Access to Justice Pilot Project Rajanpur

Project Title

Improving Access to Justice through streamlining the role of Community Resource Persons and involvement of community institutions

Project objectives

Improving general public’s access to justice by;

- Creating an effective and trained cadre of “Access to Justice - Community Resource Persons” at Union Council Level - To aware and train the poor and marginalized communities through “Access to Justice - Community Resource Persons” to make them able to seek justice - Institutionalizing the approach “access to justice” through Local Support Organizations by conducting awareness walks, Seminars and public dialogue/broad based meetings. - Conducting UC baseline survey and impact assessment through Local Support Organizations - Launching awareness campaign on radio - Development and dissemination of Information Education Communication (IEC) Material for public awareness

Partner Responsibilities:

Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) in partnership with Peace & Justice Network (PJN) and British Council with the technical guidance from Law & Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP) is initiating 6 months “Access to Justice” pilot project in District Rajanpur from 1^st January till 30^th June, 2017. The project aims to promote legal empowerment and support public grievance redress in order to reduce legal exclusion.

Following are the key responsibilities of each institution under the program design:

• LJCP’s Role: LJCP is responsible for providing technical facilitation for capacity building (to PPAF, Paralegal CRPs and Partners Staff) at ground level, development of training material and training module/ session plan, help out in finalization of IEC material, awareness campaigns, baseline survey, impact assessment and provide facilitation in PJN link establishment with local justice institutions at district level.
• British Council Role: British Council will support the project by arranging trainings and sessions to educate the people with respect to civic sense and their fundamental rights.
• PPAF Role: PPAF is responsible for financial, physical management, selection of Paralegal CRPs, documentation, data collection, coordination with Partners and community organizations, follow-up, supervision and monitoring.
• Peace & Justice Network (PJN) Role: PJN is responsible for creation of justice counters at community level by active engagement of Civil Society. Development of legal empowerment training manual and providing Training to Paralegal Master Trainers. Establishing Rights Safety Net Mechanism through PJN Network and Referral Mechanism with the support of LJCP. Coordinate with PPAF CRPs for compliment redressal data management as well as to provide post training guidance to them.

 It is hoped that the legal empowerment will grow and enhance access to justice for the marginalized and vulnerable by creating “a safety net” of rights-based civil society organizations in partnership with local justice sector organizations to provide effective support to those who are otherwise unable to assert their rights and claim their entitlements. 

Project Area

As a pilot, 05 UCs (20 UCs total) are proposed to be selected proportionally from each province based on the existing strength and quality of community institutions. Furthermore below would be the selection points of target UCs;

 Difficult geographical terrain thereby contributing to the inaccessibility of the locals to formal justice services;  Low literacy, high crime rate, predominantly rural set up, and weak governance as compared to other UCs;  Acceptance among the communities regarding different project activities and keeping in view the gender sensitivity element as well.

Project Beneficiaries

Type of beneficiary Per UC Total UCs Men Women Total Participants – awareness and capacity building (CRPs and communities) 1200 20 12,000 12,000 24,000

Traing Manual for Community Paralegals:

Trainign Manual developed under the program by PJN based on National Community Paralegal Manual and British Council Active Citizen Program. 

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