UNDP Strengthening Efficiency of and Access to Justice in Moldova 2020-2024 - Strengthening efficiency of and access to justice in Moldova UNDP Strengthening Efficiency of and Access to Justice in Moldova 2020-2024 “Att stärka effektiviteten och tillgången till rättvisa i Moldavien 2020-2022" är en insats som ska genomföras av UNDP:s landskontor i Moldavien. Insatsen är baserad på resultat av inledningsfasen som genomfördes 2019-2020. 

Det övergripande syftet med projektet är att bidra till en ökad effektivitet av rättsväsendet och att förbättra tillgången av rättsväsendet för män och kvinnor i Moldavien, särskilt för sårbara och marginaliserade grupper. Detta genom att förbättra kapaciteten av kriminaltekniska institutioner för att ge en kvalitativ rättslig service. Dessutom, stärka kapaciteten av rättssektorn i de utvalda pilotregionerna för att kunna ge ett koordinerat gensvar till män och kvinnors rättsliga behov samt stärka civilsamhällets förmåga att kräva respekt för sina rättigheter och engagera sig i en konstruktiv dialog med aktörerna i rättssektorn.

Den totala budgeten för interventionen är 25 019 740 SEK. Sverige är den enda donatorn som stöttar den här insatsen. "Strengthening Efficiency of and Access to Justice in Moldova 2020-2022" is a contribution to be implemented by UNDP Moldova country office. The intervention is based on conclusions and findings formulated after the inception phase executed in 2019-2020.  

The overall objective of the project is to contribute to an increased efficiency of justice services and to improved access to justice of men and women in Moldova, in particular from vulnerable and marginalized groups, through enhanced capacities of forensic institutions to provide qualitative justice services, strengthened capacities of the justice sector actors in 4 pilot areas to provide coordinated response to men’s and women’s justice needs and strengthened civil society able to claim the respect of rights and engage in a constructive dialogue with the justice chain actors. 

The total budget for the intervention is  25 019 740 SEK. Sweden is the only donor that supports this contribution. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to an increased efficiency of justice service and to improved access to justice of men and women in Moldova, in particular from vulnerable and marginalized groups, through enhanced capacities of forensic institutions to provide qualitative justice services, strengthened capacities of the justice sector actors in 4 selected pilot areas to provide coordinated response to men’s and women’s justice needs and strengthened civil society able to claim the respect of rights and engage in a constructive dialogue with the justice chain actors.
Output 1: Forensic system strengthened with digitalised processes and sustainable technical and administrative capacities
A new Law on the Judicial Expertise and the Status of Judicial Expert had entered into force at the end of 2016, introducing a new regulatory framework and the requirements on the functionality of the judicial expertise system on such issues, as the coordination and methodological mechanisms, admission to the judicial expert profession, training and qualification/licensing of judicial experts, etc. The Output will be implemented through the following indicative development interventions:
1.1. Build coordination among the forensic institutions as per the requirements of the new Law on the Judicial Expertise and the Status of Judicial Expert and the efficient management standards.
1.2. Review the regulatory and institutional framework of forensic expertise.
1.3. Strengthen human and methodological sustainability of the forensic system
1.4 Development of Forensic Case Management System (e-system)
Output 2: Enhanced capacities for coordinated justice delivery and improved access to justice for the vulnerable groups at the subnational level (in 4 pilot regions)
The component will be focused on developing capacities for a coordinated justice delivery at the sub-national level to ensure better access to justice for the vulnerable groups. This component will explore and experiment innovative solutions, developed and tested at the grass-root level in pilot areas, to improve the access to and the administration of justice and coordination between agencies and to advocate that results from the pilot areas are scaled-up and inform national policy making in this sector. Emphasis will be put on strengthening capacities of various justice chain actors and streamline of processes and procedures. It will focus on addressing issues of administration of justice at the grass-root level that adversely affect the most vulnerable, while empowering and working with civil society organizations to enhance access to justice for the population, as well as communication between diverse actors in the justice and law enforcement sector. Experiences and achievements in the pilot areas will be documented and shared to inform sector-wide policy change and reform initiatives at the national and/or sub-national levels. The Output will be implemented through the following indicative development interventions subject to revision following the results of the mapping exercise and needs assessment to be undertaken during the inception phase of the Project: 
2.1. Facilitate the coordination, cooperation and capacitation of key justice sector actors in four (4) regions of the Republic of Moldova (North, South, Centre and Gagauzia) through the development and operationalisation of the technical dialogue/coordination platforms among the core justice chain actors (judiciary, prosecution, police, legal aid/defence lawyers), civil society and other social stakeholders on issues related to the efficiency of and access to justice for local population, and with a particular focus on vulnerable groups.The 4 pilot regions were decided in a way to cover North, South, Center and Gagauzia Region (the autonomous region where Gagauz minority is located) – to have the intervention in regions from all Moldova. In the process of identifying the regions for intervention, the priority was given to regions with a lower development index and which have received less development assistance complemented by selected data on the functioning of justice (criminality rate, functioning of courts, progress in solving different categories of cases, presence of vulnerable groups, etc.). Gagauzia region was picked up by default – as the region is not very well integrated in the national processes including justice ones, Soroca – is a region were Roma community represents a major part of the population and the priority will be to develop the necessary tools including for Roma community to have access to justice in a improved way. The regions for intervention are related to the optimized court map, so that the proposed interventions take place as a priority in the district where the headquarters of the court is located. 
2.2. The core justice chain actors - members of the local technical coordination groups - will be engaged in capacity development program tailored to the needs of the group (up to 20 professionals from each pilot region), focusing on building leadership skills, management skills (project management, time management), strategic communication capacities (in particular, with the vulnerable groups), professional ethics and integrity and human rights knowledge and implications for concrete contexts. The issues to be addressed will be identified during the technical dialogues. They could include, but will not be limited to the following:
• Addressing particular aspects of legislation and legal practice related to justice for local population in the pilot regions considering their specific context and with a focus on vulnerable groups, victims of crime, arrests, ethics, anti-corruption/integrity, etc.;• Supporting the improvement of case management and pretrial procedural mechanisms between police, prosecution, legal aid/defence lawyers and courts to reduce criminal justice delays; • Modelling a sector approach to GBV cases between police, legal aid/paralegals/defence lawyers, prosecution, courts, prisons and/or probation to operationalize an effective response of the whole penal chain to this matter and ensure equal access to legal and judicial protection for the GBV survivors and working with aggressors on the basis of the related international and national standards and best practices.For instance, the experience and the model of work in GBV cases facilitated by the NGO “Artemida” from Drochia will be presented for inspiration and eventual replication.
The lessons learned exercises and events will be organised for the codification of the regional experiences and for their upscaling to other regions and/or to the national level. In addition to the above, central justice institutions will be involved into the project implementation as Board members, thus building their ownership and commitment for further upscaling. Coordination with UN Women will be ensured to benefit from the synergy of efforts, especially on the GBV related issues.
2.3. Define, develop and pilot innovative solutions for a more efficient administration of justice and improved access to justice for the vulnerable groups at the subnational level.
2.4. Strengthen capacities of civil society in the pilot regions and confidence building between the justice sector actors and the civil society and people belonging to vulnerable groups from pilot regions. The Project will engage with local civil society organizations from the selected pilot areas to strengthen their institutional and expertise capacities to proactively oversee justice delivery and engage in improving access to justice, thus creating by these means a sustainable social environment demanding justice.
2.5. Strengthen the informational access to justice for men and women from pilot regions with the focus on people belonging to vulnerable, minority and marginalised groups. Activities under this component will aim at increasing the public awareness of local communities and stakeholders on the sector-wide reforms and achievements, gaps and actions required to address these issues.
2.6. Strengthen the knowledge and research base for sector wide collaboration and interventions The Project will seek to enable evidence-based sector-wide collaboration and decision making by equipping the stakeholders with analytic and research products on justice sector reform. A number of cross-sector topics will be explored to provide the relevant research base and to inform any subsequent justice policy development to be undertaken by the Government and other key stakeholders.