1 September 2026 — The Hague / Abuja. The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL), in collaboration with the Templeton Religious Trust, has launched Faith in Justice: Mobilising Religious Leaders to Close the Justice Gap, an 18-month project that will explore how trusted faith leaders can lead locally-led and evidence-based approaches to solving everyday justice problems and strengthen the pathways communities use in accessing fairer, more effective and rights-conscious justice.
Working in collaboration with faith leaders
For many people, the first place they turn when facing a dispute is not a court or a lawyer. It may be a pastor, imam, or other trusted faith or religious figures. In many communities, these leaders are already helping people navigate family disputes, land conflicts, debt, domestic violence and other challenges. This is particularly relevant in Nigeria, where HiiL’s Justice Needs and Satisfaction research shows that more than 90% of people experienced at least one justice problem over a four-year period. Yet many people face significant barriers to accessing formal justice, like cost, distance and complexity. Community-based pathways can be more accessible, but they do not always provide durable solutions or sufficient protection for people whose rights are at risk. The project, Faith in Justice puts faith leaders at the heart of finding better justice solutions.. Rather than introducing an externally designed model, the project will work alongside faith leaders and their communities to understand how justice is already experienced and navigated, identify what is working and where challenges remain, and co-create approaches that respond to local priorities and needs.
From trust to better justice outcomes
The project will commence in Abuja with a Political Economy and Institutional Context Analysis, helping partners understand the relationships, incentives, power dynamics and legal frameworks shaping faith-based engagement.
Faith leaders will work alongside community representatives, women and youth, Civil Society Organisations and formal justice institutions to map how people currently seek help when they experience a justice problem. Together, they will identify where people encounter barriers, where community-based approaches can play a constructive role, and where stronger connections with formal justice institutions are needed. These conversations will inform the development of a Faith in Justice training curriculum, co-created with participating religious leaders and tailored to the realities of their communities. It will focus on practical skills including mediation and negotiation, restorative dialogue, human rights awareness, safeguarding and appropriate referral to formal justice institutions.
Building a model that can be scaled and replicated
The Abuja pilot is designed not simply as a standalone intervention, but as a proof of concept. Over 18 months, the project will produce an implementation roadmap, a replication-ready business plan and a modular training curriculum. These outputs will capture what works, what needs to be adapted to different contexts, and the safeguards required for responsible replication across Nigeria and potentially beyond. At its heart, Faith in Justice is about recognising the important role that trusted religious leaders already play in helping people navigate conflict and injustice, and working with them to strengthen what communities are already doing.
By bringing together faith leaders, communities, civil society and formal justice institutions, the project aims to explore how locally led solutions can help close the justice gap and ensure that more people can find fair, safe and lasting pathways to resolution.
