Achieving development objectives through participatory, evidence-based, problem-solving, legislative drafting and institutional reform
Our programs equip members of civil society, corporate leaders, governmental officials, and elected representatives to improve the quality of governance in order to boost institutional performance, increase compliance with existing laws and policies and improve outcomes. To date, our consultants have worked with participants in the lawmaking process in more than forty countries to develop, draft a
nd amend legislative provisions that would, if passed, have a high likelihood of effectively addressing the causes of long-standing institutional problems. ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES
In many countries, elected representatives are seen as individuals whose job is to provide constituents with favored access to state resources (jobs, contracts, grants, protection, etc). However, their job is far more important than is commonly perceived; their most important functions are developing legislation and overseeing the executive. Members of parliaments and local governments must be willing to look beyond the particularized needs of individual voters in order to focus on the common, underlying causes of their voters’ problems and much broader and greater scope of the problem. Elective representatives also need technical support for capacity development for effective participation on the floor of the House and in Parliamentary committee proceedings. The Legis Institute’s programs provide special technical assistance services to members of parliament and local governments in order to build their capacity for performing their functions as public representative. PARLIAMENTARY STAFF
Members of the parliamentary staff help elected representatives by providing them with support in performing their functions. Legis’ programs, tools and collaborative research portals are designed to help parliamentary staff effectively support the Members of Parliament. CIVIL SERVANTS
Sometimes civil servants are tasked with assessing legislation to propose amendments or to evaluate the impacts of its implementation. Frequently they serve as lawmakers when they are performing their duties as rule-makers. Furthermore, when repetitive problems arise within a ministry, civil servants are frequently called upon to identify needed institutional reforms and to develop draft legislation. Our programs train civil servants to conduct socio-legal research, develop policy proposals, draft legislation and regulations, and produce research reports to justify their legislative and regulatory proposals. The Legis Institute also offers direct research, drafting, and dialogue facilitation services to ministries on a contract basis. CIVIL SOCIETY
Law is society’s primary tool for organizing resources, and responding to pressing problems in a coordinated, effective manner. Through law, we can help not just one person or community, but everyone. However, just because a need is obvious does not mean that a lawmaker knows how to solve the problem. Civil Society groups frequently have experience dealing directly with a problem that lawmakers and ministerial officials may lack. Members of civil society know what the problem is, why it is happening and what solutions do and don’t work. The Legis Institute’s programs help civil society groups to effectively join their local or national debate about how law can be used for social change. MEDIA
The media can play an important role in creating awareness about the actions that communities can take to raise their concerns and assert their rights. The media can educate the people about the executive’s duties, powers and limits of discretion. The media can also bring executive abuses to light, and can foster public pressure for the parliament, and judiciary, to take steps to reign in executive abuses. The Media Program aims to increase the media’s ability to engage the public in conducting executive oversight, identifying needed legislative interventions, and providing the types of information needed to predict the outcomes of a proposed legislative intervention. THE BENEFITS OF LEGIS' APPROACH
Our approach harmonizes legislative assessment and drafting strategies across institutions. This enables those wishing to participate in the decision-making processes to predict which inputs the decision-making body will consider and when different forms of inputs will prove most relevant to the process. Following our methodology also enables lawmakers to draft, and adopt, bills that have a high likelihood of catalyzing the desired real-world impacts. No other legislative drafting methodology prepares people to systematically assess a whether or not a proposal is likely to change problematic behaviors and, accordingly, to achieve the desired impact.
