The MJ4All Methodology provides a structural way to implement the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). The doctrine of R2P states that if a government is unwilling or unable to protect its population, the international community has a moral obligation to protect the marginalized groups. The doctrine of R2P divides into three phases: (1) prevention of conflict, (2) intervention during a conflict and (3) rebuilding after a conflict. Despite abuse of R2P to justify military interventions, the founders of the doctrine of R2P emphasize in their report that military intervention should only take place in exceptional circumstances, and the main focus should be on the prevention and the rebuilding phase and the transition from post-war to normalization. MJ4All works on legal empowerment and inclusion of marginalized groups in the countries of operation, which is fundamental in the prevention and rehabilitation phases.
The Microjustice4All legal issues are an essential part of preventing violent conflict. Conflicts mostly occur where a part of the population is not integrated into society, do not have access to education, healthcare, public services and their land is unprotected. People can only be protected from harm if they are included within society and inclusion in society is dependent on having the necessary legal documentation in order. By evaluating the legal needs of the population, Microjustice4All provides a structural method for identifying which groups are excluded from society, so that these groups can be brought within society and protected. The Legal Inclusion Index, that MJ4All is developing, will be instrumental for this. Systematic identification of excluded groups enables systematic development co-operation. The acceptance of the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect means that it is not optional for the international community to intervene when there are excluded groups but that there is a moral obligation. Microjustice4All offers a structural tool for fulfilling this obligation.
As well as preventing conflict, Microjustice4All legal services play an important role in post-crisis rehabilitation and the transition from post-war to normalization. After a violent conflict, many refugees and internally displaced persons face difficulties with obtaining civil documentation, the restoration of property and land, restoration of contractual relations, access to pension rights and problems with their bank. A prominent example was the situation after the war in the Former Yugoslavia.
Unless war victims and displaced populations are legally rehabilitated, legal insecurity can lead to renewed conflict. This vicious circle can be broken by structural implementation of the Microjustice4All Methodology.
The Market Context of Microjustice4All: Justice for those at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP)
In the last decades, there has been a movement which recognizes that there is a big market at the bottom of the social pyramid. This has led to movements for service provision to the poor, including Inclusive Finance and Microjustice. Inclusive finance entails providing financial services to the poor, while Microjustice entails providing legal services for the poor, in a sustainable, donor-independent way. The bottom line of this movement is that products for the poor are not donor-dependent but become sustainable through income from the client group.
In the market context, the Microjustice4All Legal Unit can be seen as a product development and implementation unit, the Microjustice4All Social Unit can be seen as a marketing and distribution unit and legal education and awareness-raising can be seen as a form of marketing. In addition, the MJ4All Methodology is based on the following market-inspired concepts, such as economies of scale, cost-efficiency and clients (rather than beneficiaries).
MJ4All as a BoP Product
The Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) refers to the people in the lowest economic sector of society. According to Paul Collier, approximately one billion people across the globe are at the BoP. Most businesses have traditionally ignored people at the BoP, as they were perceived to be too poor to be viable consumers. However, in order to survive, they still need certain basic products. This opens up a market with one billion customers, albeit a market for very low priced products. Penetrating the BoP market requires an innovative, and yet simple, approach, based on the following concepts:
- Be ready to collaborate with non-traditional partners
- Include local partners that can actively contribute to identify the needs of the potential consumers.
- Must enable local partners to build the business based on their own capacities.
The philosophy behind the BoP theory is that innovative businesses can be created to reduce poverty and support society and the environment. While this can be achieved by creating employment opportunities for the poor, they can also be considered as partners and as a valuable resource for innovative technology. It must be recognized, however, that these are long processes which do not offer immediate results.
Microjustice4All aims to reach those at the BoP and the MJ4All Methodology follows the reasoning of the BoP theory to bring justice to people with limited resources. This enables marginalized people to fully enjoy their rights.
Access to rights can only become a BoP product if the target group has an interest in accessing their rights. Traditionally, these people have been excluded from the system and, therefore, there is no culture of accessing rights. Those at the BoP perceive access to their rights as impossible or unnecessary. In order to change the culture of exclusion, the rights need to be connected to a specific benefit through an effective awareness-raising campaign.
The principles of the BoP theory are reflected throughout the MJ4All Methodology. For example:
- Affordable prices: since those at the BoP have very limited resources, Microjustice4All products and services must be affordable.
- Joint development of Microjustice4All Products: one of the principles of the BoP theory is that the services and products must be created and developed within the specific community as they are in the best position to identify their needs. Microjustice4All must aim to establish an open dialogue with members of the community to find adequate solutions to their needs and leave behind any pre-conceived ideas as to what people’s basic needs are.
- Innovation: Microjustice4All can reach the BoP, offering innovative products and services, tailored to the needs of people. This requires a deep understanding of the needs of the target group.
- Investment in education: providing products and services for the BoP market requires investment in educating people about the benefits of these. Most people at the BoP have no legal education and are unaware of the benefits of legal protection.
Whereas Microfinance offers people the means to getting access to a number of development issues, Microjustice is the precondition for obtaining such access.
Microjustice4All: A Cross-Cutting Approach
GG 16 is a cross-cutting goal in the sense that it is a precondition for the achievement of the other GGs. Similarly, the MJ4All Methodology is a cross-cutting approach to implementing Microjustice and GG 16 and MJ4All legal services are a precondition for further development and have great impact on a wide range issues:
- Without social, economic and political inclusion in society and without legal protection, it is not possible to achieve peaceful and democratic societies.
- Without correct property registration, business registration, recognition of legal personality of associations and written contracts, it is not possible to have a stable economy.
- Without legal protection and rehabilitation, it is not possible to prevent conflict nor to achieve sustainable development.
MJ4All Legal Services are just a very small part of any development or peacebuilding activities, but if that small part is not taken care of, the core activity will never succeed in obtaining its objectives in the long term. The costs of MJ4All Legal Services are small in relation to their impact and the increased sustainability of the development and peacebuilding activities. That is why MJ4All is helping bigger humanitarian and development organizations and social enterprises to integrate MJ4All Programs within their activities.