Abstract:
This brief presents the role of network governance in the community access office (CAO) sector in South Africa. There is limited research on the role of network governance by CAOs and community-based paralegals (CBPs) regarding the facilitation of effective access to justice in South Africa. There is, therefore, a need to bring the experiences of CBPs and service recipients in this regard into the open. This brief describes network governance and the nature of work that requires network governance; whom the CBPs network with and how they build the network; and the challenges and benefits they experience and opportunities to improve their networks. The brief presents the perspectives of CBPs and service recipients at the ten CAOs in this study, organized according to the five provinces where they are located. Evidence from two case narratives is presented. Comparative findings across all ten cases are presented, along with a summary of findings.
