About
In 2007, the PAS as supported by PRI, evolved into the autonomous PAS Institute (PASI). Funding is gradually moving from the development partners into a Legal Aid Fund with which the PASI will enter a ‘co-operation agreement.’ One of the successes of the PAS (and reason for its low turn-over of paralegals) is that it has never stopped developing its range of services and quest for new partners. While the paralegals focus their work exclusively on the formal criminal justice, they have established links with the informal, ‘traditional’ justice fora in rural communities (where the majority of people live).
The work in police stations with young people has led to the development of diversion schemes at police and court. The high number of minor criminal cases (ie simple theft, criminal damage, assault) has led to the development of mediation services operated by faith-based organizations in the villages. In both cases, this link has enabled paralegals to refer appropriate cases/matters to these partners who live and work in the community – again at little cost.
Contact Information
- Clifford Msiska
- www.governancejustice.org
- Malawi
Members of Paralegal Advisory Service Institute
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Chimwemwe NdalahomaI was exposed to Malawi’s justice system at an early age, as my father was a senior police officer heading the Criminal Investigation Department. My childhood experience has contributed to my passion for penal reform and strong commitment to protecting the rights of prisoners. Since then, I have gone on to work in the human rights and criminal justice field, and have attended human rights trainings in Denmark and Switzerland. I have also presented papers on the role of non-lawyers in the justice system at various conferences and workshops. In 2000, I was part of the team that began to develop the Paralegal Advisory Services (PAS) in Malawi. PAS was created in response to life-threatening conditions in Malawi’s prisons. At the time, the prisons were overcrowded, with high death rates due to starvation, the spread of disease, and police brutality and torture. Prisoners languished in jail for years awaiting trial, and had no access to legal advice. To address these problems, Paralegal Advisory Service Institute (PASI) focuses on training paralegals especially due to the dearth of lawyers and the high cost of their services, to provide legal advice and assistance prisoners and to contribute to making the criminal justice system more efficient and effective so that it is more responsive to the needs of prisoners, especially the poor and vulnerable. With PASI’s help, conditions in Malawi’s prisons have greatly improved over the years. Due to its success, PASI’s model has been adapted and replicated in numerous countries, including Benin, Kenya, Uganda, Niger, and Bangladesh. Although I began working as a Paralegal Officer, I soon moved up the ranks to become the Paralegal Coordinator and am responsible for coordinating the work of paralegals as well as manage the Village Mediation Programme in Malawi. I also train paralegals and mediators not only for my country. Between 2006 and 2012 I have helped to train paralegals in Uganda, Bangladesh, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. In all these countries their paralegal programmes have been successful. The Village Mediation Programme has also been replicated successfully in Sierra Leone and will shortly be operational in Nigeria, Mozambique and Portugal. I received a Best Paralegal Award in 2001 and in 2008 I was awarded the JusticeMakers Fellow by the International Bridges to Justice for sparking criminal justice reform in my local community with my innovations that combat torture and legal abuse in places of detention
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Namati AdministratorAdministrator for the Global Legal Empowerment Network website.