9.7 Collective Action Some collective cases on recurrent issues may be addressed through organized community action, which the paralegal can play a key role in facilitating. Such action may take place within the community, such as setting up a system to make sure no child’s birth registration deadline is missed, or it may be aimed at external targets, through community-led advocacy. Collective action should be community-led not only because it will be more empowering but also because it will be more effective. Paralegals should play a facilitating, supportive role, sharing skills and guidance in order to increase the chances that the group’s voice and case is heard. Note though that where paralegals themselves are part of the community, projects should think through how authorities will perceive paralegals’ involvement in these more politicized acts of mobilization or concerted lobbying of decision-makers. There may also be laws and regulations on paralegal service delivery that complicate the situation. A shift towards community organizing becoming an effective means of resolving cases might take place as the community becomes more aware and empowered to deal with rights violations. Collective action is therefore both a product of, and driver of, community legal empowerment. How to organize collective action to address documentation and nationality rights •C  oordinating or providing technical expertise to community action plans. •S  upplying locally-led campaigns with helpful statistical evidence to support claims, taken from casework data. • Setting up group meetings with officials or service providers. •A  ccompanying community groups to such meetings, taking notes or acting as facilitator. •R  unning legal empowerment or negotiations skills sessions with community representatives ahead of meetings with authorities. •G  uiding the creation of community savings pots to address issues such as late birth certificate fees as a community. •G  uiding communities in establishing a system to ensure on-time birth registration of all newborns. •H  elping communities invite officials to visit their area and understand how living without documentation affect peoples’ everyday lives. •U  sing media platforms to build public support, in consultation with a communications specialist or the project manager, in order to ensure no harm is done. CASE STUDY IRC Georgia assists stateless and undocumented persons through both casework and referrals in which multiple actors cooperate to resolve documentation and nationality issues. IRC has trained social workers, representatives of educational and medical institutions, local government bodies, CSOs, community leaders, and representatives of prisons to provide paralegal services. This includes consultations on citizenship, statelessness, birth registration, and identification documents. These paralegals identify individuals who require further legal assistance and refer them to the project. The paralegal service providers are evaluated based on the number of cases referred to the project, whether the case was correctly identified, and the satisfaction of the client. This model has been working for years without written procedures, based on a common understanding of rules, predefined roles and functions, and the common objective of revealing and resolving a problem. However IRC is working to formalize the referral procedure and make it more sustainable through a written standard operating procedure that everyone would follow. 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 | 113