PROJECT
Judicial Reform: empowering magistrate-civil society collaboration for Guinea’s new democratic future
LESSON
Lesson Learned: Judicial Reform: empowering magistrate-civil society collaboration for Guinea’s new democratic future
Reform of the judiciary was one of the key priorities announced by the President of the Republic of Guinea in 2010. Following the legislative elections of September 2013, which marked a turning point in the process of transitioning the country from the earlier dictatorship, the focus on judicial reform became more relevant. The project’s complex but well-articulated process used to identify the specific scope of action ensured that the project was aligned with government objectives regarding reform.
Project Name
Project Partner
The BEFORE Project in Guinea
Project Description
The project aimed to contribute to the judiciary reform process in Guinea through establishing a new social contract on justice linking CSOs, magistrates and auxiliaries of justice. Strategically, the project was based on two outcome components, to support increased capacity for advocacy, monitoring and judicial oversight, and enhanced capacity for dialogue and collaboration between civil society and the judiciary on ways to improve the judicial system in order for it to become more responsive to the needs of civil society. This strategic approach appropriate for the limited scope of the project; its key points of strength were the acknowledgement that training was a first step before the setting up a platform for dialogue and the inclusion of a mini-grant scheme. The project was ambitious but realistic. However, the methodology did not include a mechanism to replicate project experiences beyond the target areas of Conakry and Kankan - the most important judicial districts in Guinea - once the project ended.
Report
Evaluation Date
August 2014
Country
LESSON
Lesson Learned: Judicial Reform: empowering magistrate-civil society collaboration for Guinea’s new democratic future
The project facilitated dialogue between civil society, magistrates and auxiliaries of justice in Guinea as a way for civil society to participate in the process of reform of the judiciary as well as to help de-escalate social conflicts before their radicalisation. The idea to establish a joint civil society-judiciary platform as an instrument for this collaboration was ground-breaking and proved to be a very effective one.
Project Name
Project Partner
The BEFORE Project in Guinea
Project Description
The project aimed to contribute to the judiciary reform process in Guinea through establishing a new social contract on justice linking CSOs, magistrates and auxiliaries of justice. Strategically, the project was based on two outcome components, to support increased capacity for advocacy, monitoring and judicial oversight, and enhanced capacity for dialogue and collaboration between civil society and the judiciary on ways to improve the judicial system in order for it to become more responsive to the needs of civil society. This strategic approach appropriate for the limited scope of the project; its key points of strength were the acknowledgement that training was a first step before the setting up a platform for dialogue and the inclusion of a mini-grant scheme. The project was ambitious but realistic. However, the methodology did not include a mechanism to replicate project experiences beyond the target areas of Conakry and Kankan - the most important judicial districts in Guinea - once the project ended.
Report
Evaluation Date
August 2014
Country
LESSON
Lesson Learned: Judicial Reform: empowering magistrate-civil society collaboration for Guinea’s new democratic future
The project design included well thought out monitoring and evaluation activities that took into account the specific local context and constraints in Guinea.
Project Name
Project Partner
The BEFORE Project in Guinea
Project Description
The project aimed to contribute to the judiciary reform process in Guinea through establishing a new social contract on justice linking CSOs, magistrates and auxiliaries of justice. Strategically, the project was based on two outcome components, to support increased capacity for advocacy, monitoring and judicial oversight, and enhanced capacity for dialogue and collaboration between civil society and the judiciary on ways to improve the judicial system in order for it to become more responsive to the needs of civil society. This strategic approach appropriate for the limited scope of the project; its key points of strength were the acknowledgement that training was a first step before the setting up a platform for dialogue and the inclusion of a mini-grant scheme. The project was ambitious but realistic. However, the methodology did not include a mechanism to replicate project experiences beyond the target areas of Conakry and Kankan - the most important judicial districts in Guinea - once the project ended.
Report
Evaluation Date
August 2014
Country
LESSON
Lesson Learned: Judicial Reform: empowering magistrate-civil society collaboration for Guinea’s new democratic future
The project team were able to adapt to unforeseeable events and to minimize their impact on the project activities. Throughout 2013 Guinea experienced political and social turbulence including mass protests against the elections and ethnic tensions. These events had an impact on the activities planned for the second year of the project with many events needing to be rescheduled. However, this did not impact the overall project efficiency.
Project Name
Project Partner
The BEFORE Project in Guinea
Project Description
The project aimed to contribute to the judiciary reform process in Guinea through establishing a new social contract on justice linking CSOs, magistrates and auxiliaries of justice. Strategically, the project was based on two outcome components, to support increased capacity for advocacy, monitoring and judicial oversight, and enhanced capacity for dialogue and collaboration between civil society and the judiciary on ways to improve the judicial system in order for it to become more responsive to the needs of civil society. This strategic approach appropriate for the limited scope of the project; its key points of strength were the acknowledgement that training was a first step before the setting up a platform for dialogue and the inclusion of a mini-grant scheme. The project was ambitious but realistic. However, the methodology did not include a mechanism to replicate project experiences beyond the target areas of Conakry and Kankan - the most important judicial districts in Guinea - once the project ended.
Report
Evaluation Date
August 2014
Country
LESSON
Lesson Learned: Judicial Reform: empowering magistrate-civil society collaboration for Guinea’s new democratic future
The project was efficiently managed and the budget was appropriately allocated. The grantee proved to be highly committed to delivery of results: 80 per cent of the budget was allocated to project activities, with a minimum amount on overheads.
Project Name
Project Partner
The BEFORE Project in Guinea
Project Description
The project aimed to contribute to the judiciary reform process in Guinea through establishing a new social contract on justice linking CSOs, magistrates and auxiliaries of justice. Strategically, the project was based on two outcome components, to support increased capacity for advocacy, monitoring and judicial oversight, and enhanced capacity for dialogue and collaboration between civil society and the judiciary on ways to improve the judicial system in order for it to become more responsive to the needs of civil society. This strategic approach appropriate for the limited scope of the project; its key points of strength were the acknowledgement that training was a first step before the setting up a platform for dialogue and the inclusion of a mini-grant scheme. The project was ambitious but realistic. However, the methodology did not include a mechanism to replicate project experiences beyond the target areas of Conakry and Kankan - the most important judicial districts in Guinea - once the project ended.
Report
Evaluation Date
August 2014
Country
LESSON
Lesson Learned: Judicial Reform: empowering magistrate-civil society collaboration for Guinea’s new democratic future
The long-term impact of the project is not clear since the activities have not been deployed across the country. The project design could have included plans to replicate the project experiences in beyond the target areas of Conakry and Kankan.
Project Name
Project Partner
The BEFORE Project in Guinea
Project Description
The project aimed to contribute to the judiciary reform process in Guinea through establishing a new social contract on justice linking CSOs, magistrates and auxiliaries of justice. Strategically, the project was based on two outcome components, to support increased capacity for advocacy, monitoring and judicial oversight, and enhanced capacity for dialogue and collaboration between civil society and the judiciary on ways to improve the judicial system in order for it to become more responsive to the needs of civil society. This strategic approach appropriate for the limited scope of the project; its key points of strength were the acknowledgement that training was a first step before the setting up a platform for dialogue and the inclusion of a mini-grant scheme. The project was ambitious but realistic. However, the methodology did not include a mechanism to replicate project experiences beyond the target areas of Conakry and Kankan - the most important judicial districts in Guinea - once the project ended.
Report
Evaluation Date
August 2014
Country