The World Justice Project’s Opportunity Fund provides seed grants to multidisciplinary rule of law programs incubated at the World Justice Forum and regional mainstreaming events.

In keeping with the WJP's philosophy that we are all stakeholders in the rule of law, Opportunity Fund grants support collaborative projects to strengthen the rule of law involving two or more disciplines. Each grant-funded program is designed to address a concrete problem facing the grantees' discipline(s) and/or region.

For the second round of Opportunity Fund, the WJP welcomed proposals for multidisciplinary rule of law programs lead by organizations represented at the World Justice Forum II. The WJP particularly welcomed proposals targeting areas for reform identified by the Rule of Law Index testing in over 30 countries.

The WJP is prioritizing funding in four program areas: Access to Justice for poor and marginalized populations, youth empowerment, Women and the Law, and Environmental Justice. These areas are rooted in The WJP’s mission to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the rule of law for the development of communities of opportunity and equity. These areas are rooted in The WJP’s mission to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the rule of law for the development of communities of opportunity and equity.

The first round of 36 Opportunity Fund grantees represented 17 disciplines, from 5 continents with a total gross funding of $840,000. The 2009 Interim Report for the Opportunity Fund can be downloaded here. The 2009 report was presented at the World Justice Forum II along with the Preliminary Rule of Law Index Report 2009.

Initial lessons learned indicate that programs centered upon multidisciplinary collaboration and designed and implemented by stakeholders are more sustainable and demonstrate greater impact on strengthening the rule of law. In the coming months, the Opportunity Fund will release its final report on the first round of grants, providing further evaluations of all the completed programs.

The WJP has received a broad range of proposals for multidisciplinary rule of law programs in this second round of the Opportunity Fund. Applications are now being reviewed by the WJP’s Opportunity Fund team and plans to select and begin funding new programs in April 2010. To receive more information on the Opportunity Fund, please contact WJP Staff Attorney and Opportunity Fund team leader, Leila Hanafi via email at hanafil@staff.abanet.org.