Financing for Access to Justice at the FfD4 Conference

By Linette Lubuulwa | African Centre for Excellence in Access to Justice / FIDA-Uganda
 

I attended the recent Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) in Seville, Spain as a representative of the African Centre for Excellence in Access to Justice. The Conference brought together the key global actors in respect of development financing: government leaders, the United Nations, businesses, financial and trade institutions, international organization and yes, civil society. The FFD4 was a once-in-a-decade opportunity for the adoption of ‘a new vision for reforming global financial architecture’ in order to address the most pressing global concerns and to fast-track the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

As I participated in this once-in-a-decade global conference; I attempted to place the national, Kampala-based, service provision-oriented NGO where I work within the bigger picture of the world of development. The battles are endless… so many causes to which men and women give their lives’ work – work they know cannot be completed within their lifetime. Every cause, critical: water, peace, youth inclusion in health services, education for vulnerable children … no-one can argue that each of these causes deserve to be supported, championed, financed. This is true for the cause of FIDA-Uganda and our partners in the African Centre for Excellence in Access to Justice as well: enabling access to justice at the grassroots is critical for the well-being, prosperity and peace of communities.

A part of me hoped that the conference would give me some assurance that the trends of reduced funding and shifting priorities on the part of the Global North is just a difficult season that will pass … but the reality is that development funding as we have known it for the past few decades will not continue. The world is changing and the outcome document of the FFD4 does not make a particularly bold attempt to overturn the trajectory of climate change, inequality between and within states, unsustainable debt burdens and the continuing effects of colonialism. 

Local NGOs that provide critical services have no option but to reimagine how they can continue their work at the community level, push back against emerging challenges and retain their voice and autonomy, all while operating with greatly reduced funding coming in from the Global North. We will continue to support the battles for debt cancellation for developing states, the ending of wars, the curbing of illicit financial flows and the adoption of a UN Tax Convention, but we also need to reimagine the simple practicalities around how we achieve our own vision as individual organisations. For FIDA-Uganda, this means building a much bigger base of local supporters, partnering more closely with local government in service provision and investing in technology that makes training of community justice actors and case reporting cheaper, easier and more accessible.  

I left Seville not with a sense of resolution, but with what I believe to be a deeper clarity that the road ahead will require both unrelenting commitment and regular reinvention. For organisations like FIDA-Uganda, the future of development work lies not in waiting for the global tides to turn, but in leaning further into the work with do with the communities around us, in the networks we build locally, and in the innovation we are willing to embrace. The FFD4 did not offer easy answers, but it affirmed what many of us already knew: our work must continue, and it will demand all the creativity and persistence that we can muster.

Events that framed My Journey

On 28th and 29th June 2025, I convened with over 1000 members of civil society organisations, trade unions, movements and networks from around the world at the Civil Society Forum ahead of the FFD4. It was an opportunity to reflect on the outcome document of FFD4 i.e. Compromiso de Sevilla and to consider the joint statement from civil society and the united message which we intended to deliver through our participation in the Conference. Civil society was united in our concern about growing inequalities, unsustainable debt burdens, gender and racial inequalities, illicit financial flows, rise in conflicts and militarism, cuts in official development assistance and failure to uphold longstanding commitments, shrinking civic space, triple planetary crisis and declining international cooperation. The Compromiso de Sevilla is viewed by civil society as a document of compromise which does not take a firm stand against the most pressing issues of our time and reflects the lack of political will from world leaders to ensure bold reforms and address colonial legacies. The entire FFD4 process and the negotiation of the Compromiso de Sevilla was criticized for its lack of transparency and for excluding the voices of the people.

The civil society participants marched the streets of Seville on the evening of 29th June 2025, promoting the key causes of debt cancellation for developing countries and the reversal of an emerging trend which favours investment in militarization over development.

On 30th June 2025, I participated as a panelist in a Side Event titled “Financing for People-Centred Justice”.

This event was co-hosted by the Government of Sierra Leone; the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation; TAP Network; The Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies; UNDP; IDLO; the Legal Empowerment Fund; and ACE-AJ. The event provided an opportunity for both funders and implementers whose work contribute to the achievement of SDG16 to share insights and practical strategies for strengthening justice systems and enhancing access to people-centred justice through targeted investment.

I represented the African Centre for Excellence in Access to Justice as well as FIDA-Uganda on this panel shared with Themba Mahleka from Pathfinders International and Aimee Seligstein from the Legal Empowerment Fund. We considered the importance of increasing global financing for justice, even in the face of multitudes of developmental needs and competing priorities. Our discussion highlighted the fact that funding for justice should increase because enhanced access to justice facilitates broader development priorities, including gender and good governance. I shared examples showing that funding for justice that reaches grassroots justice actors enables the resolution of individual justice problems, strengthens the justice system, equips citizens to hold their local-level leaders accountable and enables women and other vulnerable groups to be agents of systems change. The panel collectively showcased how investing in justice provides excellent returns: access to justice strategies focusing on frontline justice actors is highly cost-effective, as documented by ODI though the Justice Access Coalition (JAC). We also shared examples of how legal empowerment organisations across the globe pioneer groundbreaking innovations in enabling the training of community paralegals, and the use of digital tools to make access to legal information and advice increasingly cost effective.

The networking events enabled me to discuss our organisations work and recent developments at the ACE-AJ with current and longstanding supporters of our work who attended the event. I also met a number of people from potential partner organisations who are interested in cross-learning and collaboration with legal empowerment organisations based in Africa.

Working Toward My Goals at FfD4

Before Ahead of the conference, I set the following goals for myself:

My goal is to use the opportunity to make a convincing case for continued and increased development funding aimed at enhancing access to gender-responsive justice at the grassroots level; strengthening of justice systems and filling the legal aid gap in African countries – in pursuit of the achievement of both SDG 5 and 16. I hope to learn about innovative and sustainable funding models and approaches for enhancing access to justice for women and to forge new partnerships with like-minded organisations and agencies from across the globe. 

I worked towards these goals by using the platform I had in the panel on financing people-centred justice to advocate for increased development funding aimed at enhancing access to gender-responsive justice at the grassroots level. I demonstrated the impact of investment in grassroots justice initiatives by sharing a set of real-life examples of advocacy wins achieved by community justice actors in Uganda. I believe this demonstration showed how investment in access to justice through legal aid service providers and community justice actors enables the resolution of individual justice problems, strengthens the justice system, equips citizens to hold their local-level leaders accountable and enables women and other vulnerable groups to be agents of systems change. I also contributed to showing how investing in justice provides excellent returns: access to justice strategies focusing on frontline justice actors is highly cost-effective, as documented by ODI though the Justice Access Coalition (JAC) in a recent study drawing in-depth information from Kituo cha Sheria’s justice model in Kenya. I also shared some examples of how legal empowerment organisations across the globe pioneer groundbreaking innovations in enabling the training of community paralegals, and the use of digital tools to make access to legal information and advice increasingly cost effective.

I learned about innovative and sustainable funding models which I was not aware of before. In particular, I learned about blended finance which uses public or philanthropic resources to de-risk private or local capital for high development sectors, such as local currency lending facilities which can incentivize private investment in development (including the provision of legal aid services). I also learned about Diaspora Bonds, which is a way to mobilize capital from Africans abroad to fund development work within Africa and outcome-based financing models such as social impact bonds. 

I met various legal empowerment organisations operating in Malaysia, the Philippines and Zambia where FIDA-Uganda does not currently have strong partnerships. I met a representative of a Sustainable Business Development Agency based in Switzerland and we are currently in discussions on how we can collaborate.

 

Main Takeaways from FfD4

It was eye-opening to see a microcosm of the big picture of development dynamics at work at FFD4. As ACE-AJ and FIDA-Uganda, we have to be awake of the rapid shifts in the development financing landscape and the urgent need to strengthen sustainable and low-cost models of legal aid service provision at the community level. 

  • The FFD4 outcome document lacked bold commitments, failed to address debt injustice, and continued to exclude Southern voices. Civil society called this out as explicitly and forcefully and should continue to do so, but must be prepared to face the rapidly shrinking civic space and reduced development financing.
  • Traditional North-South aid is declining, and funding is increasingly short-term and project-based. Long-term, institutional support is rare and local NGOs must adapt accordingly. Organisations must build local donor bases, champion fiscal transparency in government and development income-generating models to stay resilient. As international ODA budgets shrink and civic actors are sidelined, solidarity among CSOs and innovative community giving models are critical for sustainability and voice.
  • FIDA-Uganda and ACE-AJ will do well to strengthen our collaboration with international research institutions such as ODI to increase the generation of evidence on the impact, cost-effectiveness and social value of access to justice work in Africa.
  • Investing in grassroots justice is a so-called ‘development multiplier’ because enhanced access to justice facilitates broader development priorities, including gender and good governance (SDG 5 and SDG 16).
  • Financing the SDGs must begin at the local level. Stronger municipal partnerships and financial autonomy are key. Legal aid work must deepen its integration with local governance.
  • Women are still underrepresented in financial institutions. Feminist critiques of debt, trade, and climate injustice must inform development financing reform.
  • The climate crisis highlights the inter-dependence of all nations on earth: ‘climate security anywhere depends on climate data everywhere’. The fact that weather observations in Global South is not up to standard affect the entire world. At the same time, the Global South is disproportionately affected by the effects of climate change, notwithstanding the fact that developing nations contributes the least to climate change. Climate financing must avoid extractivist and militarized models that further impoverish communities.