Building the power of organisations and movements fighting for justice and equality

Communities should be able to make informed choices about how they want to incorporate litigation in their campaigns for change. Building the knowledge and power of organisations and movements fighting for justice is a key strand of our work, as it will allow communities to better decide if and how litigation can be used. We do this by: 

Developing resources on strategic litigation, to assist in better understanding the different aspects of it, and to help guide considerations on if or how litigation might be a tactic to include in campaigns for change

Delivering workshops and trainings to assist those doing community-based or -facing work in better understanding strategic litigation as a tool for change and what it might do for their campaigns 
Hosting regular drop-in calls to address community questions and assist in finding support elsewhere for matters outside Systemic Justice’s scope of work

Resources on strategic litigation

The topics and format of any resources we develop will be directly informed by the needs of the communities, organisations, and movements we work with. To collect this input, we are conducting a needs assessment survey in Summer 2022 (deadline 19 September 2022). If you would like to provide input, you can complete our survey (which also has translations available in Dutch, French, Italian, Russian, and Spanish) or get in touch. 

The resources will be designed and developed to help organisations, communities and movements respond to or navigate the obstacles they currently face in integrating strategic litigation into their campaigns for change. It is therefore likely that the resources we’ll eventually develop will deal with a range of different topics, such as:

explainers on what strategic litigation is and how it can bring change;
what to expect from the litigation process;
how to collect evidence and build a strong case;
how to assess the risk of taking on litigation;
building a realistic litigation plan; and
how to turn a “loss” in court into a “win” for the cause.

The first resources will be published on our website towards the end of 2022, initially in English, with other language versions planned for 2023. The format will also be determined by the needs assessment, and may take the form of workshops, clinics, and/or audio-visual materials.

We will regularly re-consult organisations and communities working on racial, social, and economic justice issues to ensure that these resources directly benefit their work and no extractive dynamics are created.

Building the resources: at a glance

We will start building resources following five key steps:

September 2022: Completed needs assessment survey
October 2022: Survey analysis and first projects designed
November 2022: Prioritise 3-4 small-scale projects
December 2022: Monitoring and evaluation plan
First resources published before 2023