Step 1. Organization audit

Before we start changing anything, we have to examine the tribunal as it is at the moment—its purpose, structure, communications, and how it deals with clients at all stages of the process. Only then can we make appropriate suggestions for improvement.

Mandate and clients

Review the mandate of the tribunal. This will help to identify who the clients are likely to be and give an idea of any literacy problems to be expected. It will also help in identifying others who might come before the tribunal—for example, witnesses, and interveners. We are calling these other persons “participants” in this manual.

Clients and participants will be looked at in greater detail in Step 2.

Communication with clients

An audit will reveal

• how clients hear about the tribunal;
• how your tribunal communicates with clients and participants— before, during, and after a hearing;
• who communicates with them;
• what materials are used throughout the whole tribunal process;
• any current efforts to make access to the tribunal easier for low literacy clients.

This whole topic of communications is discussed in more detail in Step 4.