The World Bank’s Justice Reform Practice Group launched the Justice Sector Assessments Handbook on March 29 2007.  The handbook is on the Law and Justice Institutions web site at www.worldbank.org/lji. It is the product of extensive, collaborative research and analytic work.

Moderated by Christina Biebesheimer, Chief Counsel, LEGJR, the launch event’s aim was to highlight what it offers that is new and noteworthy, and to gather some thoughts from colleagues in the field on possible lines of research and issues that merit further study for a later edition of the handbook.  

The authors, Dory Reiling, Judge and Senior Judicial Reform expert, LEGJR, Linn Hammergren, Senior Public Sector Management Specialist in LCSPS, and Adrian Di Giovanni, LEGOP, discussed the making of the handbook. They each highlighted some elements of the handbook’s approach: focusing on user problems, engaging stakeholders, using multiple methodologies, and creating a knowledge base a well as a baseline for development. 

Fellow experts in the Justice Reform field gathered at the launch event to discuss and celebrate the handbook’s completion. Olga Ruda, American Bar Association, Rule of Law Initiative spoke about fostering stakeholder engagement; Melissa Thomas, Associate Professor of International Development, Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) discussed the justice reform knowledge base; and Randi Ryterman, Sector Manager, PRMPS, discussed experience with governance diagnostics. The speakers’ presentations were followed by a general round table discussion by both Bank staff and other development practitioners engaged in the justice reform field.

The Handbook is a practical guide for carrying out justice sector assessments, meant primarily for Bank team leaders but also for a wider audience of development practitioners. The handbook is the first description of practices in justice sector assessments available.  It provides lessons learned from past experience, an overview of good practices from the Bank and other institutions, and a step-by-step approach to organizing, conducting, writing up, and disseminating these diagnostic studies.   Emphasizing that there is no one-size-fits-all model for a good assessment, the authors present a series of alternatives in terms of scope of coverage, data collection methodologies, and issues addressed.  The goal is to provide an assessment that will inform reform programs and thus on starting by defining the problems to be resolved. Publication of the Handbook is also planned in the Legal Vice-Presidency’s Law, Justice and Development series.