Our Model
CARL works with a dedicated team of human rights defenders as well as networks across the country to promote access to justice, protect women’s rights, support anti-corruption efforts, and advocate for legal and institutional reforms.
Rule Of Law & Access To Justice
Human Rights & Equality
Accountability & Transparency
Women's Rights & Gender Justice
Governance & Citizen Participation
Our Approach
Working with policy makers in government, civil society actors, victims, and development partners to challenge human rights violations, inequality, and bad governance in order to promote the rule of law, access to justice, transparency, good governance, and citizens’ participation in decision-making processes
Theory Of Change
Our theory of change is grounded on the assumptions that IF citizens are well-informed and have the capacity to coalesce with other stakeholders in a bid to engage state-level and local authorities to initiate reforms that foster transparency and accountability, AND government ministries, departments and agencies, institutions, sectors, processes, mechanisms, norms and practices are well developed and strengthened, AND the rights of all its citizens, especially marginalised groups such as women and young people are respected and upheld, THEN the problems of exclusion, inequality, corruption, lack of access to justice, impunity will be remarkably reduced in Sierra Leone, and transparency and accountability and citizens participation will be enhanced
Outreach & Public Information
CARL’s commitment to promote citizens’ participation in governance is the reason we prioritize outreach and public information. We generate debates on public policy with the view to enhancing public knowledge and interest in various issues relating to the formulation, implementation and evaluation of law and policies. Through this method, we take policy makers to task on a number of public interest issues, and have also provided succinct and useful analyses to the general public to help them learn about and participate in governance. Our approach under the current plan is to go beyond promoting mere public discourses of the issues to include innovative ways to reflect on the country’s political, social and cultural dialogues. Our goal is to promote a shared vision of accountability, transparency, and good governance
Citizens & Civil Society
CARL’s primary beneficiaries are ordinary citizens, but state institutions also benefit from our services such as our cutting-edge analyses of public interest issues such as accountability, human rights and good governance, and the technical working sessions we conduct for public officials. Accordingly, we partner with citizens and other civil society organisations to bring about challenge at community and national levels.
Building Bridges
We also build bridges that help to connect our stakeholders, including citizens, the government and development partners. The bridge would help to create a platform that the citizens will use to participate in governance, accountability, rule of law, human rights and a free media. CARL’s previous work with civil society, local authorities, and formal institutions make us better placed to engage various stakeholders. We will work in partnership with our peers in the field and development partner to create and manage this platform.
Duty Bearers
The duty bearers are state actors with the obligation and responsibility to protect and promote human rights and enable citizens’ participation in governance. They are duty bound to ensure accountability and transparency in governance. CARL’s approach in dealing with duty bearers has been to work from outside, and challenge government functionaries and relevant agencies on law and policy design and implementation. This approach has brought about some degree of changes. For example, with the support of the leadership of the Judiciary, we have collected and shared data on the newly established Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court, which has been quite helpful in addressing some of the teething challenges of the Court. We also work collaboratively with state actors to address key challenges relating to the protection of human rights.
Measuring Institutional Results
CARL is a result-driven organization, guided by rigorous data collection and analysis to accomplish our objectives. Our Programme Unit has a special responsibility relating to Design, Monitoring and Evaluation. It works closely with other units and staff based in the regions to collect and analyze data from the field. Our general goal is to provide critical analysis of data to improve our decision-making and management of our activities. We collect and analyze data to assess effectiveness and demonstrate results, and of particular relevance for our context, to empower our beneficiary communities and ensure greater transparency and accountability
Featured Projects
Decriminalization and Declassification of Petty Offences.
Our intervention seeks to support Legislative and Policy reform to decriminalize and declassify Petty Offences, and reduce impact on affected people who are mostly the poor and disadvantaged, in Sierra Leone. It is funded by the Foundation for Open Society
Building Accountability Systems Through Empowered Communities (BASE). As part of a consortium.
The project, funded by USAID and implemented as part of a coalition known as BASE, seeks to enhance increased support in building accountability systems through citizens’ participation in local government and political processes, and transparent local revenue with...
Towards a Transparent and Accountable Process: Promoting Citizen’s Participation in Sierra Leone’s Constitutional Review Process.
The project seeks to promote a speedy, accountable and citizen-led constitutional review process in Sierra Leone. Funded by the Foundation for Open Society, the project seeks to improve the human rights and accountable governance provisions in the Constitution.
Promoting a safe and peaceful electoral process through an accountable security sector
Funded by the Foundation for Open Society, the goal is to increase the capacity and commitment of State actors to ensure justice and accountability for abuses committed by security personnel and for politically-motivated violence related to the 2023 elections.
Strengthening National Advocacy for Safe and Legal Abortions and Access to SRHR among vulnerable populations particularly young girls in Sierra Leone.
Our intervention seeks to increase access and the right to reproductive health services for women and girls in Sierra Leone, end stigma associated with abortion, and address prevailing religious views that conflict with the social reality of unsafe abortion, and to...
Strengthening the Rule of Law, Access to Justice, Human Rights and Security in Sierra Leone: Promoting an Accountable and Rights-Based Justice System Through Support to Legal and Institutional Reforms.
The project seeks to help expedite the process of amending the Criminal Procedure Act, 1965, and the Correctional Service Act of 2004 as well as ensuring a feedback loop between CARL and key justice sector actors in Sierra Leone. It is funded by the UNDP
Making Elections Meaningful: Promoting Electoral Justice and Policy Based Voting in Sierra Leone’s 2023 Elections. As part of a consortium.
Funded by the Government of Ireland The project seeks to “promote free, fair and peaceful elections and acceptable electoral outcomes in Sierra Leone.” The objectives include, increasing trust in the electoral process through fostering policy-based voting, minimising...