Vivek Maru is the founder and CEO of Namati, an international network of grassroots legal advocates created in 2011 to protect community lands, enforce environmental law, and secure basic rights to healthcare and citizenship. Namati and its partners have built cadres of grassroots legal advocates, also known as community paralegals, in eight countries and have successfully advocated for the inclusion of access to justice in the new global development framework, the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. From 2003 to 2007, Maru co-founded and co-directed the Sierra Leonean organization Timap for Justice, which has been recognized by the International Crisis Group, Transparency International, and President Jimmy Carter as a pioneering model for delivering justice services in the context of a weak state and a plural legal system. From 2007 to 2011, he served as senior counsel in the Justice Reform Group of the World Bank. His work focused on rule-of-law reform and governance, primarily in West Africa and South Asia.
