemalan state responded to Virginia Laparra’s courageous work prosecuting corruption and organized crime with trumped-up charges and solitary confinement. All that led to Virginia—winner of the 2025 Sir Henry Brooke Award—taking the difficult decision to live in exile in Mexico.

Researchers from Civic Power Fund analyzed 20,000+ grants in the UK and found that just 0.2% was being directed to community organizing work. Grassroots organizing is critical to driving social change. It needs proper funding and resources. Read the report: lnkd.in/eKCUKJsH #socialjustic

The 2025 Waging Justice for Women Fellowship—a collaboration between the Legal Empowerment Fund and Clooney Foundation For Justice—has been announced. Learn more: cfj.org/news/clooney...

Good article by James Savage of @fundhumanrights.bsky.social on donor responses to foreign agent laws. europeandemocracyhub.epd.eu/defending-ci... #civicspace #humanrights

Fisherfolk in Bataan, Philippines, are resisting forced evictions & fighting for their right to the sea. Through legal empowerment, they are organizing & demanding justice. Watch their full story here tinyurl.com/49ujd9ey #LegalEmpowerment #ClimateJustice

In Bataan, Philippines, fishing communities are protecting their land and waters. With support from LEF grantee partner NCFBM, they’re using legal empowerment to challenge forced evictions & corporate impunity. Watch: tinyurl.com/49ujd9ey #LegalEmpowerment #ClimateJustice

Congratulations to Virginia Laparra—winner of the 2025 Sir Henry Brooke Award, for her fight against corruption in Guatemala. A grantee partner of the Fund, Virginia was unjustly detained for two years and still faces persecution for exposing wrongdoing. We stand with her in the fight for justice.

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Greece is pushing back migrants. People on the move, and activists standing up for their rights, are also facing rising threats. We must support those pushing for dignity and safety for all. www.euractiv.com/section/poli...