Project Agenda 2063: Voices of African Women-Pilot Project

This significant book, entitled "Project Agenda 2063: Voices of African Women," sheds light on the impactful stories and contributions of African women throughout the continent. It offers a comprehensive insight into their roles, stories, and experiences, representing a diverse range of voices and perspectives. You can access this influential work from academic institutions such as Harvard, Stanford, VCU, and Princeton.

ESTABLISHING AND STRENGTHENING AN AFRICAN LEGAL AID SYSTEM WITH A SPECIAL EMPHASIZE ON VULNERABLE GROUPS OF THE SOCIETY.

In Africa, the laws governing legal aid recognize lawyer centered model. However, the number of practicing lawyers in African Countries are low in proportion to the overall population. Furthermore, the large majority of these lawyers reside in urban areas, whereas the majority of the population lives in rural areas. In addition to this, state budget allocation to legal aid is minimal in many countries. The absence of affordable legal aid services in the continent increases poor people’s sense of social exclusion and powerlessness. Many governments do not have a legal aid strategy that could maximize the use of resources available. The problem is more exacerbated by the absence of central sources for official information on the provision of legal aid services in the continent. Even the data that exists today, don’t seem to be properly shared among government organizations and other relevant stakeholders working on access to justice in the continent.

The majority of States in the continent have ratified most of the conventions that are relevant to legal aid including the ICCPR, the CRC , the CEDAW ,the CAT and other regional instruments pertinent to the provision of legal aid service such as the Kadom declaration on community service and plan of action ,the resolution on the right to fair trial and legal assistance in Africa , the principles and the guidelines on the right to fair trial and legal assistance in Africa and that of the Lilongwe Declaration on accessing legal aid in the criminal justice system. However, in practice the actual availability of the service has been not easy. Only the constitutions of four countries Cape Verdi, Egypt, Ethiopia and Mozambique provide a right to legal aid with no restrictions and about 11 countries provide a right to legal aid but fail to specify who should ensure that such aid is provided.