What legal issues would the teams address during the KyivLEPP-2021?
16 different teams from Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania, Togo, Sierra Leone, Ukraine, North Macedonia, Ghana and Kyrgyzstan applied to the Kyiv Practical Legal Capacity Building Program (KyivLEPP-2021) this year. During the last three weeks, program experts conducted video interviews with applicants.
Interviews were dedicated to clarifying the legal problems the teams have addressed to KyivLEPP, to discussing what makes teams’ ideas innnovative or people-centered.
Institutional and intersectoral balance of the group, coherence, motivation, clear formulation of the problem, vision of alternative strategies, gender balance – all of these were among the main criteria for the interview evaluation. Seven teams were selected according to the results of the competition.
Kenya – equal access to documents
People who for some reason do not have passports are unprotected and invisible to the legal system of the country. They cannot officially work, receive medical services and other benefits of civilization. A huge number of people face this problem in different countries. It is very difficult to obtain a passport, ID card and other citizenship documents for the Somali community in Kenya. Therefore, the Kenya team will try to develop a model for solving this legal problem at KyivLEPP-2021.
Kyrgyzstan – the development of the institute of paralegals
The institute of paralegals in Kyrgyzstan existed de facto, but not de jure. Changes in legislation have reduced the impact of this problem, but there is still a need to develop and establish a paralegal network. The team from Kyrgyzstan addressed the challenges of networking, the formation of a community of paralegals and the improvement of the state-guaranteed legal aid system.
Sierra Leone – strengthening the legal capacity of domestic workers
In this country, wealthy families are involving domestic workers for housework. Usually, such work is made without a formal employment contract – that often means small salaries, absence of social security, medical and transport allowances, etc. Sometimes employers commit physical, sexual, emotional and economic violence against their employees. Due to a lack of awareness of their legal rights, services and procedures, most of these violations are not reported, the perpetrators go unpunished, and the range of abuses continues.
Tanzania – protection against gender-based violence
This team raised the issue of violence against women and girls in their country. For Tanzania, the problem of gender-based violence is unfortunately very relevant, especially in rural communities. Moreover, during the lockdown restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of cases of violence increased significantly, schoolgirls were often affected.
North Macedonia – the right to outpatient medical care for people with disabilities
People with disabilities under the age of 26 receive special assistance in North Macedonia. Unfortunately, after reaching this age at least 50% of them do not receive outpatient care and remain outside the support system. Therefore, the team from Northern Macedonia proposes to amend the law and establish precise protocols for institutional care if special assistance is terminated.
Ukraine (1) – legal security for tourists
Nova Kakhovka city territorial community pays great attention to the development of tourism. The team drew attention to the lack of a convenient service of legal assistance to tourists (both Ukrainian and foreigners). The team wanted to include tourists in Nova Kakhovka’s legal aid ecosystem through a legal tech solution.
Ukraine (2) – combination of technical solutions for the availability of legal aid
The team paid attention to the fact that most people in Ukraine do not understand how to protect their rights. Representatives of the team analysed the existing technical solutions in this matter and concluded that each of them covers only a certain group of public requests. So now they aim to create a convenient service based on these solutions.
From December 13 to 17, KyivLEPP-2021 participants will go through a design thinking course to develop their ideas. At the end of the course, their ideas will pass through the crash test. Teams whose ideas successfully pass the crash test will receive mentoring and financial support for ideas’ implementation.
The KyivLEPP is implemented by the Ukrainian Access to Justice School of Practice through the collaboration of colleagues from the Ukrainian Legal Aid Foundation, the Coordination Center on Legal Aid Provision, the Legal Development Network, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the PRAVOKATOR.Kyiv Law Club and the expert and financial support of the Human rights and justice program of the International Renaissance Foundation.