Advancing access to justice through clinical legal education innovations in Africa

City University representative Ms. Hawa Wehelie and Ms. Ismene Zarifis, ABA ROLI Senior Technical Advisor with members of PILAC's walk-in clinic at University of Makerere (Kampala, Uganda).

By Ismene Zarifis 

Access to justice for most people in Africa remains a novelty for numerous reasons. This is particularly true for the countries in the region where ABA ROLI is present. 

Marginalized populations face particular barriers due to a lack of awareness of their rights, and a lack of empowerment to voice concerns and demands for justice. These conditions are coupled with additional factors, including the inaccessibility or remoteness of justice actors and institutions to beneficiaries, and institutional challenges. Institutions continue to face challenges of efficiency, capacity and resource constraints, and compromised independence. The presence of discrimination and social exclusion in society, particularly against poor and marginalized communities, women, children, and persons with disabilities, further exacerbate this limited access.

While ABA ROLI has dedicated significant resources to enhancing access to justice through its Africa programming over the years, one of the more effective and sustainable strategies employed are the partnerships it strikes with universities in the region, and more specifically, university-based law clinics. These innovative partnerships fulfill multiple goals of an immediate and long-term nature— from promoting access to justice for poor and marginalized populations to training a new generation of lawyers to embrace public interest practice in an environment where pro bono or public interest lawyering is still rare. The benefits of adopting clinical legal education under law school curricula is an effective tool for African universities to train students. It equips students with an opportunity to gain practical lawyering skills, and to apply their legal knowledge to promoting social justice.

Legal aid provided through university-based clinics fills an important gap in the availability of free legal services for marginalized populations, especially in fragile states with limited resources.  The approach also reflects a sustainable model that once established, promises to last for years, given that it becomes an integral component of the law school curricula.  

In recognition of this novel approach, ABA ROLI is supporting the East African Network of University Law Clinics (EANULAC) based in Kampala, Uganda through its new Freedom of Expression in East Africa program. EANULAC’s mission is to promote the development of clinical legal education across East African universities as a means to introduce innovative teaching methods into the law school curricula. ABA ROLI’s partnership with EANULAC aims to promote mainstreaming of freedom of expression in the law school curricula of the members of the network, which includes universities in Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya. ABA ROLI is further advising on the establishment of new law clinics in Somalia to enhance access to justice there, and support areas where law students will be the primary individuals providing services to the public under the  guidance of supervising attorneys. In the Central African Republic, ABA ROLI is also exploring a partnership with universities to meet an urgent and overwhelming need for legal assistance.

After studying the context in the region, ABA ROLI has found notable examples of university-based law clinics that are having an unprecedented impact on enhancing community awareness, legal empowerment of marginalized communities, and access to justice for the most vulnerable members of society. One such example is The Public Interest Law Clinic at the Makerere University School of Law in Kampala, Uganda, which has been growing exponentially since its inception in 2012. The clinic has focused its attention on social and economic rights protection, a pervasive issue that affects all members of society. It has grown from a single course module on public interest litigation designed to tackle national issues of concern related to the right to health, land rights, disability rights, and civil and political rights. It went on to establish a walk-in clinic to provide free legal aid, then the introduction of a “street-law inspired” program to educate the public on rights awareness in disadvantaged communities. This was coupled with the launch of a mobile clinic to provide onsite services by pro bono attorneys and students. The clinic has since branched out to support the development of clinical legal education in other universities in the country. It has also forged strategic partnerships with other providers to enhance service delivery and impact on priority issues of national concern. The benefits of this model have generated increased human rights awareness and protection through a combination of strategic litigation initiatives, legal service delivery to direct beneficiaries and a new generation of lawyers trained in and committed to public interest lawyering. In a country where legal services are still limited against the demand and the popularity of pro bono public interest practice remains low, the Public Interest Law Clinic at Makerere University is making new inroads and substantially changing the landscape of legal practice in Uganda. 

In support of the development of new law clinics in the region, ABA ROLI organized a study visit by City University (Mogadishu, Somalia) to the Public Interest Law Clinic at Makerere University in Uganda in February 2020 to encourage the sharing of best practices and to foster exchange on the clinic start-up process and various clinic activities. The week-long visit allowed a City University representative to meet with clinic directors and members, engage with students and beneficiaries, accompany field visits to court, and observe community outreach and awareness sessions. The visit will go a long way in informing the establishment of the first university-based clinical legal education program in Mogadishu, where issues of land rights, women rights, and the welfare of internally displaced persons are pressing matters that require attention. ABA ROLI will be supporting the start-up of two new clinical legal education programs at City University and Mogadishu University as part of its Expanding Access to Justice programming in Somalia. 

Zarifis is the Senior Technical Advisor for ABA ROLI's Africa Division.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of ABA ROLI.

Learn more about ABA ROLI's work in Africa.