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Legal Aid and Economic Empowerment

Communities across Tanzania are faced with little to no access to legal aid services and a lack of familiarity with their basic rights. This issue is compounded by limited economic empowerment mechanisms, leaving marginalized communities even more disadvantaged. To address these issues, PDF works with a variety of stakeholders to provide legal aid services and economic empowerment frameworks to Tanzania’s most vulnerable groups.

PDF has developed and launched its own in-house legal aid mobile application, “Msaada wa Kisheria”, to simplify access to legal aid services. The app enables users to access information on basic rights and legal processes and to communicate with lawyers and advocates in real time. App users have been able to connect to advocates in-person, and even receive free court representation covered by PDF’s project funds.

PDF also works with Legal Services Facility to provide economic empowerment and justice to women and youth in Dar es Salaam, including through court representation, the launch of a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Unit advocating for entrepreneurship rights, and microfinance groups.

For the past 5 years, PDF have facilitated formation of 302 village Savings and Credit Associations (VSLA/VICOBA) with 6,040 members composed of 3230 women and 2810 men. The group have savings worth TZS 72,480,000 contributed through small monthly contribution premiums.  The income earned is invested in household’s expenditures including education, nutrition and sanitation and hygiene improvements especially for poor households. Likewise, 12 enterprises have been formed and linked to PDF-SELF managed Revolving Fund, 186 cases have been resolved through the legal aid services and 720 LGA officials have been empowered on various aspects of sustainable legal aid services under UNDP financed Haki Jinai Program https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpB3C-ZaHhM&t=6s.

PDF prioritizes economic empowerment interventions such as community microfinance mechanisms (i.e. Village Savings and Loans Associations, or VSLAs) and business model development and implementation throughout all of its programs. It seeks to create upward cycles of profit growth for project beneficiaries in order to increase sustainable independence and eradicate poverty and victim hood. Feel free to contact us for more information about our legal aid and economic empowerment services.

Download “Msaada wa Kisheria APP”