Tanzania Network of Legal Aid Providers (TANLAP) is an umbrella national network working in legal sector. It is a membership network comprising Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Community –Based Organisations (CBOs), Faith Based Organisations (FBOs) and other institutions providing legal aid in Tanzania. Founded in 2006, TANLAP’s core aim is to work and link up with other Civil Society Organisations provide quality legal aid and advocate for access to justice among the poor and marginalised sections of society in Tanzania. TANLAP is registered as a company without shares limited by guarantee (Reg. no. 68892) and complies with the NGO Act no 24 of 2002 and is granted a certificate of compliance (No. 1300). TANLAP membership is open to any organization/institution providing legal aid services in Tanzania and to any Network Organization whose members provide legal aid services in Tanzania. TANLAP members operate in all regions of Tanzania Mainland.
TANLAP’s conception dates back from December 2006, where at Peacock Hotel in Dar es Salaam, more than 12 Legal Aid Providing Organizations meeting for a workshop on Improving the Rule of Law and Access to Justice in Tanzania, (organized by Women in Law and Development in Africa, [WiLDAF] and funded by the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) through USAID Tanzania), unanimously decided to unite their efforts on providing legal aid by forming a Nation-wide Network of Legal Aid Service Providers
TANLAP was established following realization of the need to have an active and independent network of legal aid providers to build the capacity of legal aid providers, to harmonize legal aid services and ethical conducts of legal aid providers and to have a collective forum for participation in policies and law reforms.
The founding legal aid providers comprised the following: The Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT); the Disabled Organization for Legal Affairs and Social Economic Development (DOLASED); Lawyers Environmental Action Tanzania (LEAT); Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC); Tanzania Women Lawyers Association (TAWLA); Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF); Women’s Legal Aid Centre (WLAC); and the National Organization for Legal Assistance (nola).
The main objectives of TANLAP are as follows:
- To strengthen the capacity building on legal literacy among legal aid providers.
- To extend and improve legal aid provision in the country.
- To initiate, promote, support as may be deemed expedient, any proposed legislation or other measure affecting the interests of its members.
- To build mutual understanding and coordination amongst legal aid providers and legal aid clients in the country.
VISION
TANLAP envisions a society with access to justice
MISSION
TANLAP is an umbrella organization established to enhance the best practice and capacity of its members for quality legal aid services.
