Rwanda: Mediation Training
The ABA-Africa's Rwanda office opened in July of 2004. Our timing coincided with the Ministry of Justice's (MOJ) completion of a comprehensive re-drafting of law and legislation, including the constitution. As part of its commitment to rule of law reform, the MOJ sought willing partners to facilitate implementation of crucial constitutional changes. In response to the MOJ's request for assistance, ABA-Africa developed a program to support institutional capacity building, coordinated integrated training, and support for legal institutions in Rwanda.
ABA-Africa has provided support to: the Ministry of Justice; Supreme Court of Rwanda; the National Police and local NGOs committed to legal aid programs. In this regard ABA-Africa worked to enhance the capacity of the legal system in Rwanda to provide efficient and effective judicial recourse to those living with, and impacted by, HIV/AIDS, especially women and children who constitute fifty-one percent (51%) of the population.
Particularly, ABA-Africa has worked with the Ministry of Justice to train all eighteen thousand five hundred (18,500) community-based mediators throughout the country. The MOJ asked ABA-Africa to take the lead in developing a training manual and other crucial documentation, which would prepare mediators and the population to access this innovative attempt to bring justice to the common person. To that end, ABA-Africa, in collaboration with the MOJ, developed a two-part formal training manual which defines the scope of the Mediation Committee Act, with a focus on the powers and competence of the mediators and mediation techniques required for successful mediation.
Twenty thousand copies of this manual have been printed and distributed to the mediators as their major source of reference in the execution of their duties. In addition to the mediation manuals, ABA-Africa has developed, printed and distributed two thousand five hundred (2,500) posters outlining the powers of the mediator in civil and criminal cases. These posters serve as a public education tool, and have been posted at sector and district levels, as well as in police stations throughout the country.