Aimed at exposing and deepening their understanding of the fundamentals of alternative lawyering, this year’s cohort of the Alternative Law Groups fellows completed the second capacity-building session under the 2024 Legal Pathfinders: Alternative Law Groups Fellowship Program held from 31 May to 2 June 2024 at Harolds Evotel Quezon City.
Following the kick-off of the Fellowship in April where the selected advocates started their training as lawyers-for-communities, the second capacity-building session was designed to enhance their knowledge of sector-specific issues, relevant laws, and the skills needed in alternative lawyering and developmental work.
The session began with office visits to the Alternative Law Groups, Sentro ng Alternatibong Lingap Panlegal (SALIGAN), and Tanggol Kalikasan. These visits introduced the fellows to the different organizations, their areas of work, the current projects, and the communities and sectors they work with.
Atty. Grace Salonga of the Movement Against Disinformation (MAD) led the session on disinformation and red-tagging, discussing the impact of disinformation in social media platforms on human rights, fundamental freedoms, and democratic institutions. This was followed by a workshop on red-tagging facilitated by Atty. Billie Blanco, AHRC Program Coordinator. The training also included a couple of short documentaries which served as a bridge to the session on Lawyering for the Environment and the Challenges of Environmental Defenders by Atty. Ryan Roset of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC).
The first day of training was capped off with a Fireside Chat where the fellows had an opportunity to engage with seasoned alternative lawyers, who shared their personal journeys and experiences in the field. Atty. Roset was joined by Atty. Marlon Manuel of NAMATI, Atty. Sheila Formento of the Alternative Law Groups, and Atty. Claire Demaisip of KAISAHAN.
The second-capacity building session concluded with inputs from Mr. Rj Sangcap, AHRC Communications Officer, who introduced the participants to popular education and exercises in applying knowledge, skills, and techniques in facilitation and popular education.
After two (2) successful runs of the capacity-building sessions, the fellows will continue on their Fellowship, moving on to mentorship and more hands-on experiences of working with and learning from ALG and partners.
The Fellowship Program is a project component of the Overcoming Access to Justice Barriers through Grassroots Communities’ Participation and Civil Society Organization (CSO) Intervention (E4J.PH Project) under the Governance in Justice Programme II (GOJUST II) and made possible through the generous support of the European Union.