Many Roads to Justice: The Law Related Work of Ford ... - UNDP

I n t ro d u c t i o n :A Guide to This Vo l u m eST E P H E N GO L U B & MA RY MCCLY M O N TFor more than forty years, the Ford Foundation has supportedgroups that use the law to secure human rights and improve thelives of people in vastly different settings around the world.Funding for law-related projects began in the 1950s in the UnitedStates and by the 1970s had been extended to parts of LatinAmerica and South Africa. As we enter the year 2000, theFoundation is involved in sustained grantmaking for public interestlaw groups in over twenty-five countries through its New Yo r kheadquarters and eleven of its overseas offices around the globe.The activities of Ford grantees vary with the diverse contextsof their work. But, in large part, groups cited in this volume andothers like them share a common goal: they use law as an instrumentto promote the rights and advancement of disadvantagedpopulations and to further social justice. For simplicity’s sake,grantee efforts are referred to in this volume as “public interestlaw” or “law-related work,” although in the context of somecountries these activities may go by other names: social action litigation,legal services, or developmental legal aid, for example.The bulk of Foundation support for law-related work goes tonongovernmental organizations (including university-based bodies),although some funding goes to governmental or other institutions.Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) build individuals’legal awareness and train paralegals to use the law individuallyand collectively. They offer legal aid and expand the opportunities1