There has been a notable shift across all USAID offices and the broader U.S. federal government towards a heightened emphasis on data collection, evidence generation, applied research, and learning, and the trend is evident in a series of regulatory and guidance documents. USAID’s 2022-2026 Agency Learning Agenda, along with USAID’s 45 sector-specific evidence and learning…
Instead of organizing events around report outs from projects, what if we started with a bold proposition: What could we do this year that would really help produce new insights and innovations in rule of law, citizen security, and transitional justice projects around the world, especially implementing an approach that puts people and their needs…
The Rule of Law Summit convened a global network of Rule of Law practitioners, donors, implementers, and thought leaders who shared concrete and transferable learning on current trends and practices in people-centered justice approaches to inform the implementation and impact of USAID’s Rule of Law programs. Reflecting USAID Administrator Samantha Power’s call for “progress beyond…
Erik Landemalm has over 20 years of international experience focused on East and Southern Africa. Prior to joining Chemonics, Erik spent many years based in Somalia and Kenya, leading international development projects around the region focused on Rule of Law, legislative and executive institutional strengthening, and supporting civil society organizations for various donors including the…
In 2020, there were more than 122,000 reported cases of gender-based violence (GBV) in Colombia. The country has also seen a rise in femicides in recent years. Since January 2022, the USAID Inclusive Justice Activity has been trying to improve Colombian citizens’ trust in the justice system by increasing access to justice services and reducing…
Chris currently serves as team leader on the HMG-funded Western Balkans Rule of Law Initiative, a highly adaptive transparency & accountability and criminal justice program working across each of the Western Balkans 6. Chris is a lawyer by background and has worked on many aspects of criminal, civil, and commercial justice as well as on…
Trust is a familiar concept, yet one too often ignored in programme design. It isan essential ingredient of mutually beneficial human relationships. Internationaldevelopment projects, particularly those in the field of governance, rely on relationshipsto meet their objectives. Trust smooths collaboration between project staff, donors,local stakeholders, governments, and, ultimately, the people who benefit fromprogramming. Despite its…
Haiti needed a functional justice system for its citizens to emancipate economic development and lift Haiti out of extreme poverty To do so, JSSP used strategies with various stakeholders to adopt a modernized Haitian penal procedural code, replacing the outdated 1835 version. Legislations to accompany the code, such as the laws on prosecutors, and the…
Tomas Bridle has more than 20 years of experience designing and implementing democracy and governance projects world-wide. Tomas is joining the DG Practice from USAID where he served as the Senior Advisor at the Center of Excellence for Democracy, Human Rights and Governance (DRG). Here he provided support to USAID missions on program design, country cooperation…
People-centered justice (PCJ) is a rule of law approach that relies on the perspectives, needs, strengths, and expectations of the justice user to improve the quality of justice and reduce barriers to service delivery. It is an approach designed to fill the gaps of traditional, institution-focused programming that has left an estimated 5 billion people…
For years, public confidence in Colombia’s justice system has been troublingly low, particularly in rural areas that lack sufficient government presence. Citizens in these areas interact with a justice system that is unresponsive to their needs and has a limited capacity to meet local requirements. Opportunities to improve citizens’ trust in the justice system are…