Madaripur Legal Aid Association (MLAA) has been providing and promoting access to justice for the poor, especially women and children, since its inception in 1978. MLAA’s experience has taught that providing fair and effective justice services at the local level greatly improves access to justice by both decreasing the cost and burden of accessing justice and reducing the overcrowding in the formal courts. This view has is consistent with international human rights instruments, including the UN Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems.
In order to further promote access to justice for the poor, especially women and children, MLAA has also been building the capacity of legal service providers and communities to deliver legal aid both in the formal court and at the local level through innovative training programs for the past twenty-five years. Professional trainers have designed curriculums, manuals, modules, check lists and handouts for several specialized trainings. The classroom trainings are enhanced by field visits where participants see first-hand how mediations, Village Courts and Arbitration council sessions are organized and conducted. They are also taught how to map out and utilize existing community resources.
To meet the basic needs of effective training MLAA has a resource centre with training facilities, dormitory and a modest library.
MLAA provides trainings on the following topics:
- Legal Aid in the Formal Courts
- Mediation
- Village Courts and Arbitration Council
- Monitoring and Evaluation
- Human Rights and Fact Finding on Human Rights Violation
1) Training on Mediation
MLAA recently organized mediation training C2RP Project under UNDP. The situation of Cox’sbazar, particularly in Ukhia and Teknaf Upazilla become unstable due to unwarranted entranced of Rohingya communities. Around 908000 Rohingya communities were fled from Mayanmar to Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong Hill Tracks. RadMore
Duration : 6 batches 15 days.
Number of Participants : 150 persons
2) Training on Legal Aid in the Formal Courts
Objective: This course is designed to equip the participants with basic knowledge on providing legal aid services to the poor.
Participants: Field workers and mid-level organizers who are directly providing legal aid service in the formal courts.
Duration : 3 to 5 days
Number of Participants : 25 per course
Course Contents:
- The social structure and causes of conflict in society
- Basic human and fundamental rights
- Significance and necessity of legal aid
- Strategy, methods and technique for providing legal aid
- Relevant laws
- Dispute resolution process
- Role and responsibilities of a paralegal
Achievement from the training: After completion of the course the participants will be able to:
- Provide effective legal advice to the poor, including how to enforce legal rights through court cases
- Maintain communication with advocates, advocates’ clerks, court staff and beneficiaries
- Document actions and keep records of cases
3) Training on Mediation
Objective: The aim of this course is to enhance the capacity of activists of development organizations involved in the dispute resolution processes.
Participants: Field organizers, supervisors and mid-level managers who are involved in establishing legal rights, awareness raising and dispute resolution process at the grassroots level.
Duration : 3 to 5 days
Number of Participants : 24 per course
The Price of training can be negotiable.
Course Contents:
- Analysis of causes of conflict: socio-cultural and socio-economic
- Historical background of mediation
- The basic laws, techniques and procedures of mediation
- Comparison between mediation and other methods of dispute resolution
- Principles and essence of mediation
- Conflict management and methods of dispute resolution
- Strategy and procedure of mediation – with a focus on the Madaripur Mediation Method (MMM)
- Laws related to mediation
- Role and responsibilities of mediation workers
Achievement from the training: After completion of the course the participants will be able to:
- Identify causes of conflict
- Comprehend legal aspects and background of mediation
- Understand basic principles of mediation
- Differentiate between methods of dispute resolution
- Facilitate resolution of disputes through mediation peacefully
4) Training on Village Courts and Arbitration Council
Objective: The aim of this course is to equip the participants with the basic knowledge on Village Courts (VC) and Arbitration Council (AC) as vested by law in Union Parishad. The participants will be provided legal knowledge, process and techniques of VC & AC to make them capable to run VC & AC.
Participants: Representative of Union Parishad, field workers and mid-level organizers of development organizations who are directly involved to enforce rights of the poor in the rural area.
Duration : 3 to 5 days
Number of Participants : 25 per course
Course Contents:
- Understanding the background of local govt. and local justice system
- Necessity of UP judicial system (VA & AC)
- Structure, issues and procedure of VC & AC
- Documentation of VC & AC
- Responsibilities of UP Representatives and workers
Achievement from the training: After completion of the course the participants will be able to:
- Activate Village Courts and Arbitration Council
- Understand laws and procedures of VC & AC
- Settle disputes through VC & AC
- Provide support to disputing parties for seeking resolution of their disputes through VC & AC.
- Keep accurate records of the VC & AC proceedings
5) Training on Monitoring and Evaluation
Objective: The course is designed to enhance knowledge and capacity of development organizations to monitor and evaluate project activities. The course will provide in-depth knowledge of the participants on monitoring and evaluation and help them to build their skills and abilities in the M & E activities with a view to improve future planning and services.
Participants: Mid-level and managerial staff of development organizations
Duration : 5 days
Number of Participants : 25 per course
Course Contents:
- Overview on Monitoring and Evaluation
- Indicator, tools, techniques and steps of monitoring and evaluation
- Necessity of monitoring & evaluation and participatory monitoring & evaluation system
- Cluster sampling and data collection process (via field visit).
- Analysis and combination of information and report preparation
- Report writing and presentation
Achievement from the training: After completion of the course the participants will be able to:
- Understand the goal and objectives of monitoring and evaluation
- Identify the implementation barriers of a project
- Learn different methods of data collection
- Monitor and evaluate the project’s activities
- Assess the project impact
- Write evidence based reports based on effective monitoring and evaluation
6) Training on Human Rights and Fact Finding of Human Rights Violations.
Objective: The course aims at providing the participants with a basic knowledge of human rights and enables them to be effective human rights activists and defenders. The ultimate purpose is to expose participants to techniques for investigation, procedures of documentation, and the art of reporting. This course will enlighten the participants with the knowledge to identify the violation of human rights and develop strategies for fact finding and systematic reporting.
Participants: Mid-level organizers who are involved in awareness raising activities for promotion and protection of human.
Duration : 05 Days
Number of Participants : 25 per course
Course Contents:
- Understanding of historical development of human rights
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Conceptualization of basic human and fundamental rights, including comprehensive knowledge on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the main human rights treaties and covenants (including those specific to women and children)
- Understanding of human rights situation in Bangladesh and nature of human rights violation
- Field visit for data collection
- Instructions on structuring fact finding, interview, questionnaire, data collection and standard format for data collection
- Procedures of documentation and report writing on human rights violation
Achievement from the training: After completion of the course participants will be able to:
- Work to promote and protect human rights and fundamental rights
- Collect data, comply documents and use data for report writing
- Prepare human rights violation report.
