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Empowerment of the poor in the end means socialtransformation — not only a more just distributionof wealth and income, but a more expansivesharing of power so disadvantaged people canbegin bringing about significant change throughtheir own actions.Strategic FindingsAmong the strategic options and considerationsimplied in Chapters 1 through 4 of thisvolume, a number of them stand out, and they arementioned below. Several are rich with paradox,and government officials, civil society members,and development practitioners need to sort out theconflicting elements to determine the most promisingstrategic direction to take for their community,country or region.1.Legal Empowerment of the Poor is easiest toimplement where it is needed least. An effectiveadministrative state, a set of transparentand accountable political institutions, and agrowing economy are predictors of success forlegal empowerment policies. Yet, countries thatmeet these criteria probably have their povertyand social exclusion under relative control; thebulk of the global poverty problem is in preciselythose nations that lack these positive attributes,so implementation of Legal Empowerment of thePoor must usually be completed under inauspiciousconditions.2.There is a rich base of comparative internationalexperience, but no ready-made formulas forlegal empowerment. Solutions that suit one contextmay be dead wrong in another. Greatcare should be taken to develop interventionsthat are appropriate for the specific historical,socio-economic and political context of a givencountry.3.Think systemically, act incrementally. A nation’slegal and administrative setup functions likean ecosystem with a heavy measure of interdependence.That implies empowerment takessystemic changes. Yet, big bang approaches arerare and they often run out of steam when theyare tried. In particular, any attempt to supplantand replace existing informal mechanisms seemsdoomed to failure. Instead, informal mechanismsmust be gradually integrated with the formal.4.Think long, go short. Justice, labour and landissues are complicated and do not lend themselvesreadily to a traditional two-year project approach.Yet, reformers can never lose sight of thefact that politicians are in office for finite terms.The implementation process, therefore, needs toinvolve actors who are less affected by elections,and deliver successes on a regular basis. Evenif these successes are small, they must providetangible improvements to maintain the momentumfor reform.5.Start from afar, but change from within. Legalempowerment is on the international community’sagenda, as the very existence of this Commissionproves. Yet, pro-poor policy change hasto be endogenous. Any perception that foreigndonors drive reform may prove counter-productive.Reforms that do not find champions andbuild constituencies within are likely to fail (asthey should).6. Support associations of the poor, but do not compromisetheir independence. Capacity-developingsupport is important to associations of the poor,be they small farmers’ cooperatives, communitybasedorganisations, domestic worker trade unionsor urban user-groups. The incongruity is thatassisting these groups may cause them to becomemore accountable to the external funding agencythan to their membership.7.Work from the bottom up and the top down.Donor expectations regarding the interest ofthe poor in legal empowerment are often out333