The project  From Rights to Realities: training network of urban poor PWD paralegals aims to train Physically Challenged Empowerment Initiative (PCEI) members as community paralegals to serve their network across Lagos,  to support the PCEI community paralegals as they provide grassroots legal aid and bring the voices of urban poor persons with disabilities (PWDs) into decision-making; as well as to facilitate exchanges to help PCEI expand to other Nigerian cities. Under this project there is a training and support of a network of community-based paralegals in urban poor communities in Nigerian cities; support movement-building and inter-community solidarity among urban poor and other marginalised communities through exchanges and collective forums. Together with the Nigerian Federation they undertake strategic advocacy and litigation to backstop the work of the community paralegals and open spaces for the urban poor to lead the changes they want to see in their cities. The overall goal of this project is to equip a network of ethnic minority, urban poor PLWDs in Lagos with local legal aid and community-based support through a grassroots network that will address systemic discrimination and mass rights violations, facilitate access to basic services, advocate for vocational training, and help to bring the voices of PLWDs into urban planning and governance.

Urban poor persons with disabilities (PWDs) from northern Nigeria who reside in Lagos are generally treated as if they are criminals. The state government’s approach uses mass arrest and detention as a strategy to get PWDs off the streets and out of sight. Instead of building their capacity and providing them resources to be active and self-sufficient members of society, they are carted off to a “rehabilitation centre” at Majidun where they are kept in inhumane conditions and provided with no rehabilitation whatsoever. Most are stuck there until their family or friends come to pay their “bail” for their release from detention.  

The Community Legal Services Initiative (CLSI) as part of their Justice and Empowerment Initiative empowers poor and marginalised individuals to lead the changes that they would like to see in their own communities — whether greater access to justice for the poor, pro-poor urban governance and policy, or community-led in-situ upgrading and development. The organisation brings technical expertise in law, advocacy, urban planning, creative media, and community organising to inform, strengthen and support the Nigerian Slum / Informal Settlement Federation-led efforts to solve justice and development problems. 

It is in this context that they have implemented the project From Rights to Realities: training network of urban poor PWD paralegals. This project aimed to train Physically Challenged Empowerment Initiative (PCEI) members as community paralegals to serve their network across Lagos, to support the PCEI community paralegals as they provide grassroots legal aid and bring the voices of urban poor persons with disabilities (PWDs) into decision-making as well as to facilitate exchanges to help PCEI expand to other Nigerian cities. 

The project carried out a training and supported a network of community-based paralegals in urban poor communities in Nigerian cities.  It also supported movement-building and inter-community solidarity among urban poor and other marginalised communities through exchanges and collective forums. Together with the Nigerian Federation, the project undertook strategic advocacy and litigation to backstop the work of the community paralegals and open spaces for the urban poor to lead the changes they desired to see in their cities.   

The project also carried out a PWD census in Lagos to grow the membership of the initiative, improve linkages and solidarity between different PWD communities, and gather stories and issues for broader advocacy. Participants got training in media making, policy advocacy, and mapping and used these skills to advocate for more inclusive policies in Lagos. 

All PWDs are human beings – with entitlements to all the same rights as everyone else and CSLI envisions a city and a country where PWDs are celebrated, their contributions to all aspects of public life are respected and promoted, and policies are developed together with PWDs to ensure their inclusion. In this aspect, the project intervention areas are critical especially given that the urban poor do not have resources to spend on legal services.