PROFESSIONAL INTERNSHIP OFFER

LEGAL INTERN

BACKGROUND

Initiatives for Initiatives for Peace and Human Rights (iPeace) is a Rwanda-based non-governmental organization that strives to enhance the culture of peace in the Great Lakes region through human rights and good governance education. Initiatives for Peace and Human Rights has been providing free legal services to vulnerable people across Rwanda through its offices in Kigali and Huye, and through its toll-free line (8800).

Since 1994, the government of Rwanda has been doing tremendous and constant efforts to enable the judicial system to provide speedy and quality justice to all, including poor people living in remote rural areas. Among other things, Access to Justice Bureaus (MAJ) have been installed in all districts, and recently in 2016 the Integrated Electronic Case Management System (IECMS) was launched to allow anyone from any corner of the country to file and monitor their case without any need to travel to the court. Both MAJ and IECMS are contributing a great deal to the improvement of access to judicial services. However, each of the mechanisms presents its own benefits and challenges. Besides, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis has created a new set of challenges that make access to judicial services particularly dire for poor people living in remote rural areas.

It is within this framework that iPeace provides free, speedy and quality legal services to poor people living in Rwanda. iPeace would like to recruit a legal intern to provide legal assistance.

SCOPE OF WORK

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager and the Senior Legal Officer, the Legal Intern will be in charge of:

•  Receiving people’s complaints in relation to their rights through iPeace’s Toll-Free line,
•  Providing legal advice to clients, promptly liaising with field staff for appropriate follow ups;
•  Filling out data in the online data-base for real-time monitoring and data information sharing;
•  Following up on each of the received cases to provide timely feedback to the client;
•  Suggesting best ways to improve remote delivery of legal services to clients,
• Providing weekly, monthly and quarterly report in the format agreed upon by the
• supervisor,
•  Generating data from legal aid data base to inform iPeace management about any
• potential topic for advocacy and research
• Performing any other task assigned by iPeace management

QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS REQUIRED

Qualifications and experience below are required from any candidate:

•  A Bachelor’s degree in Law from a recognized university (law students who have
• competed all their classes and final dissertation waiting for graduation are eligible
• to apply).
•  Good command of written and spoken Kinyarwanda with very good proficiency in
• English.
•  A strong customer-support attitude
•  A passion for justice and fairness
•  Strong spoken and written communication skills
•  The ability to absorb and analyze large amounts of information
• A high level of accuracy and attention to detail
• The ability to explain legal matters clearly in non-legal language
• Confidence and a persuasive manner
•  Time management and strong organizational skills.

iPeace invites qualified candidates to apply for this position by providing the following as one single PDF attachment:

A one-paged motivation letter

Most updated Curriculum Vitae highlighting key qualifications for the position (2 pages Max) with two references preferably most recent employers/supervisors (email and phone numbers)

Notarized copy of the most qualifying degree/certificate

Applications must be sent electronically to [email protected] not later than 05th October 2022 at 5:00 pm local time (Kigali- Rwanda) and specifically mentioning “Legal Intern-Rwanda” in the subject. Short- listed candidates shall be invited for an interview. No phone calls accepted.

Applications from female candidates are highly encouraged.