Does your organization provide community-based paralegal services? Are you interested in learning from the experiences of others to address common challenges? Do you want to know more about the impact your program is having, and how to improve on it?
The Open Society Justice Initiative, TIFA Foundation, Namati, and the Indonesian Legal Resource Center (ILRC) are bringing together legal empowerment practitioners from across Southeast Asia to a Regional Workshop for Community-Based Paralegal Programs.
The meeting will provide a space for NGO leaders and senior program managers to learn from each other about the breadth of legal empowerment methods employed in the region and methods for improving them. It will also offer participants an opportunity to explore their own monitoring and evaluation plans with some of the world’s leading experts in measuring the impact of legal empowerment.
The meeting will take place in Jakarta, Indonesia, for two days on November 6 and 7, 2012.
Simultaneous translation in Baha Indonesian, Chinese and Thai will be provided.
Participation is free to participants. Meeting organizers will cover reasonable travel expenses for successful applicants to attend and participate in the meeting.
Due to place restrictions, there will be maximum one person per organisation supported to attend.
Applicants must be directly involved in managing the operation of a legal empowerment program which has a direct and sustained relationship with communities at the grassroots level;
Must build the capacity of community members to understand laws or government processes, and to exercise their rights using community-based paralegals, whether paid or volunteers;
All applicants must be Southeast Asia-based. Countries include: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, China, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea and Brunei. If your country is not included in this, but you would still like to participate, please contact us directly and we will let you know whether your application can be considered.
Across Southeast Asia, community-based paralegals are using their training in law, alternative dispute resolution, community activism, government procedures, and advocacy to make law and public institutions work for people. Paralegal models vary widely—for example, some operate autonomously, while others are connected to networks of public interest lawyers. Some mobilize unpaid volunteers, while others rely on salaried professionals. Despite this diversity, we have found that all community-based paralegal programs have much to gain from reflecting upon and sharing their own experiences and learning from those of others.
This event provides a space for NGO leaders and program managers working directly with paralegals, operating in Southeast Asia, to learn from each other in a variety of areas including:
- The challenges of using legal empowerment to empower people across the region
- How programmes work with marginalized groups
- Practical tips in managing paralegal programmes
- Scaling up services and government support
You’ll also have the chance to hear about the latest methodologies used in the field to monitor and evaluate programmes, and have one-on-one detailed advice from experts on the most suitable approach for your own needs. By the end of the workshop, you will come away with concrete plans for understanding and documenting the impact of your work.
Likely types of M&E techniques to be showcased include:
- How M&E can be used to learn and inform programming
- Designing and managing a case management system
- Designing and using a case database
- Household surveys
- Using case tracking to evaluate impact
- Peer-review monitoring systems
- Designing a system for gathering and analyzing client feedback
- Ethnographic evaluations
- Drafting case studies
We’re also keen to learn about innovative approaches to evaluating legal empowerment work, and look forward to hearing what tools you’ve already been using.
Participants will be expected to come armed with ideas and to work hard on their own M&E plans throughout the two days.