USAID Justice Activity in Kosovo Quarterly Performance and Financial Report (Year 1)

The project's goal is to improve the quality and accessibility of justice services, enhance citizen understanding, engagement, and trust of the justice system, and develop effective innovations in the justice sector. The project's approach is grounded in a problem-driven iterative adaptation (PDIA) approach, informed by USAID's local systems framework. This approach integrates activities at every level of the justice ecosystem, positioning the project to collaborate with local stakeholders in generating, testing, and refining context-specific solutions to locally nominated and prioritized problems. The project will regularly use the applied political economy analysis (APEA) tool to examine the structures, interests, motives, and incentives driving behavior that contributes to the justice gap and address them through the flexible Strategic Activities Fund (SAF). The project has established good working relationships with key institutions, such as the Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC), Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Free Legal Aid Agency (FLAA), Kosovo Academy of Justice (KAJ), the University of Pristina, grassroots and national-level non-governmental organizations, as well as project partners such as the Innovation Centre Kosovo (ICK) and the Advocacy Training and Resource Center (ATRC). The project has also begun working with Court Presidents of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and Basic Courts across all seven regions of Kosovo to operationalize the Justice Activity support in the creation of partnerships between the courts and citizens to develop initiatives to improve transparency and expand pathways to justice at the grassroots level. The project has completed several key activities during the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2021, including the completion of a desk review of previous surveys and assessments that were implemented by USAID and other donor justice programs. The desk review analyzes trends across the country in the last two years and identifies gaps and bottlenecks to address in the basic court assessment. The project has also completed two virtual community meetings in Gjilan and Ferizaj with justice seekers, including women, youth, village council members, and citizens from non-majority communities. The participants identified problems related to access to justice services, access to information, and experience with the justice system. The project has also laid the groundwork for the establishment of a monthly forum for Public Information Officers (PIO) of courts and the KJC to address capacity-building needs, sharing best practices and ideas to improve how courts communicate with their users and their communities. The project's Justice Innovation Specialist has worked closely with partner ICK to lay the foundation for future Justice Innovation competitions, diversifying the actors able to address justice seeker needs. The project's Objective 1 team has begun working with Court Presidents to operationalize the Justice Activity support in the creation of partnerships between the courts and citizens to develop initiatives to improve transparency and expand pathways to justice at the grassroots level. The project's Objective 2 team, in partnership with ATRC, has planned and initiated project efforts to strengthen the team's understanding of citizen justice needs through community meetings and one-on-one interviews. The project's Justice Innovation Specialist has worked closely with partner ICK to lay the foundation for future Justice Innovation competitions, diversifying the actors able to address justice seeker needs. The project has made significant progress in establishing good working relationships with key institutions and stakeholders, and has laid the groundwork for several key activities and initiatives. The project's approach and activities are grounded in a problem-driven iterative adaptation (PDIA) approach, informed by USAID's local systems framework, and are designed to integrate activities at every level of the justice ecosystem. The project will continue to work with local stakeholders to generate, test, and refine context-specific solutions to locally nominated and prioritized problems, and will regularly use the applied political economy analysis (APEA) tool to examine the structures, interests, motives, and incentives driving behavior that contributes to the justice gap.