Innovators working on justice and legal issues worldwide earlier this year in late March were invited to apply and take part in the Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL) Justice Accelerator’s Innovating Challenge with applications that were submitted are addressed six main pain points of justice including but not limited to; employment justice, family justice, neighbor disputes, land disputes, crime and law enforcement, and migration/human trafficking.
HiiL, the main organizer of the challenge is – a non-profit Legal and research advisory institution based in The Hague that targets to make justice work for people through new technologies, cutting edge knowledge on conflict resolution, and new forms of organisation and governance. The institution has been increasingly active in Africa in recent years, most recently providing eight African startups with a share of EUR160,000 (USD$176,000) in grant funding through its Innovating Justice challenge.
Having received over 601 applications from 65 different countries (Uganda Inclusive), only ten justice innovations will walk away with a grand prize of 20,000 EUR in equity-free funding, access to a mentor network, and potential future funding.
In new reports, after a through judging process, the Dutch-based Legal and Research Advisory institution has announced its semi-finalists from East and West Africa and will attend and pitch at local Boostcamps in Kampala, Accra, Nairobi, the Hague, Johannesburg, and Kyiv, where only 10 innovations will be selected to pitch at the final at the Innovating Justice Forum 2017 on December 7th, 2017.
Among the semi-finalists from East Africa, ten (10) startups emerged from Uganda, including: anti-trafficking app; Safe Futures, GBV victim SMS service Wogana!, justice accountability service; Evidence and Methods Lab, SMS service for Muslim minorities; Muslim Centre for Justice e-Law App, Land Title Search App, Plea bargaining service Pilot Public Defender Project, migrant travel agency; E-Migrate, land dispute service; Protection of land rights under customary land tenure, SMS employment issue service; Citizens Reporting for Justice, and dispute mediator West Nile Mediation Centre.
Other Finalists:
From Kenya: SMS portal for legal aid M-Haki, Land ownership verification App; Smart Shamba, Product Verification App; Tambua, Gender-based violence support platform; Usalama, Bail application service; MSheria, and SMS service for corruption; Mullika Hongo.
From Rwanda: Gerayo; a real-time crime reporting portal, and SocialWell; a gender based violence case management system.
From Accra: BenBen; a firm which provides fast, easy access to blockchain-secured land transactions, Vertex Legal Protection; which offers access to legal counselling and representation, Land records platform; INDenture, and Keep Calm; which equips local leaders with basic legal skills to mediate over small claims.
From Nigeria: Car theft deterrent system; LegitCar, Nigerian legal platform for lawyers Lawpadi, Malian legal services platform; Legalsoba, and Senegalese legal service Cabinet Gaiba.
From Tunisia: E-Municipalite a Tunisia firm who will be defending their app that allows citizens to access information regarding municipal activities and regulations.
