Article Information
- ARTICLE_POSTED_BY: Haiti Place
- ARTICLE_POSTED_ON: Jan 14, 2015
- Comments : 1
- Views : 780
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Description :
by Alex Fischer | 4.24.2014 at 6:35pm
Photo: Marie-Claude Jean-Baptiste
- Email : amf2145@columbia.edu
- Website : http://cgsd.columbia.edu/author/afischer/
Overview
The Haiti Research and Policy Program at the Center on Globalization and Sustainable Development launched its Spring 2014 Haiti Dialogue Series with a discussion on pro-bono work in Haiti, featuring three distinguished lawyers. The speakers explained the opportunities and challenges of skill-based volunteerism in the context of Haiti’s development strategies and institutional capacity building within the justice system. They shared a range of experiences — from the challenges of pairing specific program needs in Haiti with available pro-bono legal expertise, to the divergence of theory and practice of applying global conventions on human rights and disability in the context of Haitian law and development needs.
Marie-Claude Jean-Baptiste, the program director for the Human Rights and Access to Justice Program at the Vance Center for International Justice, shared her experience creating and managing more than 20 pro-bono projects in Haiti. She explained how the center responds to requests from a variety of civil society groups and non-profit agencies in Haiti to establish links with major law firms willing to provide pro-bono legal support. The Vance Center provides support by designing effective partnerships to match local needs with the expertise of renowned pro-bono law firm programs.