- Program Civil Society
- Program Area Special Initiatives
- Grant Amount $80,000
- Grant Period September 1, 2004–February 28, 2006
- Location Beaufort West, South Africa
- Geographic Focus South Africa
About this grant
The Karoo Center for Human Rights was established to promote democracy and provide human rights training and education for poor, remote communities in the Western Cape. Currently, the center supports 27 rural advice and paralegal offices in and around the Karoo region, providing funding and training for staff and paralegals.Multiyear funding will support objectives that include building the capacity of advice offices in the Western Cape through training and assisting in mobilizing resources; participating in efforts by the paralegal sector to ensure that appropriate legislation recognizing paralegals is adopted by the state; expanding the paralegal sector across the Karoo region; and encouraging the development of a network of advice and paralegal offices.Recent accomplishments included implementing a certified basic paralegal training program in partnership with several universities; extending the geographical area of the center to include 10 more advice offices; conducting workshops and training sessions for advice offices; ensuring that paralegals understand basic financial and accounting procedures; and conducting training workshops on HIV/AIDS and the challenges it presents.