Linking socio-legal theory and justice sector aid

International actors providing justice sector and human rights aid in Africa encounter specific challenges, such as a context of legal pluralism, where state justice is generally weak or distrusted, and of cultural diversity and contextual specificity, with human rights not necessarily being known or considered legitimate by all. Here we analyse how important insights generated by the socio-legal scholarship on these two challenges relate to the practice of legal development actors and can feed into it. The first part examines the main discussions in the field of legal pluralism and the second one in that of humen riths' universalty and cross-contextual application