When lawyers, community advocates, social workers, human rights defenders and movement actors from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Sierra Leone gathered in Lagos in April under the Bridge to Justice Project, the agenda appeared straightforward: to review and validate a Movement Lawyering Curriculum designed to strengthen access to justice for key populations and other vulnerable communities across the region.
What unfolded over those two days was far more significant than a curriculum review.
Authored by Green Oge-Ali Project Coordinator, Bridge to Justice Project
When lawyers, community advocates, social workers, human rights defenders and movement actors from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Sierra Leone gathered in Lagos in April under the Bridge to Justice Project, the agenda appeared straightforward: to review and validate a Movement Lawyering Curriculum designed to strengthen access to justice for key populations and other vulnerable communities across the region.
What unfolded over those two days was far more significant than a curriculum review.
The conversations quickly moved beyond training modules and legal frameworks. Colleagues from across the region shared experiences from courtrooms, police stations, community spaces and advocacy platforms. Lawyers spoke about barriers to justice. Community advocates reflected on stigma, exclusion and survival. Human rights defenders described shrinking civic space and increasingly hostile political environments. Together, these discussions revealed a common reality: while legal and political contexts differ across countries, the forces that undermine rights often follow familiar patterns.
One of the most important lessons emerged from discussions about Ghana.
At the time of the convening, representatives from Ghana spoke candidly about the uncertainty surrounding the proposed Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill and the broader social and political climate in which the debate was unfolding. Yet the conversation was never solely about Ghana or about one piece of legislation. Instead, it raised a broader question that sits at the heart of movement lawyering: when should legal intervention begin?
Traditional legal practice often positions lawyers as responders. A law is passed. A violation occurs. A client appears. The legal process begins.
Movement lawyering asks something different.
It challenges lawyers to engage long before a matter reaches a courtroom. It requires attention to communities, institutions, public narratives and policy processes before harm becomes embedded in law, practice or public opinion. It recognises that by the time a restrictive law reaches parliament or a court, many of the conditions that made it possible have already been years in the making.
This understanding lies at the heart of the Bridge to Justice Project.
Across West and Central Africa, rights are rarely lost overnight. More often, they are gradually narrowed through legislation, policy decisions, institutional practices and public narratives that make certain communities increasingly vulnerable. Waiting until a crisis emerges often means responding after opportunities for prevention have already been lost.
The Bridge to Justice Project was established in response to this reality. Its purpose is not simply to train lawyers. It is to strengthen a movement lawyering ecosystem capable of responding to emerging threats, supporting strategic litigation, advancing HIV justice and expanding access to rights-affirming legal support for communities that are too often pushed to the margins of legal protection.
Throughout the convening, conversations explored how legislation, public discourse and institutional behaviour interact long before a formal legal dispute emerges. Discussions underscored the importance of understanding political contexts, identifying allies, documenting evidence early and building relationships that create opportunities for intervention before positions become entrenched.
There was a shared recognition that effective movement lawyering requires more than legal expertise. It requires lawyers who understand how power operates, how public narratives are formed and how communities experience the law long before they encounter a courtroom.
This is why developments such as Ghana’s passage of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill deserve attention far beyond Ghana’s borders.
The significance of the Bill lies not only in its potential impact on affected communities, but also in what it reveals about the importance of early legal intervention, movement building and sustained collaboration between lawyers and communities. The lesson for movement lawyers is not simply how to respond after a law is passed. The lesson is how to organise, educate, litigate and build alliances before rights become more difficult to defend.
The passage of the Bill serves as a reminder that legal advocacy cannot begin only after restrictive laws have advanced through the legislative process. By that stage, public narratives have often hardened, political positions have become more fixed and the space for influence has narrowed considerably. Litigation remains important, but litigation alone is rarely enough.
One of the strongest messages from Lagos was that legal intervention is often most effective before a crisis reaches the courtroom. Advocacy, coalition-building, legislative engagement, public education and strategic communication are not separate from legal work. They are integral to it.
Those working on the frontlines of access to justice repeatedly returned to a common concern: lawyers are often invited into the conversation too late. By the time a harmful policy is enacted or a restrictive law is passed, opportunities for dialogue, persuasion and prevention may already have been lost. The challenge for movement lawyers is therefore not only how to respond after harm occurs, but how to intervene early enough to prevent exclusion, discrimination and injustice from becoming embedded in law, policy and public practice.
The discussions in Lagos served as a reminder that law does not operate in isolation. Legislation, public policy, political discourse and institutional practice continuously shape the conditions under which rights are either protected or restricted. For movement lawyers, understanding these interconnected forces is essential to building legal strategies that are preventive rather than merely reactive.
Similar concerns emerged from discussions on Cameroon and Sierra Leone, where criminalisation, institutional hostility and deeply rooted social attitudes continue to shape the experiences of key populations and other vulnerable communities.
While Nigeria and Ghana demonstrate relatively more developed ecosystems, with examples of strategic litigation, institutional engagement, community-linked legal support and sustained advocacy efforts, conversations from Cameroon and Sierra Leone highlighted the need for stronger foundational investments in movement building, values clarification, rights-based approaches and community-centred legal support. These differences reinforced an important lesson for the Bridge to Justice Project: effective movement lawyering must be responsive to context. Building a regional network does not require a uniform approach. It requires a shared commitment to justice while recognising that each country begins from a different place.
The conversations in Lagos did not provide all the answers, nor were they expected to. What they offered was something equally valuable: a clearer understanding of the challenges ahead and a stronger appreciation of what it will take to meet them.
Across Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Sierra Leone, the specific legal and political realities may differ, but the underlying need remains remarkably consistent. Communities require lawyers who understand that justice is not confined to courtrooms. It is shaped by policies, institutions, public narratives, community relationships and the everyday decisions that determine whether people can access their rights in practice.
If there is one lesson that Ghana reinforced and Lagos helped illuminate, it is this: when it comes to protecting vulnerable communities, waiting until a law is passed is often waiting too long.
For Justice Bridge Foundation, this lesson is not merely an observation. It is a call to action.
The Bridge to Justice Project was established on the belief that access to justice must be proactive rather than reactive. It seeks to build a network of movement lawyers who are equipped not only to litigate, but also to organise, educate, collaborate and stand alongside communities before crises emerge. It recognises that sustainable change requires more than individual legal victories. It requires relationships, trust, solidarity and a long-term commitment to defending dignity and rights.
As colleagues from across the region departed Lagos, they carried with them more than a validated curriculum or a set of training plans. They left with a renewed understanding of the role lawyers can play in advancing justice and a shared commitment to strengthening legal support for communities that are too often left at the margins.
The work ahead remains significant. But the conversations in Lagos reinforced our belief that building stronger networks of movement lawyers across West and Central Africa is not simply desirable. It is necessary.
Barrister Green Chizoba Oge-Ali is a Nigerian lawyer and human rights advocate. Her work focuses on access to justice, due process, and rights-based legal support for marginalised communities, particularly women and other underserved groups. Green is currently the Project Coordinator at Justice Bridge Foundation. Through her practice, she promotes the use of law as a practical tool for accountability, dignity, and fair access to justice.
Every year on 17 May, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) draws attention to violence, exclusion and discrimination affecting sexual minorities and other vulnerable communities across the world. The 2026 theme, “At the Heart of Democracy,” raises a more uncomfortable question for democratic societies: what happens when certain groups experience public institutions …
