4
4
eligious groups, places of worship
R
ultural organizations supporting individuals of a particular
C
background
4
4
4
4
4
anguage classes
L
kills training NGOs
S
Microfinance or microcredit institutions
Interpreters or translators
Projects working on community integration and reconciliation such
as sports / creative initiatives
4
CSOs that specialize in supporting particular groups, e.g. migrants,
refugees, children, women
4
Humanitarian assistance organizations
Projects should build relationships with referral organizations, community
groups, or service providers. Formal written or online systems for referral
can be useful. Your project can also educate other organizations on
statelessness and documentation difficulties, so that they can identify
these problems more readily. Such partnerships may benefit from initial
meetings to explain paralegals’ activities and discuss how they can refer
clients—on what issues, and what follow-up system to use to determine
the outcome of referrals. It may be useful to sign a Memorandum of
Understanding or contract with referral organizations, and conduct joint
trainings of staff on how to handle referrals.
ee 4. Building Key Relationships for information on building strong,
S
collaborative networks.
Follow-up on the outcome of referrals made is important, in order to
ensure CSOs and service providers are correctly receiving clients, although
this may necessitate opening files for individuals you do not otherwise
take on as clients. Simplified intake forms—with just contact information
and a summary of the issue—might be adapted for this purpose.
CASE STUDY
The Project for the Registration
of Children as British Citizens
(PRCBC) provides assistance to
children whose lack of financial
resources bars them from
accessing British nationality,
to which they are otherwise
entitled. Volunteers, including
both solicitors and non-lawyers
regulated by the Office of
the Immigration Services
Commissioner, advise and
represent these children, who
have been born in the United
Kingdom but were not born
British citizens. Casework can
involve pressing the authorities
to deal with citizenship
applications correctly, and to
use flexibility and discretion if
all the documents which they
might expect to see or request
are not available. The NGO
also advocates for government
departments to liaise with each
other to share information which
they have but which they will
not reveal to outside individuals
for data protection reasons.
How to ensure referrals contribute to empowerment
•P
artner with organizations or service providers that support equality
and non-discrimination.
•W
hen training other organizations or service providers to whom
you will refer clients, or who will refer clients to you, ensure training
covers an empowerment approach.
•C
reate partnerships with referral organizations that can further
empower clients through skills training, access to employment
opportunities, literacy, and so on.
DISCRIMINATION
EMPOWERMENT
•P
artner with lawyers who will make sure casework and decisionmaking is client-led.
SUSTAINABILITY
DATA
RELATED RESOURCES
(EXTERNAL)
RELATED SECTIONS
(WITHIN)
A C O M M U N I T Y- B A S E D P R A C T I T I O N E R ’ S G U I D E : D O C U M E N T I N G C I T I Z E N S H I P A N D OT H E R F O R M S O F L E G A L I D E N T I T Y
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