Summer is time of vacation but not for everyone. The participants of the Legally Empowered Community training practical program do realise how significant their contribution is in the pandemic time. That is why the teams that represent 9 communities from 8 regions of Ukraine keep going to their aim – improvement of access to justice for their compatriots.
This year program members have just recently been qualified and we personally met them during the event on 19th-20th June. That time teams met in Kyiv where in PRAVOKATOR Legal Club they had a practical workshop to sharpen their skills in every aspect of researching law demands of the community residents. Let us take a brief look at this event.
Upon their return to the communities, participants had a lot of work done. Teams of amalgamated territorial communities in Voznesensk (Mykolaiv region), Berezanka (Mykolaiv region), Zelenodolsk (Dnipropetrivsk region), Uzyn (Kyiv region), and Chervona Sloboda (Cherkasy region) have improved their programs on research of legal needs of community residents during July.
Vitalii Okhrimenko, Program Expert who coordinates research in Zelenodolsk and Berezanka communities tells about success of his advisees:
“We keep working with the groups to look for the best ways of interaction with the communities. It is significant to us to help the teams in obtaining valid research findings.
I am pleased to work with such proactive teams each of which has own strengths. For example, Zelenodolsk team highly observes the time. We have already conducted two mentor sessions and considered every expert comment, drawn up a questionnaire and now are ready for pre-testing.
The Berezanka team is also hard working and longs for additional information consuming it in huge amounts, accordingly. The mentor session lasted almost 4 hours. Now we are developing the concept and the questionnaire. The team’s strength is support they have from governmental institutions in the form of statistical data regarding the vulnerable categories of population. The group has also agreed on the support by the local social service in conducting the research.”
The Voznesensk team that is going to explore levels of knowledge and skills of the local school youth required for protection of their rights has further developed the guides (conduct schedules) for the focus groups of parents, pupils, and teachers. The Uzyn team is preparing to discover urgent legal and safety problems of the community residents; they have developed a questionnaire and assigned interviewers. The Chervona Sloboda team also managed to engage volunteers who after been properly trained will conduct as interviewers a field stage of research aimed to discover barriers in access to legal aid and ways to overcome the same.
Kateryna Yeroshenko, Program Expert told about successes of the Uzyn team:
“I cooperate with the team that conducts research in Uzym ATC. We have substantially advanced in training. For the time being, the team has drawn up the research program, developed and pre-tested the questionnaire. We have been assisted a lot by the Program Expert, Maryna Shpiker with the questionnaire. I am pleased to work with the team that is striving to obtain valid and reliable research findings to help the community.”
Maryna Shpiker tells about achievements of the teams she cooperates with as mentor:
“It is exciting to work with Voznesensk since they have chosen a demanding topic for research which concerns violation of rights of juveniles. It is a certain challenge. We keep searching for the right format which would give the deepest analysis of the situation in this issue.
The second community I cooperate with is Chervona Sloboda. In this community I personally appreciate the team’s endeavour to be realistic in assessment of own abilities based on their previous experience, therefore we develop the questionnaire in consideration of these circumstances.”
Work of the teams that joined the program last year had rather different sense. Recommendations and plans to implement the same are based on the research findings obtained by these groups in 2019. Thus, the teams proceeded implementation of exactly these plans immediately after the lockdown restrictions were slightly lifted.
Teams of Shyroke (Zaporizhzhia region) and Khmilnyk (Vinnytsia region) have restored legal consultations face-to-face and, at the same time, ensured legal aid to be provided remotely.
Initiatory groups from Oleshyn (Khmelnytsk region), Kreminna (Luhansk region), and Khmilnyk proceeded with the draft programs of free legal aid to their communities:
- Khmilnyk processed findings of the focus group research at the stage of draft program;
- Kreminna managed to secure approval for the program draft by the political forces represented in the city council and defined the sections to be further improved;
- Oleshyn secured support by the local authorities for their activities and that the program will be reviewed at a session of the local council.
Additionally in July, teams focused on law literacy events.
- The Shyroke team held three trainings in Fundamentals of Law Regarding Legal Capabilities of Citizens to Consolidate for Protection of Legal Interests of Residents of Shyroke Community.
- The Khmilnyk team together with the Anti-Terrorist Operation/Joint Forces Operation Participants Association launched The School of Local Deputy for those who intend to be a deputy of the local council and provides sytematic courses.
Besides the above mentioned, the Khmilnyk team has done other work: drafted the approved resolution on the revised version of the Charter of Khmilnyk city territorial community. Chairman of the city council has issued a decree on launching consultations with the public to discuss the draft Charter of the community. This is particularly noteworthy that the Memorandum of Cooperation with the East Europe Foundation was signed by the Chairman of the city council due to the team’s initiative which enabled introduction of some tools for electronic democracy — the community has been connected to the Electronic Petitions Service.
Certainly, the teams face numerous challenges related to both the lockdown and other unfavourable external factors, nevertheless, the main thing is that work on community empowerment proceeds.
* Legally Empowered Community training practical program (hereinafter, the Program) provides a unique opportunity for the Ukrainian communities to schedule, prepare and conduct research of the residents’ legal needs. The program has been implemented by the Ukrainian School of Practical Knowledge on Access to Justice since 2019 and direct administration of the PRAVOKATOR Legal Clubs network backed by the partner organizations and institutions as follows: International Renaissance Foundation, Ukrainian Legal Aid Foundation, and Coordination Centre for Legal Aid Provision. See more details: https://bit.ly/2u5F03X