Building Trust in State through Legal Literacy: An RCT in the Tribal Areas & Frontier Regions of Pakistan

Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas or FATA on the borders with Afghanistan are home to 4.1 million people and cover an area of more than 10 thousand square miles, slightly less than Belgium and larger than Maryland. Population lives in largely rural conurbations interspersed over hostile terrain and adheres to strong tribal affiliations. FATA have been the hotspot of militancy and violence in the last decade. During this time period, ordinary lives have been ravaged by militancy. Counter insurgency operations have been frequently conducted to restore state operations in various jurisdictions. Almost 80,000 troops from Pakistan’s military have been engaged in operations in the area. Air and drone strikes carried out in these areas have been the focus of periodic attention. In an ongoing operation in a southern agency of FATA, nearly 264,000 families have become internally displaced (IDP). Similarly, large numbers have also been internally displaced from Khyber Agency. This evaluation was planned to ascertain the citizen perceptions and trust in FATA’s administrative and legal institutions. It was designed and implemented as a legal literacy intervention in a randomized controlled trial. The key evaluation question was to what extent legal literacy can influence citizen perceptions and trust in the legal system of FATA and will it affect the uptake of opportunity for accessing justice created by FATA Tribunal.