Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development

Community Justice Teams project

(
Non-governmental organization (NGO)
)
#SDGAction43285
Description
Description
When citizens face legal challenges in Liberia, the lack of legitimacy, affordability, accessibility and timeliness of the formal justice system often prevents any feasible recourse. Extensive bureaucratic red tape coupled with transportation and legal costs, lawyer fees, and opportunity costs of foregone work make the justice system not only physically but also financially unavailable to many. As pointed out in the UNDP/UNMIL Strengthening the Rule of Law in Liberia project documents, even before the civil war, the formal justice system was perennially weak. The judiciary and police are currently ranked publicly as the most corrupt set of institutions in the country which holds true with transparency international global barometer ranking of these institutions since 2013 which not only undermines any sense that wrong-doing will be punished but has hollowed out trust in public processes more broadly. As one citizen pointed out to us in recently: “There is simply no justice for the poor,” this is particularly the case in very low income, high-density urban settings, where disputes are frequent and other traditional justice mechanisms which still endure in rural areas are often absent because of the more transient, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic nature of communities.
This project will continue to address these issues through supporting Community Justice Teams (CJTs) at the local level in low-income, high-density and insecure areas of Monrovia, Gbarnga and Kakata. Selected carefully the mediators represent the demographics of the community- work with citizens to resolve disputes before they reach the point of violence or need to be taken to the police. Local residents are made aware of the CJTs through a town crier who walks around the community regularly reminding people to contact a mediator if they are facing a problem; and through community radio discussions.
The mediators establish ground rules- confidentiality, honesty and inclusivity- and then listen to the details of the cases. The process builds an understanding of a fair compromise- sometimes over the course of many weeks. As of this year 2019 we anticipate that our four centers will cumulatively resolve over 300 disputes. Since 2013 to 2018 the Citizens’ Bureau in partnership with the Accountability Lab have resolved over 500 cases- on everything from domestic violence to land rights issues- with no recidivism (ie. none of these cases have fallen back into conflict because the resolutions are built on community trust).
Expected Impact

The outcome of this work is an informed community of Liberian citizens at the local level who can solve legal disputes, raise awareness of justice issues and build trust within urban, poor and insecure communities. We estimate that the 300 cases to be resolved as of this year will save citizens impacted over US$100,000 that would otherwise have been spent on bribes and legal fees and a cumulative total of over 2.5 years of time they would have spent navigating the legal system. Through resolving disputes before they reach the courts, and by working with the local police to feed cases back down to the CJTs, the mediators are also reducing the burden on the formal justice system. The cases the CJTs deal with are civil cases. Criminal cases are referred to the police and then followed up on by the mediators to ensure they receive the attention they require through the formal justice system.
The project is building sustainable capacity among communities to mediate and solve disputes over time by training the mediators in mediation and legal issue. This knowledge and these skills will endure well beyond the period of the grant, and can be transferred to new volunteer mediators over time. With this approach, issue of mob violence are expected to be reduced as well as violence against women by their male counterparts. As the communities show appreciation for the tools created it changes violent attitude and thinking of people from feeling marginalized when it comes to justice dispensation for wrong perpetrated against them, toward seeking a more peaceful, fair and justifiable approach to resolve disputes through the Community Justice Teams. It promotes community harmony and consciousness between citizens as opposed to the lack there of. As regards to the cases resolved by the mediators, especially with domestic violence cases, given this experienced, we have considered to include counseling in our approach to mediation to help victims overcome their situations and provide corrective counseling to offenders. It is hoped that by so doing, both victims and perpetrators will have an understanding about conflict, raising their consciousness to refrain from violence as they sharpen their approaches in dealing with conflict anytime, anywhere. We would also like to, instead of only paper info graphics, for lasting impact in reducing conflict and violent to promote a more environmentally friendly ways we can present information about the project in the future for examples through a mural or billboard.
Other future action will includes regular update to our Community Justice Teams’ website, which would consist of a public content and learning update, including survey data, podcasts, media coverage, and other blogs related to justice issues. Such an update to the website would serve as a rich repository for anyone interested in community justice in Liberia, especially since there is currently almost no useful data on these issues online.

Partners
UNDP, Accountability Lab, Trust Africa

Goal 16

Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

Goal 16

16.1

Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere

16.1.1
Number of victims of intentional homicide per 100,000 population, by sex and age
16.1.2
Conflict-related deaths per 100,000 population, by sex, age and cause
16.1.3

Proportion of population subjected to (a) physical violence, (b) psychological violence and/or (c) sexual violence in the previous 12 months

16.1.4

Proportion of population that feel safe walking alone around the area they live after dark

16.2

End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children

16.2.1

Proportion of children aged 1–17 years who experienced any physical punishment and/or psychological aggression by caregivers in the past month

16.2.2
Number of victims of human trafficking per 100,000 population, by sex, age and form of exploitation
16.2.3

Proportion of young women and men aged 18–29 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18

16.3

Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all

16.3.1

Proportion of victims of (a) physical, (b) psychological and/or (c) sexual violence in the previous 12 months who reported their victimization to competent authorities or other officially recognized conflict resolution mechanisms

16.3.2
Unsentenced detainees as a proportion of overall prison population
16.3.3

Proportion of the population who have experienced a dispute in the past two years and who accessed a formal or informal dispute resolution mechanism, by type of mechanism

16.4

By 2030, significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows, strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets and combat all forms of organized crime

16.4.1
Total value of inward and outward illicit financial flows (in current United States dollars)
16.4.2
Proportion of seized, found or surrendered arms whose illicit origin or context has been traced or established by a competent authority in line with international instruments

16.5

Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms

16.5.1
Proportion of persons who had at least one contact with a public official and who paid a bribe to a public official, or were asked for a bribe by those public officials, during the previous 12 months
16.5.2
Proportion of businesses that had at least one contact with a public official and that paid a bribe to a public official, or were asked for a bribe by those public officials during the previous 12 months

16.6

Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels

16.6.1
Primary government expenditures as a proportion of original approved budget, by sector (or by budget codes or similar)
16.6.2

Proportion of population satisfied with their last experience of public services

16.7

Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels

16.7.1

Proportions of positions in national and local institutions, including (a) the legislatures; (b) the public service; and (c) the judiciary, compared to national distributions, by sex, age, persons with disabilities and population groups

16.7.2
Proportion of population who believe decision-making is inclusive and responsive, by sex, age, disability and population group

16.8

Broaden and strengthen the participation of developing countries in the institutions of global governance

16.8.1

Proportion of members and voting rights of developing countries in international organizations

16.9

By 2030, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration

16.9.1
Proportion of children under 5 years of age whose births have been registered with a civil authority, by age

16.10

Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements

16.10.1
Number of verified cases of killing, kidnapping, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and torture of journalists, associated media personnel, trade unionists and human rights advocates in the previous 12 months
16.10.2
Number of countries that adopt and implement constitutional, statutory and/or policy guarantees for public access to information

16.a

Strengthen relevant national institutions, including through international cooperation, for building capacity at all levels, in particular in developing countries, to prevent violence and combat terrorism and crime

16.a.1
Existence of independent national human rights institutions in compliance with the Paris Principles

16.b

Promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies for sustainable development

16.b.1
Proportion of population reporting having personally felt discriminated against or harassed in the previous 12 months on the basis of a ground of discrimination prohibited under international human rights law
Name Description
Survey-we’ll conduct 3 community justice surveys each across the 4 communities over the course of the grant; which activities include: Data gathering in communities; Production of info graphic; community town hall meeting
Capacity development on justice issues: To train 8 mediators and 1 manager in each of the 4 communities on method of dispute resolution, conflict mediation and consensus creation and trust building as well as training on legal issue by legal experts
Legal support in communities: throughout the project period the CJT will mediate disputes and conflicts, with the goal to mediate 300 disputes this year; communicate with the police and courts to track 20 of these cases over the project period
Dissemination of justice information: The use of town criers; radio shows/podcasts about community justice-the CJT managers will collectively organized and run a series of 5 community justice radio shows/podcast
Financing (in USD)
97,600USD support from UNDP
In-kind contribution
A Toshiba computer provided by the Accountability Lab
Other, please specify
Office space provided through the Accountability Lab @ iCampus, Monrovia-Liberia
Staff / Technical expertise
Technical assistance from partners organizations
No progress reports have been submitted. Please sign in and click here to submit one.
False
Action Network
SDG Acceleration Actions
Share
FacebookTwitterLinkedIn
Timeline
01 May 2019 (start date)
30 December 2019 (date of completion)
Entity
Citizens Bureau for Development and Productivity (Citizens Bureau)
SDGs
16
Region
  1. West Asia
Geographical coverage
150 Carey street iCampus Monrovia, Liberia
Other beneficiaries
Other beneficiaries are the populations of Logan Town, West Point, Kokoya Road and Bassa Community. These are all high-density, poor and insecure neighbourhoods, with migrants from across all of Liberia’s 16 ethnic groups. The community members in these areas tend to be socially, politically and economically marginalized within Liberia, with very little sense of upward social mobility or access to justice. Their demographics tend to reflect those of Liberia as a whole, with slightly more women than men in these communities, and with the majority of the inhabitants classified as young people (under the age of 35 years old). \\r\\nThe direct target group of the work are the Community Justice Teams in Logan Town, West Point, Gbarnga and Kakata. These teams consist of 8 mediators and 1 CJT leader in each community for a total of 36. Each CJT consist of at least 50% female mediators. The age of the mediators also reflect the demographics and societal structures of society to ensure that the mediators are both accessible (everyone in the community feels there is someone they can speak to about their disputes) and have the authority to support effective mediation (in some cases older members of the community may be over-represented, given the authority afforded to them). The mediators range in age from 18 to 70.\\r\\n\\r\\nResidents in these communities prefer the free mediation services offer and see our mediators who come from their communities as most trust worthy than police or courts. To ensure our informal justice mechanism benefits the target population, town criers walk around the community imploring the public to seek remedy through the community structures available to them. These residents are citizens hustling everyday to make ends meet and do not have the time and resources to their disposal in seeking formal justice intervention for problems they may encounter. In a country with the saying “no money no justice for the poor” is frustrating for many when they encounter legal problem, causing others sometimes to take the laws into their own hands. Our approach now serve as an alternative where community members can walk in and have mediators hear their legal concerns assisting them in finding a solution.
More information
Countries
Liberia
Liberia
Contact Information

John Kamma, Founder & Executive Director

john.kamma@yahoo.com