The Legal Aid Basket Fund (LABF) is an initiative supported by Development Partners with special interest in the area of Legal Aid Service Provision. LABF is an interim funding arrangement that serves dual purposes of complementing ongoing Justice Law and Order Sector reforms and also seeks to pave way for a sustainable system for provision of legal aid at the national level. In order to achieve its desired objective, LABF supports; the development and implementation of sustainable and affordable models of legal aid service delivery and legal empowerment of the poor; pro-poor advocacy and strategic planning among actors concerned with legal aid.

The creation of LABF was spurred by the findings of the first Legal Aid Baseline Survey in Uganda in May 2004 which was very critical of the state of legal aid service delivery in Uganda including the donor approach to funding. The LABF was thereafter established and became operational at the end of 2004 after the development of its first strategy which targeted interventions at the poorest and most vulnerable groups. The pilot phase ended in December 2006 and a revised strategy was developed for the second phase of 2007 to 2010.

The LABF strategy is informed by the tenets of mainly two frameworks; pillar four on Good Governance under the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP), and the JLOS Sector Investment Plan II, which interalia, seek to enhance access to justice for all, particularly the poor and the marginalised. The LABF strategy is also in tandem with other sector plans, such as the Peace Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) for Northern Uganda, 2007 - 2010 and the Karamoja Integrated Disarmament and Development Programme (KIDDP), 2007/8 – 2009/10. The continued integration of LABF initiatives in the broader Justice Law and Order Sector and other Government of Uganda programmes is a key priority for the LABF which provide a foundation for long term sustainability.

The primary focus of LABF is on supporting effective approaches to legal aid as well as working towards changing the current paradigm on legal aid service delivery that emphasises supporting isolated partners who are dealing with the symptom issues on legal aid as opposed to also addressing the root causes. The LABF approach involves shifting from building un-coordinated institutions to supporting impact oriented programmes that are sustainable in the long run within a coordinated national framework. LABF therefore supports innovative models and programmes of legal aid service provision and also some partners with traditional approaches to legal aid while encouraging the latter to re-orient their organisations towards more critical and systematic approaches of implementing legal aid interventions in Uganda.

Currently, LABF is managed by Danida-HUGGO under the component of Access to Justice and supports various partners that include: implementing CSOs in areas of legal aid service provision, advocacy, legal empowerment and strategic litigation; the legal aid coordinating institution –LASPNET; the Uganda Law Council which is the regulating agency for legal aid; and research projects aimed at developing better models for legal aid service provision in Uganda. An example is the recently concluded study on ‘Options for enhancing Access to Justice and Improving Administration of Law and Order in Karamoja’. The innovative programmes supported by LABF include; the Paralegal Advisory Services (PAS), Justice Centres, Pro bono Pilot Schemes, Public Defence and the discussions towards the development of a National Legal Aid Policy.

The justification for the existence of the LABF is founded on the premise that a long term and sustainable national legal aid system will be developed with appropriate structures that will absorb the functions of the LABF. 

As of 1^st January 2009, the partners contributing to the LABF are Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands and Sweden.