The Pro Bono Network
In the fight against poverty and inequality, more and more NGOs have been established in Mexico. Due to complicated legal regulations for non profits and the nature of the issues they address, many of these NGOs require extremely expensive and skilled legal services which they cannot afford.
In Mexico, the culture of organized civil society is growing. Fifty-one percent of the NGOs that exist today were formed in the last decade, and the average lifespan of these social organizations is only 15 years due to the lack of the support for their institutionalization. For example, many NGOs in Mexico lack proper government approval due to the long and costly application procedure – a problem pro bono lawyers can easily address. With formally recognized operations and more resources to dedicate to direct service, Mexico’s NGOs would be better able to tackle the many problems that afflict our society.
Currently, Mexico Appleseed’s focus is on fortifying the “Mexican Pro Bono Network”, a network of lawyers who can provide pro bono legal support to projects of high social importance. The Mexican Pro Bono Network is beginning its second year of operation. Our objective is to strengthen the non profit sector by selecting vulnerable causes that require pro bono services to create systemic change. Through our Pro Bono Network we provide legal assistance to non profit organizations and address needed infrastructural transformations to facilitate change for vulnerable sectors and populations. This network functions as a clearinghouse and tracks the efforts and responses of pro bono support in order to ensure the timeliness and quality of Appleseed’s assistance. Within weeks, Mexico Appleseed will launch a website that will serve to bridge NGOs with legal needs to our pro bono members – http://probono.org.mx/
The formalized pro bono alliances of Mexico Appleseed include more than 40 independent attorneys, 22 law firms and 2 university legal clinics. Additionally, Appleseed has contact with more than 50 law firms interested in the social justice, poverty reduction and social development. The network monitors progress on important project with a specially designed webpage through which the attorneys and NGOs are able to repo rt on project milestones, making the exchange easier, faster, and more readily measurable thanks to today’s technological tools. Of course Mexico Appleseed works at a one-on-one basis as well to ensure progress success and excellent communication.
The Pro Bono Network is organized to address the ongoing and emerging needs that Mexico Appleseed recognizes through the projects in the following pages.
We proudly present to you in the following pages some of the projects that the Network is currently fulfilling:
Oral Trials Criminal Defense
Mexico Appleseed was part of a coalition that backed the passage of the Oral Trials bill in Mexico, which passed in 2007. For the first time, it allows Mexican defendants an oral trial, rather than simply paper proceedings, at which previously, not even counsel was allowed to present orally, on the record, to the judge(s). This law will be rolled out throughout all the states of Mexico over the next 8 years, during which time over 300,000 lawyers, judges, professors and students will need to be trained on the new law. Mexico Appleseed seeks pro bono attorneys to help create and monitor an implementation plan in conjunction with the Oral Trial Association’s recommendations and Proderecho.
Mexico Appleseed plans to coordinate pro bono support of these efforts in order to support the sustainable implementation of the law at the state level. The potential projects to be taken on in this area are vast, but can be tailored to meet this interest and commitment of pro bono teams.
LLegal Assistance for Non Profit Organizations
The Pro Bono Network is currently addressing an array of cases brought to us by social organizations seeking legal pro bono assistance, like Ashoka (giving assistance to more of 10 Ashoka Fellows), Reintegra, Fundacion Educa, Hogares Infantiles “San Martin de Porres”, Al Consumidor A.C., “Grupo Rosa Mexicano”, Fundacion Hewlett Mexico, to mention a few. All of which have very different legal needs that create barriers to their ability to address very important social causes.
Financial Education
Appleseed is in its fifth year of a program that builds wealth in Latin American immigrant communities in the U.S. and low income communities Mexico by increasing positive financial service options, advocating for improved remittance services, and educating recent immigrant and sending communities about financial services. Our end-goal is for low-income and immigrant communities to have the ability and access to build assets within the financial mainstream, thereby reaping the benefits of economic inclusion – key to a united and productive society.
Appleseed has a number of popular brochures on various financial education topics, in both English and Spanish that have received wide uptake by institutions conducting financial education programs on both sides of the border. Following in depth research of the local markets for the Mexican and Guatemalan financial institution users and potential users, we have developed two brochures for each country that cover the following subjects: “How to Receive and Safeguard Remittances” and “Useful Information to Protect and Manage your Money”. Mexico Appleseed conducted a pilot phase of this project, for which more than 40,000 educational brochures (for Guatemala the brochures were produced in Spanish and Kaqchiquel Mayan). A total of 20,000 brochures have been handed out in La Piedad, Mexico and another 20,000 in Chimaltenango, Guatemala. This pilot project was accompanied by local media coverage and in the case of Guatemala, the evaluation of the project was conducted by a local marketing firm through several focus groups. Mexico Appleseed is currently analyzing the scope of a potential second phase of the project.
In order to read the entire brochures, please visit our Web Page:
http://mexico.appleseednetwork.org.
Mexico Appleseed’s Financial Access Projects in the Future in Brief
Mexico Appleseed looks to develop further titles of this series of brochures in the near future; some of the titles will be “How to Use a Credit Card – Knowing How to Manage Your Spending and Paying off Debts”, “Micro Insurance” and Micro Credits”. For these future brochures, research is currently underway.
With respect to our work future work in the remittance arena, Mexico Appleseed will conduct a study to address the following points:
· What are the best options that currently exist or could be developed for better use, reinvesting or dedicating remittances for services (children’s education or child support) and asset building and management (insurance, savings, CDs, IRAs)?
· Are there ways to bring to scale the tracking and measurement of the remittance history of individuals to Mexico such that financial institutions could use a pattern of sending remittances as part of a credit score? The goal would be to find credit-worthy people who currently have thin files or low scores, so that more persons might be to extend affordable credit toward a home mortgage or other purposes?
Child Welfare in the US Deportation Process and Unaccompanied Minor Emigration
The ultimate objective of this project is to ensure the rights and welfare of children being deported from the United States. The research aims to define to what extent policy differs from practice in the treatment of undocumented minors in deportation proceedings in terms of detention and repatriation with a focus on recommended bi-national protocols and practices for DHS, ORR, and the Mexican Institute of Migration. A complete study of the legislative framework is being conducted through the law firm “Jauregui, Navarrete y Nader S.C” through a partnership from Mexico Appleseed and Unicef.
It is important to mention that a corresponding study is underway in the United States by Mayer Brown and DLA Piper, which will allow us to have a broader reach when analyzing the cross border dynamic of the problem and solution.
The Right to an Identity
The purpose of this project is to advocate for policy changes to provide a timely, accessible and universally free civil registration process for Mexican individuals in Mexico. In Latin America and the Caribbean, it is estimated that annually nearly two out of 11 million births are unregistered. In Mexico, one out of every six children is not registered in the civil registry after birth and remains unregistered during the course of his/her life. Without being registered, a child’s existence and citizenship is not recognized – ultimately the child is left without a name.
The complexity and impact of this project is demonstrated by a unique partnership between lawyers from GE and Rubio Villegas y Asociados, law students from Universidad Panamericana, and Unicef. This group is studying the legislation for 31 States and the Federal District in order to map out provisions that prevent individuals in Mexico from being registered. If not properly registered, those individuals "do not exist" from a legal stand point according to Mexican laws.
In general terms, a child without an identity:
· Does not have access to an education nor public health services.
· Cannot rely on protection against illegal adoption, kidnappings, and trafficking.
· Does not necessarily have access to a fair trial or treatment as a juvenile in the event that the child is confronted with legal problems.
· Is not able to gain access to assistance or scholarships from the government, private organizations or programs whose financing originates from national and international funds.
· Is not represented in state policies, nor will he/she be able to access his/her civil liberties and participate in civic events in the future.
The objective of this study is to know the real impact and be able to conduct research that will produce recommendation for the legal and cultural solutions to this problem.