They’ve been dubbed “barefoot advocates”; paralegals in Myanmar are now forging a path for local communities when it comes to land conflict resolution.
Global legal advocacy movement Namati has been using the paralegal approach in its work in Myanmar for the past five years, teaching community members with no prior legal training how to use the legal process when negotiating government processes around land rights.
Representatives of civil society networks from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam had an opportunity to see this process first hand during an annual CS network exchange hosted by Land Core Group (LCG), a Myanmar-based network that works to raise awareness of land issues and promote policy reform to support small-scale farmers.
This CS network exchange, held in September in Ngwe Saung, was an opportunity for CSO groups to gain a greater understanding of the paralegal model and its potential to solve land conflicts through field visits and meetings in two villages.
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Source : Mekong Region Land Governance Newsletter October 2017