US Department of State Foreign Service Institute

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In this presentation to the Foreign Service Institute at the US Department of State, Senior Research Fellow Karol Boudreaux discussed ways the law can be used to empower the poor and alleviate poverty. Ms. Boudreaux focuses specifically on how the law should try to achieve broad-based empowerment as opposed to narrowly focused benefits. Examples of these kinds of efforts include recognizing customary land rights and delegating authority to manage local concerns. She provides a case study of these ideas in practice by looking at Community-Based Natural Resource Mechanisms (CBNRM) in Namibia.