For many years, donors have supported justice interventions in Bangladesh: providing small-scale grants to activist NGOs, facilitating large-scale national justicesector reforms, and doing community-based work. The latter typically involves funding paralegals, alternative dispute resolution, ‘village courts’ and more. Into this mix comes the Community Legal Services (CLS) project, a £17 million project funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). The CLS project provoked some big questions. What are the most effective strategies Bangladeshi NGOs use to improve legal services? What role does capacity building play in this? Should international donors focus on promoting legal services, empowerment, or both? This research sought to unpack these questions through an in-depth qualitative research study. dRi was responsible for the primary data collection from the field and qualitative data analysis.
Serial No: 168
Theme: Governance and Legal Issues
Research Method: Qualitative
Partner: Overseas Development Institute (ODI)
Starting Year: 2016
Study Area: Rangamati, Satkhira, Rajshahi & Mymensingh
