Second Quarterly Report, April – June, 2012

The project's overarching objective is to help the Macedonian judiciary evolve as an independent, self-governing, effective, and accountable branch of government capable of meeting the needs of citizens, businesses, and organizations for prompt and impartial protection of their rights and adjudication of their legal disputes. The project's main components focus on supporting the development of professional associations in the justice sector, developing effective court governance systems and practices, and improving the efficiency and quality of justice. The project's objectives are to strengthen the role of the judiciary in the separation of powers and to develop broad-based support for rule of law and judicial-sector reform. The project's areas of work include advocacy and citizen participation in judicial sector reforms, independent, efficient, and consistent application of judicial-sector policies and practices, and effective legal personnel and efficient processes. The project provides technical and managerial experience to key counterparts in the judiciary, legal professional associations, and civil society organizations active in the judicial sector. The project employs a results-driven approach to its planning and programming, focusing on five key results: strengthened advocacy and citizen participation in judicial sector reform, more independent, efficient, and consistent application of judicial policies and practices, increased fairness and efficiency of the administration of justice through more effective legal personnel and efficient processes, crisis-modifier and material support, and serving as rapporteur with the justice sector. The project supports the USAID/Macedonia Assistance Objective 1: Greater Checks and Balances in Democratic Processes, specifically Intermediate Result 1.2: Greater Equilibrium among the Three Branches of Government at the National Level. The project works toward Sub-IR 1.2.2: Greater Judicial Independence and Sub-IR 1.2.3: Increased Confidence in the Judicial System. The project's quarterly report focuses on the progress and implementation of programmatic activities and tasks aimed at delivering the results required under the Tetra Tech DPK contract with USAID. The report highlights the project's achievements throughout 2012, including the development of professional associations in the justice sector, effective court governance systems and practices, and improved efficiency and quality of justice. The project's activities and tasks include identifying and supporting key civil society and professional associations, building capacity of designated LPAs, assisting designated LPAs and CSOs in supporting laws, policies, and practices that support judicial independence, identifying gaps and/or idiosyncrasies in policies and practices of judicial administration and management, building leadership and management capacities, supporting the development of needs-based budgets for the courts, and supporting education for various sectors of the judicial sector. The project's results framework is designed to contribute to the USAID Foreign Assistance Framework for Macedonia, supporting the development of a more independent, effective, and accountable judiciary in Macedonia.