Drawing on case studies from Botswana, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda, this report outlines several achievements and challenges that affect UNDP’s Rule of Law and Access to Justice focus and approach.

The mapping shows an increase in innovative reforms across the region and through which different stakeholders have moved towards mainstreaming law and justice in development. However, it also indicates that the evidence is sparse on the real and sustained impact of development assistance from UNDP and other organisations to enable an environment in which people’s access to justice results in more opportunities which are both inclusive and equitable. This demands that UNDP consider how to better ensure the relevance of its development assistance in this field and more visibly position law and justice in development in the context of contemporary challenges and emerging issues in order to sustain accruing benefits in terms of transformative change. The formulation of a Post 2015 global development agenda that integrates law and justice considerations should provide a unique opportunity to fully explore the potential of this approach.