Traditional Leaders The local courts are the first call for most people in the rural areas and capacitating traditional leaders with skills to adjudicate over cases and mediate in disputes builds confidence in the justice system. As well being trained in court processes, chiefs, headmen and village heads were also equipped with conflict management and mitigation strategies to use at grassroots levels. The importance of being gender sensitive, particularly when dealing with gender-based violence issues, was further emphasised. The workshops reminded traditional leaders of the responsibilities they bear towards the people they serve and that they are expected to be apolitical in the manner in which they conduct their duties. Eleven workshops were conducted for chiefs, headmen and clerks, reaching 437 people, only 24 of whom were female. The monitoring of traditional leaders revealed that most of the traditional leaders were making use of the knowledge they had acquired during the workshops and were keeping better records; some were averse to being monitored, regarding the exercise as a fault-finding mission. The low level of literacy amongst some of the older chiefs does make it difficult for them to use the court forms. It was disturbing to note that some of the traditional leaders wore party regalia during the court sessions, impeding their role as impartial adjudicators, and the LRF reminded them that this was not permissible. Participants at the Traditional Leaders workshop held in January 2014 The LRF is working with the Chiefs’ Council to develop modular outlines for the traditional leaders’ training curriculum as the first step in the plan to offer a standardised, in-depth training programme for traditional leaders. The training will be offered with the active involvement of the Council of Chiefs and the Chief Magistrate Office and this structured training should help to address some of the current weaknesses. Prison and Police Officers Fourteen workshops were organised for 367 prison and police officers (30% female) to help capacitate them to fulfil their roles and responsibilities in a rights-based approach and emphasising the importance of adopting a more sensitive approach in their work by protecting and upholding people’s rights. The prison officers were encouraged through the workshops to recognise the importance of maintaining the dignity of prison inmates by respecting their rights and being conscious of the need for rehabilitation. After the training workshops some of the prisons have been proactive in inviting the LRF to make presentations on bail applications and other legal issues affecting inmates. The request by prisons for such a programme is a positive sign, indicative of attitude change on the part of prison officers. Prison officials now recognise that the inmates, despite losing their right to liberty, still have other rights which ought to be respected. Regarding the treatment of juveniles in custody, all efforts are now being made to separate them from adults; furthermore, once a juvenile is detained the prisons service immediately informs the LRF so that it can take steps to obtain bail. 24