18 November 2009

Colombo, Sri Lanka: As a Legal Empowerment Volunteer, T.V.B.U Apsara sees herself “providing strength and support for the marginalized poor... making the concept of ‘equality before law’ more realistic.”

Ms. Apsara is one of the first batch of 14 student volunteers in a UNV-designed scheme that helps people understand their legal rights and entitlements.

The Legal Empowerment Volunteers (LEV) project is implemented by Sri Lanka’s Legal Aid Commission through the Volunteerism Information and Coordination Center, or ‘VOICE’. Its aim, according to Sheela Daskara, Partnership Coordination Officer at VOICE, is “to bridge the gap between services provided by formal establishments like the Legal Aid Commission, and unmet demands at the community level.”

Women in particular are discriminated at the community level due to domestic violence and need legal advice to defend their cases, she notes. “Women volunteers are more sensitive to these issues in the community,” she comments.

A law student from Ambalangoda, T.V.B.U Apsara says she chose a legal career to help redress the gender divide she saw in Sri Lankan society. Inspired by a poster on the university notice board, she became a Legal Empowerment Volunteer to both utilize her studies and share her knowledge with others.

Her volunteering assignments were undoubtedly challenging, she says, but she found ways of gaining access to people who were often suspicious of outsiders. Finding an elderly man to accompany her helped her cross gender barriers, and she learned to read people’s body language as well as listen to their words.

For Ms. Apsara, a typical day volunteering meant a morning of consultations with people seeking aid, and an afternoon spent meeting children affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, to ascertain their legal status. Many of the children are orphaned and cared for by others, so are vulnerable to exploitation.

She has had to use all her skills and initiative. For example, one day an elderly women entered the office in distress, having lost all her property to her five children. Ms. Apsara first fixed a date for mediation with the children, but when this method failed she turned to the Elders Maintenance Board instead, something the elderly women would never have been able to do herself. The case is in progress towards a successful conclusion.

VOICE was set up in 2006 as a joint initiative of UNV and the Ministry of Social Services and Social Welfare, Sri Lanka. Resources for the Legal Empowerment Volunteers come from a UNDP and UNV fund, and from Volunteer Services Overseas (VSO) which also provides a volunteer as project coordinator.

“The Legal Aid Commission sees volunteerism as a constructive way to address a lack of resources,” concludes Sheela Daskara, “and is determined to generate funds through their partners to continue the project.” The next batch of 14 law student volunteers are now in preparation for their assignments.