- Program Civil Society
- Program Area Increasing Access to Justice
- Grant Amount $130,000
- Grant Period January 1, 2004–December 31, 2005
- Location Braamfontein, South Africa
- Geographic Focus South Africa
About this grant
The National Community Based Paralegal Association (NCBPA) provides training and capacity building to paralegal and advice offices in South Africa. The new constitution guarantees a range of socioeconomic and political rights, but the responsibility for ensuring these rights rests on local authorities, which often do not have the resources or capacity, especially in rural areas, to deliver them. Advice offices and paralegals play a critical role in making poor and marginal communities aware of their rights; helping these communities access their rights; and holding local government accountable to the constitution and bill of rights.Multiyear funding will enable the NCBPA to coordinate its various functions at the national, provincial and local levels to ensure effective delivery of services and programs; establish an independent Paralegal Trust to manage and administer funding for the paralegal and advice offices; build the capacity of paralegals, advice offices, management committees and provincial structures; and create more clearly defined and efficient internal management and staffing roles.The NCBPA, established in 1996, helps communities understand and access their rights by building and coordinating affiliate legal advice offices across South Africa. Currently, there are approximately 350 advice offices in South Africa.