Why Does People-Centered Justice Matter?
The last twenty years have produced a growing evidence base about people-centered justice and its contributions to development, poverty alleviation, and democratic participation. This webinar will explore this evidence, identify gaps, and explore possible paths for new research and data collection. Presenters will also discuss how recent cuts to development funding, stalled reductions in global poverty, and democratic backsliding might shape a future people-centered justice research agenda.
Presenters:
Anne-Lise Bloch
Knowledge Sharing Officer, Democratic & Inclusive Governance, International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Canada
Anne-Lise Bloch is a Knowledge Sharing Officer at the International Development Research Centre, where she works to amplify the impact of IDRC-supported research on grassroots justice strategies, legal empowerment, and promoting vibrant civic spaces. She works to translate research into action and ensure locally-led insights shape global policy debates – reinforcing that participation, access to justice and inclusive governance form the foundation of all sustainable development. She has previously worked as a consultant and legal researcher specializing in international human rights law, climate justice, and corporate accountability. Her work is guided by a commitment to putting people at the heart of development, ensuring their needs, perspectives, and rights lead decision-making. She holds a LLM in International Law from the Geneva Graduate Institute, Switzerland, and a JD from the University of Ottawa.
Director of Research and Programs for the Access to Justice Research Initiative, American Bar Foundation
Matthew Burnett is Director of Research and Programs for the Access to Justice Research Initiative at the American Bar Foundation (ABF), a visiting scholar with the Justice Futures Project at Arizona State University, and an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. Prior to joining the ABF, Matthew was Senior Policy Officer at Open Society Foundations (OSF), where he worked to advance access to justice and legal empowerment through research, advocacy, litigation and grantmaking in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the United States. Earlier in his career he helped to launch and led the Immigration Advocates Network and served as law clerk to Justice ZM Yacoob of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Matthew’s research on access to justice has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, the World Bank, and Canada’s International Development Research Centre. He currently serves as an advisor to the National Center for Access to Justice and is co-founder, with Rebecca Sandefur, of Frontline Justice and the Justice Worker Lab.
Adrian Di Giovanni
Team Leader, Democratic and Inclusive Governance, International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
Adrian Di Giovanni is the Team Leader for Democratic and Inclusive Governance at Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), where has worked since 2011. In his current role, he oversees a portfolio of over 80 projects that seek to improve human rights, justice and democracy across Asia, Africa and the Americas. Prior to that at IDRC, he spearheaded a stream of research on law and development, focusing on public law, human rights and legal empowerment. Past professional roles have included Counsel for the Department of Justice Canada’s Human Rights Law Section, and for the World Bank’s Legal Vice-Presidency. Adrian holds an LLM in international law from New York University and a JD from the University of Toronto. He occasionally teaches on justice, human rights and development and has worked previously in Uganda and Tanzania. A proud dad of two inquisitive if mischievous boys.
Paul Prettitore
Senior Specialist, World Bank
Paul is a Senior Specialist at The World Bank, where he has led programs on access to justice, land conflict, anti-corruption and gender equality. Prior to joining The World Bank Paul was a Property Law Coordinator and Legal Advisor at the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina and a Refugee Affairs Specialist at the U.S. Department of State. Paul was also been a pro bono lawyer on domestic violence and as a Guardian ad litem for the DC Volunteer Lawyers Project and the Superior Court of Washington, D.C.
Moderator:
Professor, Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, Arizona State University
Faculty Fellow, American Bar Foundation
Rebecca L. Sandefur is Professor in the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics and (by courtesy) in the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where she previously served as Director of the Sanford School. Her research focuses on access to civil justice, examining how legal services are delivered and experienced; how civil legal aid systems are organized; the role of pro bono; and the comparative effectiveness, sustainability, and scalability of lawyers, helpers who are not licensed attorneys, and digital tools. She also studies how ordinary people understand and attempt to resolve their justice problems.
Sandefur is a Faculty Fellow at the American Bar Foundation, where she founded the Access to Justice Research Initiative in 2010. She serves on the Arizona Commission on Access to Justice by appointment of the Supreme Court of Arizona. She is co-founder, with Matthew Burnett, of Frontline Justice and the Justice Worker Lab, initiatives dedicated to expanding access to civil legal help through community-based justice workers.
Her honors include a MacArthur Fellowship (2018), the National Center for State Courts’ Warren E. Burger Award (2020), and election to the Sociological Research Association (2024). Born in Oklahoma, she is an enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation.