Hope Behind Bars Africa

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A world where the justice system works fairly and equally for all.

Nigeria · Community-Based Organizations (CBOs)

🪙 0 Grant Koins · 🏆 Rank #18 Nigeria · Visit Website →

We are Hope Behind Bars Africa, a women-led Justice and human rights-focused organization in Nigeria born out of a daughter's love for her father. The founder's (Funke Adeoye) father was once unjustly held behind bars during her formative years. The helplessness that followed his incarceration prompted her drive to becoming a lawyer, primarily, and eventually the foundation upon which this organization was birthed. This experience changed how she saw the justice system and with it came a question that has driven everything we do since: what happens to everyone who doesn't have someone fighting for them? That question became us. We started in 2017 with a simple focus which is providing free legal help and representation for people awaiting trial who couldn't afford a lawyer in the over 248 correctional facilities in Nigeria. Since then, we have grown into something bigger than we ever imagined. We are headquartered in Abuja, and with offices in Edo and projects across the 36 states, our work closes the justice gap in Nigeria by challenging wrongful detention, strengthening access to justice, and promoting systemic reform within the criminal justice system. We hold a UN ECOSOC status and we work towards the actualization of Sustainable Development Goals 17, 5, 16 and 1. We are proud of how far we have come, and the impact seen and felt around the country through our advocacies and programs. We have recorded over 3,500,000 hours of pro bono legal services, supported over 12,700 incarcerated indigent individuals, and directly represented over 3,400 pretrial detainees across custodial centers in the country. We have also reached more than 50,000 persons in our preventive messaging, built 5 human rights-focused digital products, and actively partnered with over 50 public and private stakeholders in the justice sector. We are not relenting, as there is so much work to be done, and we move with the reminder that in all of our justice work, human lives are at the center of it all.