Linda Dumba, Louis B. Sohn Fellow 2007

Linda Dumba is a Namibian lawyer who worked as a project lawyer for the Land Environment and Development Project of the Legal Assistance Center. Among other things, Ms. Dumba litigated on behalf of women and children discriminated against by customary law and practices, and she organized and conducted human rights capacity building workshops with various stakeholder groups on policies and the implementation of court decisions on women's rights to property and inheritance.

Just prior to starting her fellowship at CIEL, Ms. Dumba graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, and was a recipient of the 2006-2007 Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa Fellowship. At CIEL, Ms. Dumba conducted research on a number of topics, including on a potential request to the World Bank Inspection Panel that highlighted violations of the World Bank's Gender and Development Policy as a result of the Integrated Growth Poles Project in Madagascar. Ms. Dumba also conducted research and drafted policy notes on transparency and public participation in the newly established African Court of Human and Peoples Rights and the European Court of Human Rights, and worked towards the development of a case to the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights by looking at the legal status of communal land holding system of the pastoralist Mursi people of the Southern Nations, Nationalities Region of Ethiopia.