It certainly wasn’t a coincidence that the European Union’s Governance in Justice program (GoJust) decided to mount a virtual event on International Women’s Day. GoJust awarded over P12 million in grants to six local universities for specific initiatives and programs that aim to improve women’s access to justice in the Philippines.
The six universities are West Visayas State University, Adamson University, University of San Carlos, University of the Visayas, Father Saturnino Urios University, and St. Louis University. The idea was that these six universities will put access to justice for women and girls at the center of their Clinical Legal Education programmes.

And why this need? A 2019 World Justice Report stated that of the 35 percent of Filipinos who experienced a legal problem in the last two years, only 20 percent were able to access help, with women and children having a harder time. GoJust is a European Union program that includes a grant mechanism of up to EUR 3.1 million (P170 million), to be spread over four years to support civil society organizations and universities/law schools to improve access to justice for disadvantaged groups, particularly women and girls.

The virtual grant signing ceremony was hosted by Issa Litton and had a keynote address given by H.E. Luc Véron, EU ambassador to the Philippines. Important messages were tendered by Atty. Anna Marie Trinidad, chairperson, legal education board, Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando, chairperson of Committee on Legal Education, Dean Gemy Festin, president of the Philippine Association of Law Schools, and Ms. Jelen Paclarin, executive director of Women’s Legal and Human Rights Bureau. 

The aforementioned six institutes of legal education will implement the Clinical Legal Education Program (CLEP) of the Supreme Court, a credit earning teaching course with the goal of providing law students with knowledge for the application of the law, delivery of legal services, and the promotion of social justice, especially as it pertains to the marginalized. 

To empower women, as much as improve access to justice services, each of the grantees will find their own journey of fulfillment. At the West Visayas State University, a legal help desk for women, children and marginalized groups will be set up. They will leverage their Gender and Development Office to collaborate with the Women and Children Protection Unit of the West Visayas Medical Center Hospital.

Adamson University will create a corps of paralegal volunteers, to focus on the legal empowerment and education of disadvantaged communities while Father Saturnino Urios University will work with indigenous communities on rights awareness, including women’s rights.

 As EU Ambassador Véron remarked, “We look forward to the transformative work of these universities in the year ahead. Women and girls are key agents of development and change. Their interventions will change lives for the better.”

GoJust is implemented through the technical assistance of the British Council, with logistical and grant management support from the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), as well as the Spanish Agency for International Development Corporation (AECID).