Access to Justice.
for social transformation
Justice can often elude those
who are most vulnerable.
CSJ started in 1993, when people's problems at the local level were misunderstood or unaddressed by lawyers working for change-making. We work at the grassroots to understand social realities, identify hurdles, and ensure implementations of laws to create social transformation through law, and to use our gained insights to influence nation-wide change-making.
2025
2024
2023
How we work
Power to the most vulnerable
Change is led best by those who understand their vulnerability. Our teams operate from a network of law centres with leadership from within the community.
Access to Justice, but make it holistic
We use law as a lens to social problems to address the causes of injustices directly, connecting everything from village to policy.
Move beyond litigation
More than litigation support and community outreach, our centres become nodes that cultivate a holistic conception of justice beyond rights, that includes peace.
A blend of
Pedagogy and Law
Brazilian philosopher Paulo Friere’s work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed inspires CSJ’s work. His alternative model of teaching does not treat students as “vessels” to be filled, but treats the teacher and student both as critical thinkers solving problems together, and both learning in the process. Critical thinking through reflection is key for the vulnerable to become capable to struggle for justice, which traditional education does not do.
Inspired by this reformulation to create freedom for the marginalised, CSJ has successfully blended pedagogy and law through grassroots-level work to directly empower those who are vulnerable to lead the change. Our approach in designing all its trainings and programmes rests on this.
Objectives
Our Le... Awards
Outreach and Network Building
Till Now: Training Staff
2007
Right to Food campaign
Sustainable Development Goals
Prison Reforms
Innovations and pioneering programs
Access to Legal Services through Legal Services Authorities
Disaster Response
Our Board of Directors
for steering, strategizing
and accountability
Mr. Rajendra Joshi
Rajendra Joshi is the founder Managing Trustee of SAATH, which works with the vulnerable communities and empowers the socially marginalized by providing them livelihood linkages, imparting skills leading to employment, health and education facilities.
Mr. Jacob John
Jacob is the Chair of CSJ and a co-founder of Aline Partners responsible for developing an Ecosystems approach in the food, nutrition, and agriculture spaces. He previously led the Impact Function at the Azim Premji Foundation.
Ms. Gatha
Gatha has worked with CSJ since 2020 in grassroot level field-based research on law and policy issues. She is a graduate from National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata.
Mr. Arjun Kapoor
Arjun is a Program Director and Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Mental Health and Policy, Pune. He is trained in both, the law and psychology, and has worked as a law clerk to the Supreme Court of India and co-leads the India Mental Health Observatory, Outlive and ENGAGE, suicide prevention programmes.
Ms. Maja Daruwala
Maja Daruwala, a barrister from Lincoln's Inn, has been working for social justice for over 40 years. Her special interests lie in civil liberties, gender equality, systems reform, rule of law, accountability, promoting access to information, and Access to Justice.
Professor Krishna Deva Rao
Professor Srikrishna Deva Rao is a teacher and scholar in criminal law and access to justice. He is currently Vice Chancellor, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad. Before joining NALSAR he was VC of NLU Delhi for two years and also served as VC of NLU Odisha for six years.
Ms. Nupur
Nupur is the Managing Trustee of CSJ and has been involved in access to justice work since 1993.
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