Grassroots mediation is an alternative dispute resolution mechanism for minor disputes, conflicts and violations of the law arising in the daily lives of communities. Grassroots mediation is a voluntary procedure and widely used because of low costs, accessibility, confidentiality and its ability to reduce tensions between parties. As a result, the number of cases transferred to the State’s competent agencies or courts is reduced.

On March 3, 2021, the Government issued Resolution No. 28-NQ/CP promulgating the National Strategy on Gender Equality for the period 2021-2030, in which, ministries, branches and localities were assigned to develop their plans to implement the Resolution. In the justice sector, the Women Advancement Committee (WAC), Ministry of Justice was assigned to be the focal point for developing the Action Plan on Gender Equality in the period of 2021-2025. 

To fulfill the targets and tasks on ensuring gender equality in family, preventing and responding to gender-based violence, especially ensuring equal access to grassroots mediation activities of women and domestic violence survivors, an assessment on the situation and achievements of gender equality issues in grassroots mediation is necessary. Result of this study is a source of inputs, contributing to define specific tasks, possible solutions and roadmaps for reaching the goals, tasks and targets on gender equality by 2030, which were assigned to Ministry of Justice at national level and departments of Justice at local level.