With generous support from Dignitas International USA, ISLP has been working since early 2020 to develop an ecosystem of legal support for social enterprises in Malawi that are working to address the health impacts of climate change as well as to expand access to clean energy. We partnered with local actors such as GrowthAfrica, a regional enterprise accelerator, to identify social enterprises that would benefit from ISLP’s support and to structure capacity-building activities that were responsive to the local context. ISLP mobilized volunteers to provide direct legal support, produce instructional videos for Malawian social entrepreneurs as a long-term resource to address key legal considerations that affect their day-to-day activities, and develop a webinar for the Malawi Law Society geared toward building capacity to provide legal support and advice to social enterprises.
Our partner GrowthAfrica noted that “legal support is an area that is not always accessible to social enterprises. [ISLP’s] approach is inherently geared toward understanding and leveraging local context and expertise while also providing insights from a global repository. The result is a well-rounded approach that has the potential to provide long-term impact. Being able to begin the journey of bridging some of those gaps together with ISLP has been valuable for the beneficiary entrepreneurs.”
ISLP is grateful to our partner law firms that contributed to this initiative: White & Case, Hahn Loeser, Ropes & Gray, Naphambo & Co., Blake, Cassels & Graydon, and Debevoise & Plimpton.