Sumaiya Islam

Sumaiya Islam is a Senior Policy Officer with the Open Society Justice Initiative, where she focuses on legal empowerment, public financing and access to justice policies. Sumaiya co-leads the Global Legal Empowerment Project. With over 14 years of experience in expanding basic justice services for underserved communities, her areas of professional interest include the use of evidence in policy-making, recognition and supportive policy frameworks for frontline justice actors and using law as an organizing tool.

Islam initiated, developed, and managed legal empowerment projects in several countries across US, Europe, Africa and Asia. She has an MA degree in Conflict Resolution in Divided societies from King’s College London and a BA from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She was a Community Scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2007.

Sumaiya Islam will participate in the following World Justice Forum working sessions:

• Justice and the SDGs: Shaping and Taking Advantage of the Global Review Process
• Frontline Justice Services Providers and Community Paralegals: Elevating the Voice of the Field.