Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance picks Hope and Homes for Children as winner of Access to Justice Award 2013

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has named Hope and Homes for Children as this year's winner of its annual Access to Justice Award.

Hope and Homes for Children is an international charity that works to transform childcare systems in order to uphold and protect the rights of children. Specialising in the global eradication of children’s institutions, it supports governments in establishing modern family-based care systems. The charity’s ‘Opening Doors for Europe's Children’ campaign operates in 12 countries across Europe and calls on the EU and national governments to prioritise moving children out of institutions and into loving families – a process called deinstitutionalisation.

Hope and Homes for Children has won a donation of £50,000 from the Clifford Chance Foundation and 500 hours of pro bono volunteering. It plans to use the donation to fund a national audit of the childcare system in Ukraine to inform its Opening Doors campaign and the development of legislation, policy and best practice guides to drive change. The funds will also support the delivery of training to 30 professionals and government representatives in child rights and deinstitutionalisation. These professionals will train a further 370 who will be the 'engine' of the reform of the Ukrainian childcare system, leading the implementation of changes set out in legislation and policy.

Pro bono volunteering hours from the firm will be used to provide vital legal expertise to the Opening Doors campaign in Ukraine, including the delivery of the national audit. It will also support the training programme and will come from lawyers and business services staff from the firm's offices in Kyiv and around Europe.

Roger Leese, pro bono partner at Clifford Chance, said: "We are proud to announce that Hope and Homes for Children is the 2013 winner of Clifford Chance's annual Access to Justice Award. It is doing some incredible work to ensure that all children have the right to a chance to grow up in a family or community-based care environment. We are excited to able to support Hope and Homes for Children in their efforts in Ukraine."

Mark Waddington, chief executive of Hope and Homes for Children, said: “Institutional care damages children, families and society. It is an injustice that violates children’s rights. Family-based care is proven to deliver far superior outcomes. Our position on this is based on independently conducted research and 20 years of experience in working in this field across 18 countries. We are already making significant progress in Ukraine through our direct work with children and our campaigns and are delighted to have Clifford Chance’s support and invaluable legal expertise towards this work.”

Clifford Chance received 43 nominations from 15 countries for the award. They included large and small organisations whose work ranged from supporting the rights of people living with HIV/AIDs to the provision of legal advice to the poor. An independent group of judges comprising representatives of financial institutions, a publishing house and a charity organisation as well as partners from the firm helped to select the winner[1]. The judges looked for not-for-profit organisations that help individuals, groups or communities preserve or secure their rights to the basic necessities of life.

Joe Longo, Asia Pacific regional general counsel at Deutsche Bank, said: "It was an honour being a judge for Clifford Chance's Access to Justice Award as it is a real eye-opener to the amazing work these organisations are doing globally. I commend Clifford Chance for putting in place an extremely thorough and vigorous selection process. I congratulate Hope and Homes for Children on winning the Clifford Chance Access to Justice Award 2013 and wish it the very best success in its Opening Doors campaign."

The Clifford Chance Foundation provides a way for the firm – as a whole and by individual office – to engage with local communities around three principal themes: Access to Education, Access to Finance and Access to Justice. Since its launch the Foundation has made donations to more than 150 different charities in 50 different countries.