(TANLAP) is an umbrella national network working in legal sector. It is a membership network comprising Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Community–Based Organizations (CBOs), Faith Based Organizations (FBOs) and other institutions providing legal aid in Tanzania. Founded in 2006, TANLAP’s core aim is to work and link up with other Civil Society Organizations provide quality legal aid and advocate for access to justice among the poor and marginalized sections of society in Tanzania. TANLAP is registered under the NGO Act, 2002 and granted a certificate No. 00NGO/R1/00990 (previously certificate of compliance No. 1300). TANLAP membership is open to any organization/institution providing legal aid services in Tanzania and to any Network Organization whose members provide legal aid services in Tanzania. TANLAP members operate in all regions of Tanzania Mainland.

TANLAP’s conception dates back from December 2006, where at Peacock Hotel in Dar es Salaam, more than 12 Legal Aid Providing Organizations meeting for a workshop on Improving the Rule of Law and Access to Justice in Tanzania, (organized by Women in Law and Development in Africa, [WiLDAF] and funded by the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) through USAID Tanzania), unanimously decided to unite their efforts on providing legal aid by forming a National Network of Legal Aid Service Providers

TANLAP was established following realization of the need to have an active and independent network of legal aid providers to build the capacity of legal aid providers, to harmonize legal aid services and ethical conducts of legal aid providers and to have a collective forum for participation in policies and law reforms.

The founding members of the Network comprised the following: The Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT); the Disabled Organization for Legal Affairs and Social Economic Development (DOLASED); Lawyers Environmental Action Tanzania (LEAT); Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC); Tanzania Women Lawyers Association (TAWLA); Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF); Women’s Legal Aid Centre (WLAC); and the National Organization for Legal Assistance (NOLA).