JES Projects
Review of South Africa’s Post-Apartheid Legal Aid Plans
With support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), today Global Affairs Canada; JES fielded an expert mission led by the Associate Deputy Attorney General, David Duncan, Courts Services, in his role as Chief Executive Officer for the Legal Services Society of BC, now Legal Aid B.C., to assess South Africa’s Legal Aid Business Plan.
This initiative followed assistance provided by the Law Courts Education Society (JES) to support several public legal education and legal aid initiatives in South Africa between 1991 and 1994. Following the election of Nelson Mandela in 1994 and the signing of a new Constitution in 1996, JES worked closely with the South Africa Legal Aid Board and dispatched an expert mission in 2000.
Led by current JES Board of Directors member, David Duncan, this mission conducted a technical, legal, and operational assessment to identify the major strengths and weaknesses of South Africa’s Legal Aid Plan. The assessment included a review of the Legal Aid Board’s business plan and presented recommendations on key functions including human resources training programs, information technology and programming development, case management system, automated financial system, and electronic reporting systems and data bases.
