About Platform for Social Justice

Our History
PSJ started in March 2007, as a community human rights initiative offering free legal services to those persons charged with serious offences and was registered in 2009 as a fully fledged NGO. This mandate was however changed after conducting a Baseline survey of the communities we visited.
Their needs were simply beyond legal redress thus the need to expand our mandate to include social justice for marginalized persons and foster sustainable economic justice.

Vision
“Empowering Rural Communities in social justice systems.”

Mission Statement
To Advocate for the rights of marginalized persons and foster sustainable justice in rural communities.

Teamwork
In order for PSJ to execute her duties the co-operation of staff members is critical in the realization of that objective. To accomplish this value PSJ will ensure:
Staff members work as a team
There is no promotion of individualism at the expense of the greater work

Integrity
Integrity is at the core of achieving PSJ mission, and ensures PSJ makes effective use of time, money and resources. It means PSJ is:
Open, honest and straightforward in all her dealings.
Reliable, consistent and transparent in actions and decisions.
Accountable to all stakeholders and takes collective responsibility for all actions.
Constantly strives against conflict of interest in order to uphold her credibility.

Professionalism
PSJ will abide by principles of professional conduct, showing respect for the public and each other through these initiatives:
Demonstrate a high standard of excellence, skill and ability in the execution of her work in order to provide quality services.
Listen to clients and use feedback to improve our services
Be committed to developing the expertise and knowledge of staff in promoting administrative justice, the rule of law and good governance.
Be rigorous, competent and efficient in dealings with all stakeholders
Exercise utmost confidentiality and discretion in the administration of all duties.

Transparency
Overall objective
To promote speedy and fair access to justice to marginalized groups in Uganda.
Strategic Objectives
Deepen public awareness on access to Justice Systems and mainstream citizen Participation in lobbying and advocacy for rights of marginalized groups.
Promote economic justice for socially deprived persons in rural communities

Equity
PSJ Recruits and retaining membership, leadership and staff who reflect the diversity of the communities in which it serves; We provide educational and professional development programs, research, publications, and policy positions that are relevant and culturally competent; PSJ promotes and encourage all members and the greater dance community to be knowledgeable and sensitive to issues of diversity, equity and inclusion;
Finally we act as a leading voice in the grass root community for the recognition of the challenges to diversity, equity and inclusion; and providing a platform for the honest and open exploration of paths towards a truly inclusive community.

Why We are Here
We believe that justice is an inherent right and not given but a must and the contrary is a violation of human rights, living in social exclusion is a total violation of human right and all citizens are entitled to a life of dignity and must be happy.
We believe that injustice arises from unequal power relations of political, social or economical at various levels of our society.
We have often seen how traditions and practices, the state and the family often perpetuate economic, social and political inequality and injustice through exclusion, exploitation, patriarchy, and other forms of discrimination.
We seek to end injustice by strong networks and partnerships of human rights defenders, led by vulnerable people themselves and we shall actively participate in campaigns that address the structural causes of injustices.

Theory of Change
Constructive and evidence based engagement with the policy makers and other human rights stakeholders for policy influencing is facilitated by empowering and educating less privileged people, especially women, youth and children, to challenge power barriers and negotiate their strategic interests/ priorities to end structural causes of injustice and socio-economic exclusion, so that they can enjoy life of dignity.
This theory of change is informed by our context, the experience we have built over the past years in areas of promoting justice and by this we believe that supporting women and youth to be at the center of change is the only solution to sustainable justice and respect to human rights by the state.