AID cooperative agreement no. 518-0105-A-00-3375-00 with the Corporacion Latinamericana para el Desarrollo (CLD) to assist Ecuador to accelerate its judicial reform process and improve the administration of justice

The project, to be implemented mainly by the Latin American Development Corporation (CLD), will build a constituency for judicial reform, and provide technical support for the reform process, especially in the private sector. The project will also develop CLD"s own institutional and monitoring/evaluation capacities and support a Government of Ecuador (GOE) working group on reform. To increase support for judicial reform, CLD will publish and disseminate a pamphlet or brochure describing the reasons for reform; disseminate various materials (e.g, pamphlets, posters, seminar materials) explaining and justifying judicial reform to Ecuadorian leaders; support constituency-building seminars for leaders and opinion makers; design a public awareness campaign; and promote public debate on judicial reform. Secondly, CLD will accelerate the reform process by providing TA to two private sector judicial reform working groups -- the Guayaquil and Quito Working Groups. CLD and the groups will draft legislation which is needed to implement judicial reforms in Ecuador and plan other programs to improve the administration of justice (e.g., upgrading judicial personnel, the public defenders system, the case management system, law libraries and documentation centers, and legal education). CLD will also collaborate with the GOE Justice Sector Working Group in sponsoring observational tours to reform programs in other Latin American countries. Thirdly, CLD will strengthen its institutional capacities by: developing a Board of Directors and Advisory Committees, as well as managerial, administrative, personnel, and accounting systems; develop a strategic plan identifying programmatic and institutional goals; and establish a modest branch office to support the Guayaquil Judicial Reform Working Group. CLD will also develop a monitoring and evaluation plan to measure the impact of its activities and of changes brought about by the judicial reform process. The project will also support formation of a joint Ecuador/USAID Justice Sector Working Group to design a new project to support judicial reform in Ecuador; the Group will include both policy and technical personnel and will be comprised of 5-6 GOE representatives, 2 private sector representatives, and representatives from USAID/Ecuador. Also funded are studies needed for strategic planning of judicial reform (e.g., baseline studies, needs assessments, and feasibility studies), and limited travel by public and private sector officials to observe judicial reform in other Latin American countries. (This final paragraph is based on PD-ABK-024.)