Using legal capacity building to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.4: a global case study

The McCabe Centre for Law and Cancer's international legal training programme (ILTP) aims to raise the capacity of government lawyers from low- and middle-income countries to use the law to address noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). We used qualitative data to evaluate impacts of this long-term capacity-building programme to complement tangible impacts, such as law and policy reform found in an earlier evaluation. We undertook 17 interviews with alumni of and stakeholders involved with the ILTP over the period 2014-23. The interviewer conducted semistructured interviews. Two reviewers used inductive content analysis to code the interviews. We found that alumni and stakeholders valued the programme's role in building networks of participants with legal skills relevant to NCDs and in empowering individuals to become champions for NCDs. Interviewees also took a broader view of impact than the completion of individual law and policy reform projects, considering many law and policy changes, regional initiatives, and leadership roles of alumni beyond those formally supported as part of the programme to have been a key impact of the programme. The study highlights the need to invest in NCD legal capacity building and leadership for the long term. We find that building a community of people with the skills, confidence, and commitment to act on NCDs is a key impact of such programmes, in addition to laws and policies developed.