Mid-term performance evaluation of USAID/Georgia judicial independence and legal empowerment project (JILEP) : final report

JILEP is being implemented during the period September 24, 2010-September 24, 2014, by the East-West Management Institute (EWMI). JILEP was designed to support and strengthen the judiciary as an independent yet equal branch of government, and to improve Georgia's commercial law system. The main objectives of the evaluation were to determine the effectiveness of JILEP and to provide recommendations on corrective actions and new directions for the remaining years of project implementation and beyond. The main thrust of the evaluation included analyzing JILEP activities from the project's start in September 2010 through the initiation of this evaluation in June 2013 to review progress toward achieving key expected results, as well as identify accomplishments, delays, challenges, and their impact on the project. An integral part of the evaluation mission was to answer a set of pre-determined questions, which focused primarily on judicial reform, building a civil society coalition, legal education, and commercial law. These questions are depicted in the body of this report, followed by sections related to findings, conclusions and recommendations. They concern: (1) the interplay between direct support for the judicial system and support for civil society organizations (CSOs) intent on advocating fundamental changes within the judicial system; (2) the project's effect on judicial reform despite support from the judicial leadership; (3) the project's approach to building a coalition of like-minded non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to support judicial reform; (4) the extent to which the project's approach to legal education was effective; and (5) the extent to which the project's approach to commercial law was effective. The evaluation concludes that: (1) JILEP's design allowed it to allocate resources based on the political will or willingness of its target partners; (2) JILEP's activities effectively contributed to judicial independence, transparency and professionalism; (3) JILEP has been effective in designing and implementing activities that contribute to improved legal education in Georgia and its enhancement of clinical education to hone students' skills is a major breakthrough in Georgia's legal education system; (4) JILEP's activities have had a modest impact on the High School of Justice's ability to provide commercial law training to judges; and (5) due to JILEP's various activities, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) has gained wider acceptance in both mediation and arbitration and commercial adjudication is perceived as less fair by attorneys than it was a year ago. Recommendations include: (1) support for civil society and core legal institutions together in one project is an effective lever for reform; (2) JILEP should continue to work directly with the High Council of Justice, the High School of Justice (HSOJ) and the Ministry of Justice in the same technical areas it has pursued since inception, with a greater focus on those that have not been completed; (3) JILEP should expand its work focusing on the empowerment of judges by assisting the Conference of Judges and the newly-created Unity of Judges; (4) JILEP should continue to work through Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary as the two-prong approach in pursuing judicial reforms has been successful; (5) JILEP should develop a sustainability strategy for the legal education component to ensure that the initiatives it started continue beyond project completion; (6) JILEP can focus its efforts on commercial law with the HSOJ, which has been generally receptive to commercial law training. (Excerpt, modified)