Access to justice finally a reality in rural Tanzania

Dar es Salaam. Access to justice, which has remained elusive for poor people in the country for years, is gradually becoming a reality, as the government and development partners join forces to scale up legal aid services—down to the grassroots level.

Experts cite meagre funding as an impeding factor in expanding legal aid services to the remotest areas, where millions of poor people in need of them reside.

According to independent reports compiled by non-state instruments, human rights violations in Tanzania are increasing, but those at the grassroots are feeling the double pinch because of their low-incomes and poor education.

The recently released national human rights report-2012 by the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) indicates that rights violations in the country increased last year compared to 2011, with women and children being the main victims.

“What we are seeing in this report, like we did in the previous one, is increased cases of violence against children as well as gender-based attacks. Women, especially, are physically abused by their spouses,” one local newspaper quoted LHRC official Harold Sungusia as saying at the report’s launching ceremony.

In Mainland Tanzania, according to the report, 6,000 rape cases were reported during the year under review, with 565 cases involving children below the age of 18. In Zanzibar, 689 rape cases were reported, out of which 287 involved children.

The report uncovered cases of hundreds of girls, women, elders, persons with disabilities and other disadvantaged social groups, who were subjected to different forms of violence countrywide.

A few days ago, the Tanzania Media Women Association (Tamwa) blasted the Isles government for being gender-insensitive in the recent appointment of new members to the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC).

The announced electoral body composed solely of men, something which Tamwa described as “unacceptable, especially at a time when there are many promises from politicians to consider gender-balance in all appointments.”

Although long-time government efforts to ensure people’s access to justice have registered some progress, the situation has not improved at the grassroots levels which has seen numerous sad stories related to human rights violations in many parts of Tanzania.

Lack of sufficient funding is one key factor limiting capacities of responsible government organs and legal aid organisations in taking services down to the grassroots in the context of enhancing access to justice for the needy poor.

As part of attempts to back up government and stakeholders’ efforts, the Legal Services Facility (LSF) is disbursing billions of shillings to legal aid organisations in the country—in a broader drive to complement government initiatives geared towards enhancing access to justice in Tanzania.

LSF is a funding instrument set up one year ago by the government of Denmark, in collaboration with the Tanzanian government, with the key objective of providing financial support to legal aid organisations operating in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar.

The facility has set aside about Sh10 billion for allocation to eligible legal aid organisations for the implementation of various legal aid projects throughout the country.

So far, about Sh6 billion has been allocated to 12 legal aid organisations for the implementation of three-year paralegal-related projects in different parts of the country. The funding was issued last November after extensive scrutiny of proposals submitted by the respective organisations.

As part of the second disbursement, a total of Sh4 billion has been already set aside, ready for distribution to 23 legal aid organisations for the implementation of two-year legal aid projects financed by LSF.

“This time we expect to provide money to 23 legal aid organisations...negotiations between these organisations and our technical teams are going on,” said LSF fund manager Kees Groenendijk in an exclusive interview with this paper.

According to the fund manager, most of the legal aid organisations lined-up for grants were small ones. He noted that “we tried to strike a balance, this time, because during the first disbursement many big organisations got the funding.”

LSF has adopted a new model of distributing grants to the eligible legal aid organisations, said fund manager. Once negotiations between LSF technical teams and the organisation (s) have been completed (parties agreed on necessary terms and signed the grant-contract), the funds would be directly deposited into the accounts of the successful organisation.

Alphonce Gura, the coordinator of LSF-funded project at Tanganyika Law Society (TLS), said grants provided by LSF to legal aid organisations have started to produce results upcountry. TLS, one of the 12 legal aid organisations, received LSF grants last November for updating the National Paralegal Training Manual and monitoring usage of the instrument.

“So far, TLS officers have already visited four regions and we are really impressed by the performance of the legal aid organisations that are implementing the LSF-funded project.

Paralegal trainings are professionally conducted using the National Paralegal Training Manual by qualified trainers who have ground experience,” said Gura, adding: “I am quite optimistic that the training will have a positive impact on the delivery of legal aid services and thus contribute significantly to the people’s access to justice in our country.”

Scholastica Jullu, the LSF programme officer (Legal Sector) said funding issued to legal aid organisations under the facilty’s arrangement would scale up legal aid services down to the grassroots, reaching out to millions in need of assistance.

Already, according to Jullu, LSF-financed projects have covered 105 districts out of over 148 districts countrywide and expressed hope that all districts in Tanzania would be reached by legal aid services in three years’ time.

“By the time LSF project comes to an end, needy communities would be able to access legal aid services---at least at the district levels,” said Jullu, describing the trend as a great achievement, considering financial constraints experienced by legal aid providers and people’s limited access to justice before the establishment of LSF.

For her part, Elizabeth Minde, the managing director of Kilimanjaro Women Information Exchange and Consultancy Organisation (Kwieco) described LSF funding as a “great boost” to the organisation, which has worked for more than twenty years trying to improve and protect human and women rights in Kilimanjaro Region.

Kwieco, one of the LSF-grantees, has already trained many paralegals in Moshi Urban, Moshi Rural and Siha districts-Kilimanjaro Region, said Minde.

She noted that “we expect to conduct similar trainings in other project districts such as Hai, Mwanga and Same...we want to produce many paralegals who could reach out to many poor people who need legal assistance at the grassroots levels.”