
On 3-4 April 2017, a session of the working group on piloting model programmes of legal aid in the regions took place in Kyiv. The event was organized by the Coordination Center for Legal Aid Provision with the support of the Quality and Accessible Legal Aid Project and the International Renaissance Foundation; it continues the joint work on searching possibilities to engage internal capacities of local budgets for legal empowerment of territorial communities.
During these two days, the working group participants worked on the planning and preparation of a pilot research of the legal needs of territorial communities. It is supposed to result in the development, implementation, and support of targeted local programmes of legal aid aimed at addressing specific legal issues of the territorial community residents participating in the research.
There were representatives of non-governmental organizations, specialists of local FSLA centres and heads of local self-government bodies, deputies of amalgamated territorial communities from the regions of Ukraine, experts of the Quality and Accessible Legal Aid in Ukraine Project, International Renaissance Foundation, staff of the Coordination Center for Legal Aid Provision among the meeting participant (view the list of the meeting participants).
On April 3, the working group participants reviewed the presentation of community legal issues and criteria of their selection by citizens, rated the issues in each community and determined tools to research community problems, as well as discussed case studies of cooperation within the community based on the study of community needs.
On 4 April, when working in groups, the participants outlined a range of issues, to be considered during elaboration of tools for the research of legal needs within communities; they also discussed methods which can be applied during the research, selected main target audiences and locations for research, as well as planned their activities within the communities in the near future.
This is not the first meeting of this kind. For instance, the working group participants summarized positive experience in the development, support, and adoption of regional/local programmes of free legal aid provision in October last year; they designed the first version of the draft model programme and respective methodological recommendations for bodies of local self-government. This work was preceded by a two-day workshop on the development of such programmes and providing bodies of local self-government with methodological assistance in the field of legal aid, which took place in Kyiv last June.
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