On December 10, 2022, Hope Behind Bars Africa (HBBA), Nigeria’s fastest-growing social enterprise that is closing the justice gap using legal aid, policy advocacy, and technology, won a $25,000 grand prize at the Unleash Plus Dragons’ Den held in Mysore, India. HBBA won this prize after completing a 6-month incubation at the Unleash Plus Incubation Program, where its founder, Funke Adeoye, unveiled “Justicepadi”, HBBA’s new tech solution built to provide an infrastructure for pro bono legal service providers.

Recall that Unleash Plus is a 6-month incubation program for young global entrepreneurs working on solutions contributing to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 2022 cohort commenced with 86 teams leading diverse social ventures from across the world, after which the top 27, including the Hope Behind Bars Team, proceeded to the on-site boot camp in India. Subsequently, HBBA emerged as the overall winner from the final shortlist consisting of 11 teams.

While speaking about the milestone, Funke Adeoye, HBBA’s Founder, expressed her gratitude to the Unleash Plus team and HCL Foundation, reiterating why HBBA is taking the next leap in providing indigent Nigerians with pro Bono legal services by building “JusticePadi.”

“Statistics show that 7 out of 10 incarcerated people in Nigeria are awaiting trial. Some have stayed in prison for up to 25 years despite being wrongfully imprisoned because they cannot afford the 3 Bs- bail, bribe, and barrister. The platform, which will be deployed first in the Largest city in Africa, Lagos, is West Africa’s first digital infrastructure for pro bono legal service and is set to save 1 Million years of jail time spent in wrongful detention by 2032 and billions of tax-payers money spent maintaining innocent persons in prison.” Adeoye said.

In the last 6 years, Hope Behind Bars Africa has supported 7,000+ incarcerated persons by providing them access to legal & justice services, rehabilitation programs, and welfare and reintegration needs. Likewise, its network of 200+ lawyers has logged over 700,000 hours in pro bono time, which has helped cut time spent awaiting trial by 50%.

“It is always a pleasure to see people recognize our work within the ecosystem. I am grateful for this award, and the team cannot wait to see how we scale our services using the JusticePadi Platform. Nigeria’s criminal justice system requires urgent reforms, and there are laudable laws in place to create these reforms, all that needs to be done is for the right systems and structures to be in place for implementing these laws. We are co-building with all relevant stakeholders to create this system change.

HBBA is committed to its mandate and therefore urges the media, CSOs, and Nigerians, especially everyone who needs free legal services, to leverage the new platform and its resources once they are deployed.

Signed
Zakari Emmanuel
Communications Lead.
Contact: +2349063076943 | [email protected]