START UP IN DE P T H AGENTS, BROKERS, AND PARALEGALS Agents and brokers act as middlemen between communities and services or authorities, filling out and transporting forms for a fee. They may not be trained on legal frameworks and are generally motivated by profit. Paralegals have some legal training and are generally part of a nonprofit structure, whether an NGO or community group. They do not usually charge for their services and operate under strict codes of ethical conduct. If it is safe to do so, vests, hats, badges, or other signals can be used to separate paralegals from brokers and agents, to make them easy for the community to identify. However if the paralegals’ work is controversial, this may be risky. citizenship, and describing that connection can build trust. Helping members of the community to find other sources of support through referrals and supporting lobbying efforts on community causes can help as well. •W  orking with groups that are not directly affected by issues of documentation and citizenship rights, in order to ensure they understand and support the need for provision of paralegal services to stateless, at-risk, undocumented, and under-documented communities. •O  rganizing networks of affected persons or community representatives. • Involving paralegals in your project who also work on other issues that affect the community.  or further guidance, see 7.2 Training Paralegals and F 7.4 Ethical Issues. Communities are always diverse. Guard your project against bias and recognize diversity at all times. If you are adding a paralegal project to an organization that has a long history of working with disadvantaged communities, serving many different communities may be relatively simple. But newcomers must work carefully to avoid alienating one group, even while gaining the trust of another group, caste, or clan. Understanding leadership and power dynamics is key. Consider how political divisions within the community affect your ability to reach people on both sides of these divides. Building relationships with only one group, even if it is the only one you are likely to serve, may increase conflict. Serving the other group may be wise, then, even if it does not experience the problems of being stateless, minority, or disadvantaged. Otherwise the perception that your project discriminates may fuel resentment. Sometimes, a group that is relatively powerful acts as a gatekeeper in a way that might make it difficult for your project to serve the community as a whole. Safeguarding against this, and other manifestations of bias— such as male-only community “representatives”—might entail actively seeking out each ethnic or linguistic group, clan, or caste present, including through the use of interpreters. It would also involve ensuring that consultations about needs and introductions to the project include women, girls, boys, and men. Each group may speak more freely if met with separately. Don’t overlook those made vulnerable by factors such as disability, old age, reduced mobility, or single parenthood. Paralegals should be trained to understand the dynamics of the communities in which they work and how they should communicate differently with different sub-groups within the community.  or guidance on connecting with communities for the specific F purpose of paralegal service delivery, see 8.1 Connecting with Your Clients: Outreach. 42 | 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