Mid-Term Performance Evaluation of the Ukraine Access to Justice and Legal Empowerment Project

Agency for International Development (USAID) to strengthen the capacity of legal advocacy organizations (LAOs) and student law clinics. The project aimed to build the capacity of LAOs and student legal clinics to represent the interests of citizens, develop a sustainable nationwide network of LAOs, and leverage their work for national reform efforts. To achieve these objectives, the project created a network of three thematic coalitions consisting of 128 LAOs and student legal clinics and 27 pro bono law firms. The project's goal was to strengthen the capacity of LAOs to effectively represent the interests of Ukrainian citizens and promote broader access to justice. To reach this objective, the project provided training sessions and direct funding for public information and advocacy campaigns to help inform citizens of their legal rights. The project also focused on building the outreach skills of LAOs through training sessions and direct funding of public information and advocacy campaigns. The three thematic coalitions have allowed LAOs to organize themselves around key issues, but also represent limiting divisions in the legal assistance sector. Most LAOs and student legal clinics provide services across many different legal areas. The project's engagement with the judicial sector, other rule of law programs, and the broader Ukrainian legal assistance community has been mixed. The project has reacted to other rule of law assistance and has adjusted its programming accordingly, successfully transitioning from providing organizational to coalition-level capacity building support. However, the project has not pursued a close working relationship with other rule of law programs. The project's partners believe their capacity has increased due to their involvement in the project, largely due to the relationships and networks they have formed with their fellow LAOs. The project has also provided assistance to LAOs to collectively seek outside sources of funding to ensure the financial self-sustainability of the charitable organization post-project. The project's findings and conclusions assess the progress of LEP on reaching its objectives. The project has made progress in building the capacity of LAOs and student legal clinics, but there are still challenges to be addressed. The project's evaluation team gathered information through document review, informant interviews, focus groups, an online survey of LEP partners, and attendance at the recent LEP quarterly meeting. The evaluation team addressed five questions outlined in the scope of work, including the extent to which the planned LEP approach is achieving the desired results, whether the project is doing enough to achieve the first project objective, and the prospects for sustainability of the end results produced by the project. The evaluation team also gathered information to respond to requests for recommendations, including the current staffing mix of LEP and the potential activities and means of support that could be furnished over the final two years of the project. The project's evaluation team has provided findings, conclusions, and recommendations to guide the remaining two years of the LEP project. The recommendations include adjusting the current staffing mix of LEP to ensure the effective achievement of planned results and objectives, identifying local organizations targeted by LEP that have the capacity to directly implement USAID programming in the access to justice sector, and providing potential activities and means of support to reveal which Ukrainian partners are most suited to be recipients of direct USG assistance.