Publication cover: A Decade in Review: Empowering Communities, Advancing Rights
LWF launches anniversary edition of report on Rights-Based Approaches
(LWI) - Ten years of empowering marginalized communities: The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has released a new report marking ten years of impact through its Rights-Based Approach (RBA) program, showcasing how it has stood in solidarity with communities across 15 countries to improve their situation, by engaging at local, national and international levels.
Titled “Empowering Communities, Advancing Rights,” the report highlights a wide range of achievements between 2015 and 2024. These include the registration of 1,175 farmers' land titles in Angola; refugee women securing leadership roles in Kenya; 13,546 formerly bonded laborers (Haliyas) accessing rehabilitation packages in Nepal; and the enactment of national laws protecting asylum seekers in Chad and internally displaced people in Ethiopia.
This advocacy has contributed to legal reforms on gender-based violence, child protection, and climate justice in Uganda, Kenya, Chad and Colombia. The different projects have spanned themes such as land rights, refugee protection, women's rights, environmental justice, and the rights of marginalized communities.
This report affirms our ongoing commitment to justice, dignity, and solidarity.
Rebecca Duerst, LWF RBA Program Coordinator
“The RBA methodology centers on the people we work with as agents of their own change,” said Rebecca Duerst, LWF RBA Program Coordinator and author of the report. “This report showcases our ongoing work for justice, dignity, and solidarity.”
From former bonded laborers and domestic workers in Nepal, who secured their rights to land and recognition, to refugee-led groups in Ethiopia accessing business permits and legal services, the report highlights how communities are learning to hold authorities accountable and shape policy on local and national levels.
Rights-based approaches are integral to the LWF World Service strategy for 2025–2031. Amid global challenges to human rights, the LWF is committed to walking alongside the most marginalized amplifying their voices and supporting lasting change.
