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Extracts from LRF supplement published in The Zimbabwe Independent
Legal Resources Foundation (LRF)
July 01, 2005

Head to LRF for legal advice and education
The education and training department of the Legal Resources Foundation mainly services the needs of the organisation in terms of training and material development to support training and community education.

It also co-ordinates training and education programmes for other specific groups either upon request or as part of the organisation’s education programmes.

LRF’s most innovative training programme over the years has been the paralegal programme. From being voluntary and community based, paralegal training is now formalised and standardised and has had tremendous positive impact on the quality of service offered in the centres.

On the joining the organisation, paralegals undergo a training programme in four stages, covering a variety of issues on substantive law, casework, community education, negotiation, mediation and human rights.

With its experience in the field, LRF is increasingly being looked to as a provider of training for other human rights organisations. For other staff members, the organisation supports other courses as varied as the needs of the organisation.

To support paralegal training and community education, a variety of materials were developed, including pamphlets, manuals and posters. Over 20 different pamphlets titles are in circulation, reflecting the varied nature of topics covered in community education. They include: arrest, bail, birth certificates, declaration of rights, domestic violence, search and seizure, farm worker’s rights, gender violence, HIV/Aids and the law; inheritance, maintenance – what is it and how to claim it, marriage and the law; small claims court; summons; vehicle accident damages; rape and other sexual offences; war victims compensation and wills amongst others.

Plans are underway to produce these pamphlets for public sale, having previously only been accessible through LRF’s Legal Advice Centres and staff.

LRF also runs training programmes for the targeted groups. Currently each centre conducts at least two training sessions for teachers and traditional leaders. Teachers attend training during school holidays on a voluntary basis, but training workshops for chiefs and headmen are run jointly with relevant senior judicial officers from the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.

In the past, training in human and legal rights also targeted police, prison officers and UZ students. LRF training expertise is also extended to other organisations upon request.

LRF takes the law to the people – Sawyer
Eileen Sawyer, who was a founder and the director of the Legal Resources Foundation, told the Independent that the concept was first raised at a workshop on legal aid at the University of Zimbabwe in 1985.

"It was decided to set up an organization like the Legal Resources Foundation, mainly to take the law to the poor people mainly in the rural areas," she said.

"The rationale was to try a paralegal set-up operating in the rural areas where the people were poor, timid of authority, ignorant of their legal rights, had no finance to access the law and, in any event, there were no lawyers operating in the rural areas".

She said a Trust Deed was drawn up and signed. Founder trustees were Professor Reginald Austin, then head of the Department of Law at UZ, Ian Donovan, a young advocate, Eileen Sawyer, a sociologist who came in from the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, Chief Justice Enoch Dumbutshena and Justice Ebrahim. It was decided to work from Legal Projects Centres throughout the country. " We started with four employees and now have around 100," she said.

"Over 20 years the Legal Resources Foundation has established a fine record for taking the law to the people, especially to the rural areas," she said.

He told the Independent that the organization must revitalize its resources and develop into a self sustaining entity to stave off the reality of reduced funding from International organizations and the threat posed by the draconian NGO Bill.

"The major threat is the NGO Bill," he said. "The LRF must team up with the rest of civil society to fight this Bill and ensure that any legislation resulting from it does not threaten the existence, independence, viability and activities of civil society"

"Such legislation must pay cogniscence to internationally accepted standards and declarations of human rights relating to civil society; that same civil society which always plays the crucial role in providing critical services to those sections of society that governments are unable, or unwilling, to reach out to. It also counter-acts any excesses of governments in terms of respect for constitutions and human rights declarations".

Role of LRF board
Stakeholders of the Legal Resources Foundation are the general public who consult LRF for legal assistance and advice.

The LRF Trust Deed provides for a board of trustees. The maximum number of trustees is 14. Board appointments are based on skills and good standing in community in order to ensure competent discharge of the board’s responsibilities and functions.

The board is accountable to stakeholders. It is responsible for overseeing LRF operations by establishing key policies, strategic plans and long and short term objectives for the attainment of LRF’s goals and the fulfilment of LRF’s vision.

The board meets quarterly to monitor and evaluates performance of the organisation and is responsible for ensuring financial security of the organisation and influencing overall allocation of resources to programmes and activities.

On the current board is Sara Moyo (Chairperson), Mary Ndhlovu, EuniceNjovhana, Nokuthula Moyo, Eileen Sawyer, David Coltart, Brain Hill, Muchadei Masunda and Godfrey Mutseyekwa.

LRF Libraries
The Legal Resources Foundation has law libraries in each of its five project centres in Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Masvingo and Mutare.

The libraries were initially set up to support newly qualified legal practitioners who lacked the means to develop their own collections. The libraries hold all major Zimbabwe legal texts – law reports, statute laws of Zimbabwe, annual index to legislation, statutory instruments, government gazettes, judgements from the Supreme Court, and the High Courts of Bulawayo and Harare. Full sets of South African law reports are also housed as well as selected regional and international law reports and representative journals. Plans for the future include the development of internet-based databases.

The collections are only for reference and consultation purposes within the libraries, which are membership-based. Those eligible include law firms, companies and NGOs, legal practitioners, members of the judicial services (magistrates, prosecutors and other government law officers), senior police officers and bona fide law students.

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