{"id":12070,"date":"2022-02-17T18:19:52","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T16:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/?post_type=event&p=12070"},"modified":"2022-02-18T10:26:46","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T08:26:46","slug":"legal-development-network-presents-the-studying-the-legal-needs-of-the-community-guide","status":"publish","type":"event","link":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/event\/legal-development-network-presents-the-studying-the-legal-needs-of-the-community-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal Development Network Presents the Studying the Legal Needs of the Community Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by: Halyna Kolesnyk, the Communications Manager of\nthe Legal Development Network<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of October, 2021, the experts of the Legal\nDevelopment Network presented the practical <\/strong>Studying the Legal\nNeeds of the Community<\/strong><\/a> Guide in\nZaporizhzhia.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resource was presented at the final conference of the project dedicated to improvement of access to justice of the rural communities in the East of Ukraine<\/a>, which was implemented by a member organization of the Legal Development Network, Strategies and Technologies for Effective Partnership (STEP). The STEP representatives were among the pioneers of the Human Rights Friendly Community Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Results of<\/em> The Human Rights Friendly Community Program<\/em> in 2019-2021<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guidel include their experience as well as experience of the other organizations<\/a>, which studied and implemented their solutions to improve the access to justice in seventeen communities of twelve Ukrainian regions during three waves of the program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
Photo: Vitalii Okhrimenko<\/strong>, Programme Manager of the Legal Development Network. Photo: Kateryna Klochko<\/strong><\/em>. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vitalii Okhrimenko<\/strong>, the Programme Manager of the Legal\nDevelopment Network and Expert of the Human Rights Friendly Community Program,\nexplains why they have managed to develop the Studying the Legal Needs of the\nCommunity guide,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe tried making the guide after the first year, but we were not sure that each section had stood the test of time. We wanted to fill it with the real examples, especially successful ones: successful study design and program, advice that is efficient in small settlements. We considerably improved the program method year by year, and we now have the essence of practical experience: how to draw samples based on the limited data; how to train interviewers from among the community members, and how to organize their work; how to analyse the data without an external expert, and how to make solution implementation road maps based on this analysis. The synergy of the experience gained during our work with the communities helped draft the guide with specific examples. Now any active and motivated community can use these guide for significant progress in the development of its local eco-systems for access to justice.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: Yevgen Poltenko<\/strong>, the Executive Director of the Legal Development Network. Photo: Kateryna Klochko<\/strong><\/em>. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experience of the\nHuman Rights Friendly Community Program is unique because it involves the\nparticipation approach during the study. It has been mentioned by Yevgen Poltenko<\/strong><\/a>, the Executive Director\nof the Legal Development Network,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor the last three years, the approach to the community study strategies has considerably changed in the context of the concept of expertise: who an expert is and what values are a basis for studies. The study process used to require external experts, but the paradigm is changing. The stakeholders\u2019 representatives are becoming co-researchers and take part in decision making during the study, from the formation of the question to be answered by the study to the interpretation of the study findings. The Human Rights Friendly Community Program creates the space for the collaborative study process where researchers are initiative groups in the community that become agents of reasonable changes rather than try to adapt the community needs to the existing services.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
Photo: Roman Romanov,<\/strong> Director of the Human Rights and Justice Programme of the <\/em>International Renaissance Foundation<\/em><\/a>, which support has made it possible to publish the guide. Photo: Kateryna Klochko<\/strong><\/em>. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLegal aid seems to be an eternal process with no beginning\nor end. This idea often limits attention to challenges and suspends search for\nsolutions by the entities with the program planning principle framework. The\nguide offers the solution as to search for the tools and determination of the\nindicators of success that enable the translation of the language of challenges\ninto the language of solutions, which is of great value,\u201d <\/em>emphasizes Roman Romanov<\/strong>, the Director of the\nHuman Rights and Justice Programme of the International Renaissance Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Guide<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Access to justice is\nactually the immune system of society. It is supposed to help resolve the\nexisting issues, prevent complications, and avoid the occurrence of new issues\nof prejudice both to a specific person and the community or entire society.\nDetailed understanding of the actual access to justice is a determinant factor\nin the resolution of the legal issues and satisfaction of the legal needs of\nthe community residents. In its turn, it helps develop efficient national and\nlocal strategies and policies, efficient interference programs and smart models\nto finance the justice system. It is described in more detail in the first\nsection of the guidel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following parts of the\nguidelines are of applied nature. They describe the establishment of the study\ngroup, planning of the study and sources of data, public surveys, more focused\nand in-depth studies, processing of the data obtained, selection of tools to\ninfluence the identified issues, and advocacy of implementation of the\nsolutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last part of the guide\ncontains specific examples of elements of the study program and references to\nuseful resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Studying the Legal\nNeeds of the Community Guide will be of special use to all those in need of\nreliable data on legal issues of people and interested in the study and most\nefficient resolution thereof:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 community leaders<\/strong> \u2013 taking efficient decisions for the benefit of\nthe community;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 representatives of the civil society<\/strong> \u2013 running advocacy campaigns\nor engaging resources to resolve the issues;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 representatives of the free legal aid system and human rights defenders<\/strong>\n\u2013 improving the ability to identify legal needs and challenges in the\ncommunity;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 leaders of the justice system<\/strong> \u2013 developing and implementing the\npolicy with the priority people-centered approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guide helps obtain data\non people’s legal needs and challenges, have sufficient tools to resolve legal\nissues, and develop and implement strategies to create the local eco-systems of\naccess to justice. The experts<\/strong> of\nthe Legal Development Network believe that this is the only way to obtain real\njustice for all. The Studying the Legal Needs of the Community Guide are an\napplied tool to expand the opportunities to develop human rights friendly\ncommunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*The eco-system for access to justice<\/strong> at the level of the territorial community means the infrastructure available in the community to resolve the legal issues. Legal support in resolution of legal issues of the community residents can be provided by: municipal institutions and organisations (within their competence, including legal units, housing and utility and urban development, education, social service, medical service and culture units, village elders; administrative service centres, etc.); central and local authorities (within their competence); specialised civil society organisations; governmental free legal aid centres (where there is an office in the area, during mobile visits). Moreover, the community can have additional elements of the infrastructure to resolve legal issues, which can provisionally include the following institutions and their experts: municipal institutions, agencies and enterprises (for instance, in the area of educational, social and health care services); theNational Police officers (namely, police officers of the community (if any)); staff of the cultural centers and libraries.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

P.S.<\/em> The training and\npractical Human Rights Friendly Community Programme has been implemented by the\n<\/em>UA2J School of Practice<\/em><\/a> since 2019 based on the network of legal clubs <\/em>#PRAVOKATOR<\/em><\/a>, with the support of <\/em>Coordination\nCentre for Legal Aid Provision<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>International Renaissance Foundation<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>Ukrainian Legal\nAid Foundation<\/em><\/a>, partner organisations\nand institutions, and is administered by the Legal Development Network.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The material represents the opinion of the authors and does\nnot necessarily coincide with the stance of the International Renaissance\nFoundation.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by: Halyna Kolesnyk, the Communications Manager of the Legal Development Network. At the end of October, 2021, the experts of the Legal Development Network presented the practical Studying the Legal Needs of the Community Guide in Zaporizhzhia. The resource…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":11395,"template":"","project":[],"section":[],"event-type":[],"region":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/12070"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/event"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/12070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12080,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event\/12070\/revisions\/12080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project?post=12070"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=12070"},{"taxonomy":"event-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event-type?post=12070"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=12070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}