The deputy director Mr. Trouble Kalua at the training in Japan
The deputy director for Malawi Legal Aid Bureau, Mr. Trouble Kalua, travelled to Japan earlier this week to participate in a two weeks training course organized by JICA Tokyo on “The enhancement of access to justice through effective provision of Legal Aid”.
The training is using the case of Japan to understand how Japan developed their legal aid system and how their approach can be adopted for our local circumstances. “We may not adopt the whole of their system but we can pick and choose bits that may be modified to work for Malawi. They did the same, they also had to fuse systems from Europe and America before coming up with a model that works for Japan now. We are quite happy to walk the same paths trodden by experts,” contently expressed Counsel Kalua.
“Japan has approximately 120 million people but has successful legal system in place. It would be important to learn what they are doing to make their systems work and what lessons can be drawn from them to implement a system as equally successful in Malawi,” concludes Kalua.
The training comprises lectures from respected legal practitioners in Japan who have been involved in legal aid, study visits to the Japan Legal Support Centre, Ministry of Justice, Japan Federation of Bar Associations and Legal Aid offices and call centers. Some of the facilitators are Satoko Tomita (director of Crime Victim Support Division, Japan Legal Support Center), Naoshi Sato (Vice Chairperson on International Relations, Japan Federation of Bar Associations), Manabu Wagatsuma (Professor of Law at Tokyo Metropolitan Law School), among others.
The course has drawn participants from Malawi, Ivory Coast, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Cambodia, Laos and Indonesia.
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