Practical Legal Skills Training and Support for Paralegals

About this grant

This grant will provide continued support to the Centre for Rural Legal Studies, an organization that focuses on protecting and promoting the rights of farmworkers and their families in the Eastern, Western, and Northern Cape provinces of South Africa. Past achievements include assisting paralegals working in community-based advice offices to effectively represent clients on labor-related matters, the majority of whom do not have access to basic labor rights and due process. In the next two years, the grantee will train paralegals in Alternative Dispute Resolution and labor law legislation to enable them to develop the skills and knowledge to assist farm and rural workers in labor disputes. Paralegals will also learn how to campaign for effective enforcement of labor legislation and highlight working conditions of marginalized rural workers. The centre will also evaluate the use and impact of Alternative Dispute Resolution over the past four years.