Promote the protection of human rights for all, with a focus on women, girls and other vulnerable poor groups. We improve the availability, affordability, accessibility and acceptance of quality legal aid services by paralegals and other legal aid providers. Fausta Marandu, 46, is a widow who lives in Babati district, Manyara region of northern Tanzania. She lost her hands, one of them completely cut off, after being attacked by her partner Mr. Migire, with whom she lived after the death of her late husband a few years ago. Veronica Mushi, a paralegal, got wind of the incident and quickly reported it to police. With the help of the paralegal, Fausta filed a complaint in court and Migire was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison. Fausta cannot eat, dress, bathe and cannot even open her house without the help of her young children and neighbors. The poor widow is handicapped physically, economically, emotionally and things are no longer the same for Fausta. Paralegals helped Wilgester draft legal documents and open the case in Chang`ombe Primary Court. The verdict was heard in 2014 and resulted in Wilgester`s divorce.
The deed provided proof of marriage and Wilgester received 30% of the value of the property the couple owned together. This case shows how important it is to have certification when rights are claimed. A recent small survey found that urban dwellers in Dar es Salaam spend an average of nearly TShs 500,000 ($230) to access and consult with free legal aid services. This is about 5 times more than rural men who request and receive legal services, and 8 times more than rural women. Legal aid in urban areas does not sufficiently address the legal needs and purchasing power of the urban poor. In the Dar es Salaam metropolitan area, a project to strengthen the city`s legal capacity was implemented in all districts. The lessons learned from this pilot project will help develop a strategy to expand to other major cities in mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. LSF stresses the importance of legal aid in criminal cases, which is not a priority for legal aid providers. The focus will be on the country`s largest prisons, involving the relevant police stations, adding an important dimension to the approach. Many PTDs end up in jail for minor offences because they are not alerted in police stations or because they do not cooperate to access the bail option. Ensuring the presence of paralegals in police stations, by paralegals or otherwise can help solve this problem. Mission To promote and protect human rights by strengthening the legal, social, economic and civic empowerment of women, girls and marginalized groups through grants, policy advocacy and legal aid services.
Can the legal aid system and recipients be self-financing? Wilgester and Milinga married in 1997. Before the marriage, Milinga (husband) owned land in the municipality of Temeke in Dar es Salaam. The couple built a house on the property under Wilgester`s supervision. After finishing the house, the couple moved into the house, where they stayed until 2008, when Milinga left the family and moved into the same house with another woman. Wilgester refused to leave the house, saying it was matrimonial property. To justify his action, Milinga reported Wilgester to the Yombo local government that Wilgester would leave the property. Wilgester was ordered by the local government to leave the house. She was not satisfied with the mission and decided to report to church in early 2009. However, Milinga never participated in the mediation proposed by the Church. She then went to the Yombo City Council, where she was not helped. After learning about Paralegals and the TWCWC Legal Aid Centre in Temeke, Wilgester decided to submit his case to the Centre in 2012.
Maria enlisted the help of paralegals from Iringa, who obtained her rights and those of the little ones. Her former employer eventually took over her responsibilities and took care of the child. The majority of clients cared for by paralegals have been deprived of their socio-economic rights such as the right to work, land and inheritance rights, particularly for women. Paralegals play an important role in helping clients obtain their property rights, which have had an impact on their social and economic lives. LSF works closely with the Tanzanian government at all levels, development partners, organizations involved in the provision of legal assistance, including paralegals, and other like-minded stakeholders. The LSF was originally designed as a demand-driven support mechanism for legal aid providers, including paralegals. During the first phase of the programme (2012-2015), the focus was on providing high-quality, affordable and acceptable community paralegals in all districts of the country. The LSF has used and will use its influence beyond mere grantmaking to systematically support and guide the improvement of legal aid in Tanzania to promote human rights through a legal empowerment approach. It has become an organization that reforms and transforms the legal aid sub-sector of the country`s justice sector, in collaboration with legal aid providers and the Tanzanian government, from the national to the local level.
Currently, basic legal aid services, mainly provided by paralegals, are funded in Tanzania`s 168 districts to ensure a higher level of accessibility. A group of 4,000+ functional paralegals have completed or are in the process of completing paralegal training. In 2014, approximately 40,000 clients were served and 90,000 people received legal and human rights education. Urban growth in Tanzania is accelerating. The current ratio of rural population to city is around 65:35 and could exceed 50:50 by 2025. It is therefore time to pay more attention to the specific requirements of effective urban legal aid and legal strengthening. During the period 2012-2015, a limited number of partner organisations successfully implemented criminal legal aid projects aimed at reducing the proportion of persons in pre-trial detention (PTD) by paralegals in prisons. Approximately 1,500 PTDs from 24 prisons were released on bail and 500 acquitted. “For me, it`s a big help because I didn`t know where to find a lawyer, and I also thought that my rights could not be obtained because of the nature of the man who impregnated me. God bless the Iringa Paralegal Center,” Maria said. “My husband refused to work anywhere, even though he didn`t earn enough to support the family. I was helped by paralegals to convince him to change his mind,” said Shungi, a resident of Mbozi in the Songwe region.
Most of the problems solved by paralegals helped clients improve their economic situation, for example by starting small businesses, investing in homes and caring for the Batuli family, she moved into her sister`s house and tried unsuccessfully to assert their rights in the village district council and municipal court. Eventually, Muheza`s paralegals duly documented the case and helped her submit it to the District Land and Housing Court, and the verdict was in Batuli`s favor. We believe that all citizens deserve justice, and we make this possible through legal empowerment. Do communities know their rights and exercise them? Vision A society in which all people have equal access to justice. In order to streamline our efforts to achieve optimal results and the best social return on investment, the Legal Services Facility is committed to making substantial progress on well-formulated results in each of the 4 result areas, as outlined below: Please contact community@namati.org to report outdated information or ask a question on this profile. This was a turning point, not only for Batuli, but for all women in Muheza district.