Between 2005 and 2008, Mr. de Soto co-chaired –with former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright– this initiative to mobilize the international community toward a new paradigm for development that focuses more on looking at poverty “from the perspective of the poor” and giving them the kinds of legal tools that will allow them to gain access to the market in order to improve their lives and the economies of their nations.

The Commission –whose members included more than 20 world leaders– published its final report in 2008 (“Making the Law Work for Everyone”). Its recommendations quickly became part of the agenda of United Nations and the African Union. “Legal Empowerment” is now the development world’s latest buzzword. At its center is the ILD’s thesis about the importance of institutional reform to eradicating poverty in the developing world, along with our recommendations for how to proceed.