Faculty of Law, NGO Incarceration Nations Network provide legal aid expertise to residents of El Dorado, Mayaro and St Augustine
For those unfamiliar with the maze of information that usually accompanies engaging with the legal system, navigation can be a daunting task. Not everyone has access to education or resources to move through the legal world smoothly, and its nuances can have a drastic impact on lives.
A team from UWI St Augustine’s Faculty of Law (FoL), along with NGO Incarceration Nations Network, have been working to make it easier with their project, “Justice on the Move”. They recently hosted the last of three legal aid clinics on March 22—bringing legal expertise to communities in El Dorado, Mayaro, and finally back home to the St Augustine Campus.
“We brought together social workers from the Social Work Unit from the Department of Behavioural Sciences in the Faculty of Social Sciences; colleagues from the Faculty of Law at UWI Cave Hill, and our very own full-time and adjunct staff in the FoL at UWI St Augustine” says Dr Timothy Affonso, a Lecturer and Deputy Dean (Student Matters) at the FoL who headed the team.
The partnership was funded by the JB Fernandes Trust, which was administered by the Rockefeller Philanthropic Advisors.
For Affonso, the most vital part of this work was removing barriers to access: “Access to justice, inclusive of legal services, is vital to ensure that persons’ rights are respected. “For law to be impactful, it must facilitate and create change.”
This project was meaningful not only to the communities it served, but the people who took part as well. “Our students were allowed to see what law can and ought to do—help people,” said Affonso. “This is the most important dimension of this project.”
In a field that has as many social ramifications as law, it is vital that students are able to experience the reality of what makes their work meaningful, outside of a classroom setting and in the real world. For students and staff alike, the clinic was a direct line to the communities that need help the most, to see where they could really make a difference.
For Anita Ali, the FoL’s Administrative Officer, who is currently pursuing her doctorate in Educational Leadership, working with the team led to a host of meaningful experiences.
“There was one particular day when an older couple came to our El Dorado clinic all the way from Mayaro. Visibly stressed, they both shared how difficult it had been to navigate the legal system on their own,” she said.
What struck her was how different their outlook was after they had met with the team. “They left with a sense of clarity and hope.”
She reflected on how these moments of human connection, as simple as the man doubling back to thank her and the team for their help, was the most moving part of “Justice on the Move”.
