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The Paralegal Alliance Network (PAN) is a consortium of 20 non-governmental Legal Aid Service Providers (LASPs) in Zambia.
PAN’s mission is to leverage the collective power of its network members to improve access to justice for all indigents, detainees and in particular to ensure that the rights of persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities, both victims and defendants, are upheld during their interface with the criminal justice system thus challenging the acute discrimination experienced by this constituency throughout the criminal justice chain. Formed in 2000 by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP), Young Women Christian Association (YWCA), Zambia Civic Education Association (ZCEA) and Legal Resources Foundation (LRF), PAN was hosted as a programme by the CCJP till 2013 when it was registered as a company by guarantee under PACRA and as an NGO under the NGOs Act.
The aim of PAN is to enhance the capacity of its member organisations in offering legal aid services to the poor and vulnerable groups, by strengthening the role of paralegals in the justice system.
Having being formed by the four organisations mentioned above, PAN admitted more legal aid service providers as members in 2010, 2012 and currently the membership
stands at 20. This was after conducting a mapping exercise in 2007 to identify other CSOs who were providing legal aid services to communities.