A training of trainers (ToT) on Free Legal Aid Law has been launched in North Macedonia for the employees of the Regional Offices of the Ministry of Justice, with the support of the EU and Council of Europe joint programme Horizontal Facility II. In cooperation with the Ministry of Justice of North Macedonia, the training of trainers (ToT) on Free Legal Aid Law will be conducted online (using different methodologies for online learning) in the next two months for 16 employees at the Regional Offices of the MoJ.
Ms. Lejla Dervisagic, Head of Operations of the Council of Europe Programme Office in Skopje, underlined the importance of the access to justice for the citizens, stressed the role of the Council of Europe and the Programme Office in Skopje in assuring equal access to justice for all and thanked the Ministry for the excellent cooperation.
The important role of the future trainers for the Ministry of Justice and for overall legal aid system in North Macedonia as drivers of change for better implementation of the Law on Free Legal Aid and protection of citizen’s rights was stressed by Ms. Rita Marascalchi, Project Co-ordinator at the Council of Europe, who also informed the participants about the project and this initiative.
Mr. Petar Mirkovic, State advisor of the Ministry of Justice, stressed that this training will enhance the professionalism of Ministry of Justice staff in the Regional Offices, when dealing with legal aid applicants and it will also strengthen the internal pool of trainers in the MoJ created under the first phase of the project emphasizing the crucial role that the employees at the ROs play in the FLA system.
The event continued with the presentation by the tutors Ms. Maria Marinova Alkalay, Ms. Maja Atanasova and Mr. Goce Kocevski, who took the participants (enrolled employees at the Regional Offices) through the courses format, structure and content.
The launching event and the ToT course are organised by the action “Supporting enhanced access to higher quality Free Legal Aid services in North Macedonia” which is part of the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”.
