Community-Level Access to Justice (SL0031)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address? This Commitment endeavours to address inadequate Justice delivery services to meet growing demand especially for the most marginalized and deprived sections of the country (2017 Perception Survey on justice delivery) The sector is marred with limited resources; shortage of staff and limited capacity; lack of public trust in the judiciary and police; inadequate funding to support justice sector reform; and poor data and records management systems; overcrowding in correctional centres and Inadequate legal aid services nationwideonce implemented, the commitment will address the aforementioned problems.

What is the commitment? It will ensure that all citizens benefit from a fair, impartial, and effective justice sector through enabling increased access to justice, expedition of justice, protection of human rights, and equal opportunities for economic development. Expected outcomes will be:  Strengthened community engagement in justice service delivery and improved confidence in dispensation of justice.  This commitment will further consolidate the trust in the informal justice mechanisms such as the local courts  The commitment will further help in solidifying the use of community paralegals as articulated In the Legal Aid Act. 2012  Improve information sharing between the formal justice system and informal justice mechanism and vice versa

How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem? The Commitment is encapsulated in the sector-wide Justice Sector Reform Strategy and Investment Plan (JSRSIP) and justice sector institutions' strategic plans are linked to the plan. The plan, if implemented, has the potential of improving citizens’ awareness of their rights and responsibilities in accessing justice at a moderate level. The commitment is also set to advance equal access to justice for all at the local level by strengthening legal services available in rural areas

Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? This commitment is relevant to the OGP value of public accountability, by making justice mechanisms cheaper, faster, and easier to access. It will also create a platform for strengthening channels where citizens can hold the government accountable

Additional information

Milestone Activity with a verifiable deliverable Start Date: End Date: A justice centre is established with data aggregation system that promotes interaction between community justice providers and the formal justice system Jan 2022 Dec 2022 Recruitment of 10 local courts personnel Dec 2021 Dec 2022 Finalization and roll out of the Diversion and Alternatives to Detention Framework for Children through public engagements in all police stations nationwide Dec 2021 Dec 2022 Recruitment & Deployment of 30 State Counsels Dec 2021 Dec 2022 NAP III Commitment on training of paralegals Jan 2022 Jun 2023

Action Plan Review

Commitment 2. Access to Justice

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Modest

Results Report

Commitment 2. Access to Justice

This commitment sought to ensure that all citizens benefit from a fair, impartial and effective justice sector through enabling increased access to justice and equal opportunities for economic development. [35] This commitment is continued from the previous action plan and included in National Action Plan V. While important, this commitment lacked a strong connection to open government as most of the milestones were internal to the government and did not directly contribute to making government more transparent, participatory or accountable to the public.

Shahid Korjie, Coordinator at JSCO, [36] noted that there has been some progress in establishing the justice centre with a data aggregation system that promotes interaction between community justice providers and the formal justice system (milestone 1). Preliminary discussions took off with the technical arm of government, Directorate of Science and Technology and Innovation (DSTI). [37] However, there have been leadership changes within DSTI and for the Attorney General that stalled the discussions. A JSCO report [38] refers to a database being developed to enhance the case management system. It is not clear if this is the same database in milestone 1 or could potentially be linked for deeper analysis.

On the recruitment of 10 local courts personnel (milestone 2), Shahid Korjie stated that there has been recruitment of personnel in the local courts. The IRM researcher did not receive a confirmation on how many these were. There have been efforts to further strengthen the local courts with the Ministry of Justice, attorney general and chief justice going through all local courts across the country for inspection and needs assessment sensitisation to inform a process that seeks to reconstitute them. [39] The JSCO also supported the judiciary in strengthening the local courts through a grant from OSIWA. This grant covered the development of a training manual and training of local courts officials. A consultant was recruited to develop the training manual and curriculum. [40] This training manual was validated. [41] Recruitment and deployment of 30 state counsels (milestone 4) is an ongoing process coordinated by the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice. Applications were received and several were deployed to provinces. [42] Little evidence is accessible, given the closed nature of the recruitment of judiciary officers in Sierra Leone.

The finalization and rollout of the Diversion Framework for Children through public engagement in all police stations nationwide was completed, with support from UNICEF (milestone 3). The framework [43] was developed collaboratively with stakeholders in the Child Justice Working Group (judges, magistrates, religious institutions, police and civil society) with public engagement to standardize the approach of dealing with children who come into contact with the law. The framework is in place and has been piloted with 50 police stations countrywide and trained 120 child justice actors and policy tested in 10 selected police stations with the formation of the Diversion Committee Members in the piloted police stations to oversee the implementation of the process. [44]^{, [45]} There is ongoing sensitisation on the framework, plans to table the framework at Cabinet for review and approval, and to mainstream the programme in the public budget as a main workstream of the institution. [46] JSCO, as chair of the Child Justice Working Group, is using lessons learnt in the process to improve the effectiveness of implementation.

JSCO focused on training of paralegals (milestone 5). A comprehensive curriculum and training manual for paralegals was developed with consultations from key stakeholders. This included digitized teaching materials for tutors and students. The curriculum has been validated, and training for a one-year certificate course for paralegals was underway in 2022 at the Justice and Legal Training Institute. [47] Shahid Korjie further shared that the training was undertaken in four sets involving relevant institutions such as the Legal Aids Board, which is responsible for state paralegals. [48]