Pilot Project
Adhikar
Community-Based Legal Aid and Rights Protection Initiative
Strengthening Access to Justice for Vulnerable and Marginalized Communities
Duration: 12 Months (Starting January 2026)
Location: Nilphamari District, Bangladesh
Target: 20–50 Direct Beneficiaries (Pilot Phase)
01
Background & Development Context
Access to justice is a fundamental human right — enshrined in international law, the Sustainable Development Goals, and Bangladesh’s own constitutional framework. Yet for millions of rural Bangladeshis, particularly those in poverty or belonging to marginalized groups, this right remains largely theoretical. In districts such as Nilphamari, the gap between the law on paper and the lived reality of vulnerable communities is stark and consequential.
Women and girls face heightened exposure to gender-based violence (GBV), domestic violence, and discriminatory practices — yet many remain silent due to fear, social pressure, and a profound lack of knowledge about the legal protections available to them. Victims of irregular migration frequently encounter fraud, exploitation, and complex legal entanglements with no access to appropriate guidance.
Three interconnected categories of barriers prevent these groups from accessing justice:
Awareness Barriers
Socio-Economic Barriers
Structural Barriers
Adhikar — অধিকার — means ‘rights’. The programme is grounded in the conviction that knowing your rights, having access to legal guidance, and being heard is not a privilege for the few — it is the right of every person, regardless of gender, income, or social status.
IRDA recognizes that a community-based, low-cost, and professionally supported legal aid model can bridge this gap. Adhikar is designed to test precisely such a model in Nilphamari — demonstrating what becomes possible when legal support is brought to where people actually live.
02
Project Goal & Objectives
Project Goal
To improve access to justice and strengthen rights-based protection for vulnerable and marginalized communities in Nilphamari District.
Strategic Objectives:
Provide legal counselling and guidance to vulnerable individuals facing legal challenges in Nilphamari District.
Facilitate mediation and peaceful dispute resolution as an accessible, low-cost alternative to formal legal proceedings.
Connect beneficiaries with appropriate legal institutions, lawyers, and authorities through structured referral services.
Support survivors of GBV and victims of irregular migration with legal advice and protection mechanisms.
Develop and document a sustainable, replicable community-based legal aid model for future district-wide expansion.
03
Project At a Glance
Months Pilot Duration
Jan 2026 – Jan 2027
Direct Beneficiaries
Pilot Phase
SDGs Aligned
Strategic global alignment
04
Target Beneficiaries
Adhikar prioritizes individuals and communities facing the greatest barriers to legal access. The programme adopts a positive action approach, ensuring that the most vulnerable are not merely eligible but are actively reached and meaningfully supported.
Direct Beneficiaries
Indirect Beneficiaries
Pilot Target: During the 12-month pilot phase, the project will provide direct legal assistance to 20–50 individuals. Indirect beneficiaries — including family members and community members benefiting from improved legal awareness and dispute resolution — will extend the programme’s impact significantly beyond this number.
05
Key Services & Activities
Adhikar delivers legal support through four core service streams, designed to be accessible, confidential, and responsive to the specific vulnerabilities of each beneficiary.
01 Legal Counselling Services
02 Mediation & Dispute Resolution
03 Referral to Legal Institutions
04 Mediation & Dispute Resolution
All services are delivered in a safe, confidential, and non-judgmental environment. Beneficiary consent, data protection, and do-no-harm principles govern every interaction.
06
Implementation Strategy
Adhikar is implemented through a community-based, volunteer-supported, and professionally anchored approach that maximizes impact while minimizing operational costs — making it a genuinely sustainable and replicable model.
Voluntary Legal Professional Network
IRDA collaborates with associate lawyers and legal professionals who provide services on a voluntary basis. This significantly reduces costs while ensuring that beneficiaries receive professional, qualified legal guidance rather than generic advice.
Community-Embedded Delivery
Legal services are brought into the community through accessible, locally based consultation points — reducing geographic and psychological barriers to seeking help.
Lean Resource Model
Project resources are focused on the essentials: communication and coordination between beneficiaries and legal professionals; case documentation; local travel for consultation and mediation; and monitoring and reporting. This lean model ensures maximum value per resource invested.
Safeguarding & Confidentiality
All interactions are governed by a robust safeguarding policy, with strict confidentiality protocols and a zero-tolerance approach to re-traumatization or harm.
Referral Pathway Integration
For complex cases requiring formal legal proceedings, Adhikar maintains active referral pathways to professional legal aid organizations, courts, and relevant authorities — ensuring no beneficiary is left without a supported next step.
07
Strategic Alignment with Global Frameworks
Adhikar directly contributes to five Sustainable Development Goals, reinforcing Bangladesh’s national commitments to justice, equity, and inclusion. The project is further aligned with Bangladesh’s Safe Migration policy priorities — ensuring complementarity with existing national justice and protection systems.
SDG 5
Gender Equality
SDG 10
Reduced Inequalities
SDG 11
Sustainable Communities
SDG 16
Peace & Justice
SDG 17
Partnerships for Goals
08
Expected Results & Outcomes
Adhikar is designed to deliver measurable, meaningful outcomes at individual, community, and institutional levels during the pilot phase — and to generate the evidence needed for confident scale-up.
20–50 vulnerable individuals receive quality legal counselling and assistance
Increased legal rights awareness among beneficiaries, families, and communities
Improved access to legal advice, mediation, and referral services for marginalized groups
Mediation support provided and successfully concluded for community disputes
Strengthened protection for GBV survivors and victims of irregular migration
A tested, documented, and replicable community legal aid model for future expansion
Evidence base generated for donor engagement and long-term programme development
Voluntary legal professional network established and functional in Nilphamari
09
Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning (MEAL)
Adhikar’s MEAL framework is designed not only to track progress, but to generate the learning and evidence that will drive confident scale-up and donor engagement after the pilot phase.
Beneficiary Registration & Case Documentation
Systematic, confidential registration of all beneficiaries and case files — with data disaggregated by gender, age, case type, and vulnerability status.
Community Feedback Mechanism
Structured feedback channels enabling beneficiaries to report concerns, evaluate services, and contribute to adaptive programme management.
Internal Review & Monitoring Meetings
Regular internal review meetings to assess progress, identify bottlenecks, and apply adaptive learning throughout the pilot phase.
Annual Evaluation & Pilot Report
A comprehensive end-of-pilot evaluation report documenting outcomes, lessons learned, and recommendations for programme scale-up and donor engagement.
10
Sustainability & Scale-Up Roadmap
Adhikar is explicitly designed as a proof-of-concept — a pilot that tests, refines, and documents a model of community legal aid so that what works can be confidently expanded. The scale-up pathway is structured in three phases.
Phase 1 — Pilot
Jan 2026 – Jan 2027
Phase 2 — Expansion
Post-Pilot: Upazila-Level
Phase 3 — Scale-Up
District & Beyond
The voluntary legal professional model is a key sustainability feature: by rooting the programme in the commitment of local legal professionals rather than in external consultancy costs, Adhikar creates a community of practice that exists beyond any single funding cycle.
Adhikar begins with 20 individuals. Its ambition is a district, and ultimately a country, where no vulnerable person faces a legal challenge alone.