B
NARRATIVE VALUE
Certainty
●●● high
ABCDEFG
There is no confirmed −; independently verified + decide the position (B). No unreachable strike-through.= non-additive meter
As of: 2026-Q4Status: ActiveCeiling reason: No confirmed −
History2026-Q4BHistory grows each quarter
Namati: Making the law usable inside the village. The letter is B; certainty is high. Unconfirmed concerns are placed under “Watching.” (As of 2026-Q4; estimate based on public information.)
Main narrative
The law exists as text, but few people can use it - the lawyer is far away, the language does not carry, the procedure is unknown. From leading Timap for Justice in Sierra Leone, Vivek Maru arrived at a method: put people who can use the law inside the village. He founded Namati in 2011.
At its centre is the "community paralegal": not a lawyer, but a local figure who knows the law and the procedure, negotiates with authorities and companies alongside residents, and connects to litigation where necessary. The issues are land rights, the environment, access to health care, citizenship - the foundations of daily life. The results go beyond individual remedies. In Myanmar the work contributed to recognition of customary land rights for ethnic minorities, in Sierra Leone to the passage of a land and environmental justice law, and in Mozambique to tackling bribery and drug shortages in health care. Through the Grassroots Justice Network it connects more than 4,300 groups in over 185 countries and shares the method.
One person’s story (N1)
+ A single story
From leading Timap for Justice in Sierra Leone, Vivek Maru arrived at a method: put people who can use the law inside the village. Namati, founded in 2011, trains "community paralegals" who are not lawyers but know the law and the procedure and negotiate alongside residents. The results go beyond individual remedies: in Myanmar the work contributed to recognition of customary land rights for ethnic minorities, in Sierra Leone to a land and environmental justice law, and in Mozambique to tackling bribery and drug shortages in health care. Nature of sources: independent (Ford Foundation, encyclopaedic, academic press).
Source nature: Ford Foundation / Namati / T2 industry media and academic. Positive effects are not used to offset negatives.
Positive / negative effects
+ effects
- The positive side of this assessment rests on the single story (N1) above and its source. A per-item ledger of positive effects has not yet been compiled for this organization.T2 industry media and academic
Watching (unconfirmed; not counted in the assessment)- Inconsistent figures for the network and countries
- difficulty attributing legislative change
- safety of paralegals
Looking ahead (not included in the assessment)- Working for formal recognition of paralegal systems and expanding the network.
A second look
Sources disagree on the size of the network (185 or 189 countries) and on how many countries Namati itself works in (six, seven, ten). Separating out how much paralegal work contributed to an outcome is difficult for long processes such as legislative change. The work is exposed to national politics, and the safety of those who carry it out is a question.
Sources
+N1Ford Foundation / Namati｜2026｜🔗
How to read this assessment
A Independently verified +, with no confirmed −
B Leans +, with independent backing
C Mixed. A confirmed − sets the ceiling, or much is unverified
D A serious confirmed − sets the ceiling
E A serious − reaches the core of the organization
F Serious and systemic, with little redeeming +
G Only extreme cases
Out of scope An entity whose core purpose is illegal
On hold Independent evidence is scarce on both + and −
- Reachable upper bound (ceiling): a confirmed − sets the ceiling, and independently verified + decide the position within it. + do not cancel out −.
- The weight of evidence is not symmetric: only confirmed − are counted; the volume of disputes or allegations goes under “Watching.” + are counted from independent evidence, while an organization’s own PR is treated as “reference.”
- Size is not value: scale is not used in the assessment. Matters that stay within money or competition—investors, shareholders, sanctions, trade secrets—are also excluded.
- The letter (assessment) and certainty (how reliable the information is) are separate axes.
This is a translation; the Japanese version is authoritative. The assessments here are generated automatically by AI based on published criteria. The operator does not alter individual results. Because they are AI-generated they may contain errors, and they are opinion and commentary, not statements of fact. Where evidence is insufficient, the entry is marked “On hold.” Requests for correction are accepted via the form.
Terms: Narrative Value = an assessment (A–G) of the distance between the narrative an organization tells and its reality / Ceiling meter = a visualization of the reachable upper bound / Watching = unconfirmed matters not counted / Protected stakeholders = people, animals, nature, and future generations. | Generated by: AI | As of: 2026-Q4 | Back to top