Eighteenth Quarterly Report: January 1 - March 31, 2010

The program, funded by USAID, focused on enhancing civic education in Palestinian schools, supporting the High Judicial Council (HJC), and promoting judicial reform. A major achievement was the completion of activities supporting civic education in Palestinian schools. Netham, along with the Minister of Education and Higher Education, Ms. Lamees Al Alami, hosted a close-out ceremony at the Grand Park Hotel in Ramallah on February 11, 2010. The event was attended by high-ranking officials, including the USAID Administrator's Special Assistant for the Middle East, Mr. George Laudato, and the Chief Justice, Farid Al Jallad. The program also supported the HJC in various initiatives, including the inauguration of the newly renovated Judicial Mediation Center. The center was renovated with funding from Netham, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony was conducted by the Chief Justice and the USAID Mission Director, Howard Sumka. The center will allow the media to more easily cover the judiciary and bring transparency and accountability to court proceedings. In addition, Netham facilitated the travel of 7 HJC judges to the Judicial Institute of Jordan for a two-week training course on mediation cases. The training aimed to build the judges' capacities to serve as settlement judges in pilot courts. Furthermore, Netham supported the travel of another 7 judges to Amman, Jordan for a "Training of Trainers" program on Civil Case Management Training. The program also made significant progress in renovating and upgrading the Qalqilia Courthouse. Netham assisted in renovating and upgrading the Notary Public, Civil Judgment, and Notification Departments, as well as the Central Archiving area. The courthouse was inaugurated on March 18, 2010, and was attended by high-ranking officials, including the Chief Justice and the USAID Mission Director. In other initiatives, Netham procured uniforms for the Notification Department staff, printed the HJC's newsletter, QADAOUNA, and published the HJC Decision Booklet. The booklet contains court decisions and regulations developed by the HJC, which will ease access for judges and court staff. Additionally, Netham finalized the published Notification Procedures Manuals for the Court Administration Department (CAD) and installed the final version of the continuous training software program into the server at the Palestinian Judicial Institute. The program also conducted capacity building trainings for MOJ lawyers, including financial impact analysis training and legislative drafting sessions. Netham also completed upgrades to the National Justice Record System (NJRS) and continued to provide interns to assist in confirming data and archiving applications for non-conviction certificates using the system.