More about Regional Partnership for Legal Empowerment in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Publication date: August 3, 2022

Regional Partnership for Legal Empowerment in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (further – the Partnership) is an informal association of civil society organizations, individuals and organizations, regardless of ownership, that have joined forces to bridge the gap in access to justicу in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The Partnership is a regional anchor of the Legal Empowerment Network – worldwide movement to make people know, use and shape the law.

The Regional Partnership for Legal Empowerment in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (hereinafter – the Regional Partnership) is represented by organizations and activists from 12 countries.

Organizations mainly focus on (1) increasing legal literacy and raising awareness; (2) solving justice problems / providing legal assistance; (3) advocating for improvements of regulations/laws/systems in such areas:

⇒ Labor & Employment,

⇒ Right to Information,

⇒ Women’s Rights,

⇒ Right to Health,

⇒ Disability Rights,

⇒ Family Law.

The organizations’ request for the Regional Partnership for the coming year is mainly related to training and supporting community paralegals / barefoot lawyers / community legal workers. Also, such areas of development were noted as important:

⇒ organizational strengthening (e.g., strategic planning, organizational structure, etc.),

⇒ collection & use of case data,

⇒ financial sustainability.

Within the regional consultations, it is planned to pay special attention to the availability and quality of public services, financing of legal empowerment and access to justice, training, and support of paralegals.

The Regional partnership is open for members to join. To ensure the Regional Partnership’s stable and efficient operation, a core team is formed from the members.

The core team is responsible for (1) planning activities in the region and monitoring the achievement of the set goals; (2) updating the request in relation to the planned activities; (3) involvement of new members of the Regional Partnership; and (4) development of leadership potential. We will discuss the formation of a core team in more detail at meetings.

The representatives of the core team are:

– Vesna Shapkoski (North Macedonia),

– Violetta Odagiu (Moldova),

– Kateryna Yeroshenko (Ukraine),

– Maripa Seidalieva (Kyrgyzstan),

– Zalina Abdulhakova (Kyrgyzstan),

– Almaza Osmanova (Kyrgyzstan),

– Yevgen Poltenko (Ukraine).

The core team acts according to principles:

• treat everyone with respect and equally,
• communicate openly,
• celebrate each other’s accomplishments,
• address conflict as soon as possible,
• be time efficient,
• acknowledge everyone’s work,
• meet goals and deadlines.

Organizations and individuals that work in the field of access to justice and human rights share the mission, vision, and values of the global Legal Empowerment Network can join the Partnership having addressed to the Legal Development Network.

If you have notices an error on the web-site, please, highlight the text and press ctrl-enter.