In December 1988 the ICJ organised a seminar in the Philippines at which a handbook on training paralegals was prepared, based on the experiences of legal aid and human rights organizations in South and South-East Asia.
The handbook clarifies the basic concepts concerning training and engaging paralegals. As a follow-up to that seminar, in January 1990, the ICJ conducted an Asian Seminar on Paralegal Trainers in Indonesia.
The seminar was organized jointly with Kalyanamitra, a Women’s Communication and Information Centre which is engaged in conducting training and education programmes.
The participants included lawyers, law teachers, law students, representatives of legal services organizations and development organizations from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Observers from international organizations, funding agencies and the Australian Section of the ICJ, were also present at the seminar.
The purpose of the seminar was to provide a forum for an exchange of experiences in training, and to prepare guidelines for training paralegals. We hope that the report of this seminar will be of use to organizations conducting or intending to conduct paralegal training programmes.
paralegal trainers-seminar report-1990-eng (full text in English, PDF)