Opportunities and experience of grassroots human rights organizations

Publication date: July 17, 2023

Author: Halyna Kolesnyk, communications manager of the Legal Development Network 

The training and mentoring program created within the framework of the project “Capacity development of local NGOs – legal aid providers in Ukraine”, which is implemented by the Legal Development Network (LDN) with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Ukraine and the Government of Canada, is nearing completion. Over the course of nine months, representatives of relocated civil organizations from Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv oblasts were able to develop internal policies and procedures for their organizations, develop the potential for providing quality legal services, and improve their knowledge and skills. 

“We work with legal aid providers. In this context, one of our main partners is the system of free legal aid. No matter how large and extensive it is, unfortunately, it is not able to provide services to absolutely everyone. Therefore, we work with legal aid providers from civil organizations. This is extremely important because civil organizations operating at the local level know best what the needs are in a particular community. Also, we are all interested in the stable and sustainable development of civil society. Thanks to the synchronization of the state and civil society, we can talk about the sustainable development of the state in general,” says Ivan Honcharuk, a Rule of Law and Access to Justice Specialist Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme United Nations Development Programme

The organizations participating in the project (mentees) were selected on a competitive basis. The training program was developed with a focus on organizational leaders, lawyers, and communication managers. The program is flexible and allows you to respond to the mentees’ and mentors’ needs. Along with training, organizations had the opportunity to consolidate the acquired knowledge and skills and apply them directly in practice. In addition, the participants of the program chose several goals and, with the support of the mentor, implemented them.

“Mentoring is a very interesting and effective tool. Today, the Legal Development Network, through the unique and long-term experience of its member organizations, helps our mentee organizations become stronger and better. Together with the expert mentors of the LDN, we are strengthening their capacity to cover access to justice in response to the large demand for legal aid that we have today,” said Olga Nastina, an executive director of the Legal Development Network.

“Although the mentors are representatives of the member organizations of the Legal Development Network, who have been in this sector for a long time and provide legal services to Ukrainians, they also learn from their mentees’ certain tips that they use in their work. This is the case when both parties get a “win-win” result, experience, and feedback. If you pay attention to global developments, you can see that mentoring is one of the main components of the development of organizations. For example, 84% of the Fortune 500 list of the most influential US organizations use mentoring programs,” says Timur Kanataiev, a project manager of the Legal Development Network and one of the project mentors. 

Both in global practice and in the one implemented within the framework of the project “Capacity development of local NGOs – legal aid providers in Ukraine”, mentees themselves chose their mentor when they saw that his or her skills, knowledge, and experience would be useful for them.

“A mentor is someone who motivates, shares experience but does not decide for the mentees. He/she shows his/her wings behind the back in order not to take mentees under his/her wing, but to show how to feel the power of their own wings and not be afraid to fly up” says Timur Kanataiev.

Strategies for supporting CSOs working in the field of access to justice 

Organizations participating in the project “Capacity development of local NGOs – legal aid providers in Ukraine” were able not only to improve their knowledge and skills in organizational development and the creation of legal services but also to put them into practice within the framework of mini-grant support from the United Nations Development Program in (UNDP ) in Ukraine. Ten of them took advantage of this opportunity. The experience gained helped the organizations to establish the provision of legal aid in their communities and may become the basis of cooperation with the Program in the future. UNDP rule of law and access to justice specialist, Ivan Honcharuk, identified the main aspects that civil organizations should consider when creating and implementing joint projects.

For example, he listed the directions of UNDP activities to improve access to justice:

• conducting studies;
• increasing the capacity of organizations and institutions that provide legal aid and ensure the rule of law;
• support of IT solutions;
• organization of dialogue platforms for finding solutions, exchange of experience, etc.;
• support of grant projects aimed at improving access to justice and the rule of law.

“The first three areas were and will continue to be implemented in partnership with civil organizations within the framework of grant support. The last one is singled out separately, as UNDP can support other initiatives, for example, to provide legal assistance,” says Ivan Honcharuk.

For a better understanding of the challenges in the field of access to justice, a comprehensive study “Legal Aid Availability in the Context of Martial Law” may be useful. It contains last year’s statistics, as well as the results of in-depth interviews with employees of the free legal aid system. Interviewees noted the changes that occurred in the context of war and martial law, challenges and gains, and how the free legal aid system as a whole dealt with them.

UNDP cooperates both individually with the free legal aid system and the system of state judicial administration and civil organizations and in a complex manner. Therefore, initiatives involving such tripartite cooperation are particularly interesting. 

The field of IT solutions is one of the priorities for UNDP support. Here are some examples of their implementation:

• eCourt app
• Your Right app
• Online client’s office of the free legal aid system
• Distance online courses of the free legal aid system

Among the main areas of projects related to courts, the following can be noted:

• improving physical access to justice;
• improving the access of women and men to justice, in particular from vulnerable groups;
• increasing the level of openness of the judiciary at the local level.

Regarding the free legal aid system, it is:

• improving access to free legal aid in remote settlements;
• provision of legal services to vulnerable groups.

“For projects related to the courts and the free legal aid system, it is important to have an element of complexity. It is, of course, impossible to solve all issues at once and for all people. But if there is a specific goal, it would be correct to use a comprehensive approach to solve it,” notes Ivan Honcharuk.

For reference

The project “Capacity development of local NGOs – legal aid providers in Ukraine” is implemented by the Legal Development Network with the support of UNDP within the framework of the UN Peacebuilding and Reconstruction Program with the financial support of the Government of Canada.

The UN Reconstruction and Peacebuilding Program (UN RPP) is implemented by four UN agencies: the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Framework for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and the United Nations Agricultural Organization (FAO).

The program is supported by twelve international partners: the European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the US Embassy in Ukraine, as well as the governments of Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland.

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