Pathways of Legal Advocacy for Change

Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12116391
AutoresLogan Cochrane (0000-0001-7321-8295, Global and International Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, autor de correspondencia), Betel Bekele Birhanu (0000-0001-5454-4255, University of Zurich)
Año2018
Volumen46
Número2
Páginas347-365
Fecha de publicación2018-10-19
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaForum for Development Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0803-9410 • E-ISSN: 1891-1765
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/08039410.2018.1534752
OpenAlexW2897528392
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas19

Changing the legal environment can have transformative impacts on the lives of the most vulnerable. However, little is known about how legal advocacy can effectively achieve this within contexts where governments are not receptive to advocacy of this nature. This article outlines the activities of the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA) as it played a focal role in changing the Family Law, making important progress to removing aspects of the law that discriminated against women. We outline the ‘pathway’ of change taken by the organization, which moved from service provision to building an evidence-based, formal and informal advocacy, and finally utilizing critical junctures to encourage change to the law. This article also highlights the important role of enabling environments, as after several successful efforts of legal advocacy, the government closed down the operational space for legal advocacy, effectively stifling continued, or any new forms of, legal advocacy. This article provides insight on successful approaches to legal advocacy in challenging governance contexts as well as the limitations and opportunities that external actors can have

Business · Corporate governance · Government (linguistics · Legal profession · Legal service · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Transformative learning · Human Rights and Development · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Legal Issues in South Africa · Public Administration