Legal and judicial experts from the UK and elsewhere can potentially play a very useful role in supporting efforts to strengthen the rule of law and access to justice in developing countries.
Through making their time, skills and experience available on a 'pro bono' basis, such experts offer a valuable resource for national governments, civil society organisation and others to draw upon. However, it is important that this kind of 'technical assistance' pro bono work - where skills, experience, knowledge and ideas are shared with counterparts overseas - does not fall prey to critcisms which have long been levied at similar types of programming within the development sector. For instance, technical assistance has been criticised for being driven by the priorities of those providing the assistance, rather than those receiving it, and for being founded on insufficient understanding of context and need.
This guide aims to equip pro bono providers with the knowledge and tools that they need to mitigate this risk, to maximise the relevance and effectiveness of their work, and to make a meaningful contribution to change.