Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund

The Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund (ATJLF) was established to support pioneering transitional justice responses to mass atrocities and the implementation of the African Union Transitional Justice Policy in seven West African countries (Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Cote D’Ivoire, Mali, and Nigeria). In a little more than three years, ATJLF is already proving essential for justice and policy advancements in the target countries and is a catalytic force in the subregion and at the continental level. ATJLF is also the convener of the Transitional Justice Community of Practice and a hub for emerging research and learning on local transitional justice efforts. Under this award, ATJLF supports the African continent through the African Union (AU) and civil society organizations to have a unified and comprehensive advocacy agenda on reparative justice. It also supports purposeful research and landscaping of useful continental reparations objectives. Another goal of the award is to support existing efforts towards racial healing through a trans-continental approach. Under this activity, ATJLF takes a leading role in coordinating efforts to ensure that the wide array of racial healing initiatives being undertaken within the continent are cohesive and have a clear focus. ATJLF’s core partner in this effort is the African Union’s Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security.

The Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund (ATJLF) was established to support pioneering transitional justice responses to mass atrocities in Africa, beginning with seven West African countries (Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Cote D’Ivoire, Mali, and Nigeria). Initially conceived as a project of the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), the ATJLF has transitioned to a fully registered public charity, enabling it to adequately support various transitional justice efforts in the sub-region and the continent. Since 2018, ATJLF has become the only mechanism in West Africa geared toward supporting the popularization, dissemination, and adoption of the African Union Transitional Justice Policy (AUTJP). The ATJLF also currently supports over forty transitional justice initiatives across the seven West African countries. Each of these initiatives is aimed at building on existing successful grassroots interventions as well as engendering innovative and impactful survivor-led projects that amplify and reposition victims’ and survivors’ agency. With this transfer award, ATJLF will continue to fulfill legal commitments initially handled under IDEG, and provide programmatic support and financial oversight of awards to the African Union, and in the seven West African countries.

The Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund (ATJLF) was established to support pioneering transitional justice responses to mass atrocities in Africa, beginning with seven West African countries (Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Cote D’Ivoire, Mali, and Nigeria). Initially conceived as a project, the ATJLF has transitioned to a fully registered public charity, enabling it to adequately support various transitional justice efforts in the sub-region and the continent. Since 2018, ATJLF has become the only mechanism in West Africa geared toward supporting the popularization, dissemination, and adoption of the African Union Transitional Justice Policy (AUTJP). The ATJLF also currently supports over forty transitional justice initiatives across the seven West African countries. Each of these initiatives is aimed at building on existing successful grassroots interventions as well as engendering innovative and impactful survivor-led projects that amplify and reposition victims’ and survivors’ agency. With this award, the ATJLF will be strengthened to continue years of strategic investments in victim-centered responses to mass atrocities and human rights violations in Africa. The award will also enable the ATJLF to support the African Union in pursuing its roadmap for the adoption and national implementation of the AUTJP framework. Additionally, due to current funding inertia for transitional justice efforts, this award will allow the ATJLF to convene, curate, advocate for, support, and undertake transformational initiatives in the sub-region with a view to creating a knowledge hub for transitional justice that will contribute to continental responses and demands. Lastly, the award will enable the Fund to embed rigorous learning and evaluation tools and mechanisms into its programming to capture information that can be shared broadly within the field.