Learning Exchange: Paralegal Program Development in South Africa

“The Namati Learning Exchange Program is such a powerful program that one could never miss. I learned various community empowerment techniques, community engagement techniques, sustainability and various methods to access justice and rights. As a learning exchange participant, I was able to identify a unique perspective of legal empowerment approaches to bring back to my office and added value to my work.”
Nondo Nobel Bwami
Asylum Access, Tanzania

 

“My visit to the community advice centers based in Limpopo and Gauteng provinces in South Africa made me realize the effectiveness and the importance of the work paralegals do to address the societal, economic and political challenges that communities face around them. The paralegal’s giving testimonies of the voluntary work, the commitment to deliver justice and the desire to bring happiness to a client’s face is what drives the volunteer paralegals to report to their offices every day.”
Faith Ochieng
Kituo Cha Sheria, Kenya

 

“The Namati exchange was an intensive class where I learnt a lot of things in short time! My thanks go to Namati team and its partners for opportunity offered to me to learn new things and be able to work for promotion and sustainability of paralegals work in great lakes region.”  
Juves Tchiamala
Lawyers of Hope, Rwanda

The first learning exchange was held in April 2015 and hosted by the National Alliance for the Development of Community Advice Offices (Nadcao), based in Johannesburg, South Africa. The three Network members who participated were from the organizations Lawyers of Hope Rwanda, Asylum Access Tanzania and Kituo cha Sheria (Legal Advice Centre) in Kenya.

Exchange participants with Nadcao and Namati staff outside of the Mandela House
Discussion with paralegal ‘Bricks’ Mokolo of the Orange Farm Human Rights Advice Center
A paralegal standing outside of the Orange Farm Human Rights Advice Center office
Meeting with the head paralegal of Thusang Morwalo community advice office, which translates as: “To make your burdens lighter”
Discussing the Black Sash Community Monitoring and Advocacy project at the Thusang Morwalo advice office
The lead paralegal of the Thusang Morwalo advice office explaining the issues the office commonly addresses in their community
Tchiamala and Faith analyzing case management forms at the Ntsu community advice office
Exchange participants during an interview with paralegals at the Ntsu advice office and the president of ACAOSA, the national paralegal body in South Africa
A group photo with the Foundation for Human Rights after a discussion about the history, successes and challenges of the paralegal movement in South Africa
Nondo speaking about client intake and case management with Nadcao staff member Sinazo and paralegals of the Messina advice office on the Zimbabwe border
The exchange participants (from left to right): Nondo Nobel Bwami of Tanzania, Faith Ochieng of Kenya, and Juves Tchiamala of Rwanda

The participants accompanied Nadcao staff on site visits to interview paralegals in eight community advice offices and held in-depth discussions with national legal aid groups, research institutes, legal advocacy organizations and donors to discuss the history, development and experience of community paralegals across South Africa. The conversations covered a wide range of topics, from details of case management to building trust within the local community; participants compared advocacy strategies and shared notes on the challenges of paralegal retention. Based on these discussions and direct observation, all of the participants developed work plans in order to translate what they learned into practice within the communities where they work.

For more information about our learning exchanges, please contact exchanges@namati.org, or visit the learning exchange page here.