Access to Justice for the Very Poorest and Marginalised in Uganda

As we have seen throughout this volume, some policies and programmes in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have positively contributed in various forms to reductions in chronic poverty and marginalization. While in no way seeking to take away from these policies’ substantial role in combating poverty, this chapter suggests that of equal importance, and often overlooked by social scientists without a juridical background, is the critical role of promoting rule of law through the expansion of access to justice policies in order to reduce chronic poverty and marginalization, and increase empowerment. Uganda, perhaps more than any other SSA country, provides a unique country case study due to having had significant poverty analysis undertaken and having achieved remarkable success in reducing poverty over the last two or three decades. However, and despite such success, there remains relatively little understanding of how access to justice can impact on the poorest in Uganda. We therefore provide a unique case study to highlight the intersection between poverty, empowerment, and justice, and demonstrate the need for greater integration of justice policies into broader pro-poor programming.