Kenyan people came up with this online event last year on a design thinking course of the Kyiv Legal Empowerment Practical Program to popularize their virtual platform for alternative dispute resolution. What useful technical solutions were presented during ADR Week and what did the School demonstrate directly?
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the world that many current solutions to legal problems are in dire need of new technologies for efficient and uninterrupted operations. A number of such tools were demonstrated last week within Alternative Dispute Resolution Week (ADR Week) in Kenya. The main attention was paid to the alternative dispute resolution platform Utatuzi Center, a promotion plan for which was developed during KyivLEPP-2020. It could not be otherwise, since the event was not held on the usual virtual platforms, like Zoom, but directly on the virtual platform for dispute resolution.
Thus, each participant of ADR Week could independently test the Utatuzi Center platform. It is worth noting that the platform has proven itself well – on average, about 200 people joined the discussions and presentations of ADR Week, which took place there, but we did not notice any failures.
14 experts from different countries spoke at ADR Week. Their reports concerned the existing technologies and trends of alternative dispute resolution in the world, educational programs on this topic, the use of alternative dispute resolution in criminal justice. Among the speakers was Kateryna Yeroshenko, head of the Kyiv Legal Empowerment Practical Program. Her speech covered the opportunities provided by KyivLEPP to find innovative people-oriented solutions in different countries.
Thanks to the ADR week, the Utatuzi Center virtual platform became known not only in Kenya, but also in a number of other countries. KyivLEPP graduates do not stop there. There is still much work to do in order to implement their action plan to promote the Utatuzi Center platform, which was created with the help of Sheilat Afolabi, KyivLEPP mentor, project coordinator of the Ukrainian Legal Aid Foundation. We will continue to monitor the success of the team from Kenya, and soon we will definitely tell you about them.
The program is implemented by the Ukrainian School of Practical Knowledge on Access to Justice through the joint creation of colleagues from the Ukrainian Legal Aid Foundation, the Coordination Center for Legal Aid Provision, the Legal Development Network, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Law Club PRAVOKATOR. Kyiv and with the expert and financial support of the Human Rights and Justice Program of the International Renaissance Foundation.