The Improving Justice Service Delivery and Sector Reform in Haiti Project, also known as PROJUSTICE, was established in July 2009 with the goal of improving the administration of justice in Haiti. The project was led by Chief of Party Claudio Santorum and had significant home office assistance from DPK Consulting Co-Founder and Director William E. Davis, Technical Advisors Mark Lasser and Charles Jakosa, Project Officer Patricia Valdivieso, Recruiting Specialist Sarah Avendaño, and representatives of sub-contractor Louis Berger Group Stephanie Mattes and Alex Goodspeed.
During the start-up period, PROJUSTICE established itself as an important participant in improving the administration of justice within the defined areas of the project. The Chief of Party contacted and introduced the project to important national counterparts, including the Minister of Justice, the Director of the School of Magistrates, judges, prosecutors, members of the Presidential and the Ministry of Justice commissions on justice reform and code modernization, and Haitian NGOs focusing on justice reform, advocacy, and civic legal education.
PROJUSTICE established a strong presence at the local level in the target areas of Port-au-Prince, Saint-Marc, and Petit-Goâve by naming local coordinators, carrying out on-the-ground assessments, and forming the Program Action Plan committees to implement the participatory planning processes that would identify problems in the target areas. The coordinators initiated this process following DPK’s original model for identifying the proper participants in target areas, including the deans of the first instance courts, chief prosecutors, justices of the peace, courts clerks, representatives from the bar associations, and investigative judges.
The project supported legal aid, case management, the School of Magistrates, and coordination of justice priorities in target area jurisdictions. During this time period, competitors protested USAID’s decision to award the contract to DPK, and the litigation continued until mid-December when the final appeal was resolved in favor of DPK. Assured of its USAID mandate, PROJUSTICE resumed building upon its start-up operations.
PROJUSTICE’s Chief of Party and the four Project component leaders contacted international, national, and local/regional partners to ramp up activities that had been initiated during the first quarter but stalled during the protest period. At the international level, PROJUSTICE met regularly with MINUSTAH, UNDP, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), and other donors. At the national level, the Chief of Party met with Minister of Justice Paul Denis, along with his Chief of Cabinet Michelle Eveillard, to draft a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in order to facilitate all future financial and technical support by PROJUSTICE.
The devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010 crippled the already weak justice infrastructure in many areas of the country, particularly Port-au-Prince, Jacmel, Léogane, Petit-Goâve, and Gressier. The Justice Palace and the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJPS) were completely destroyed. Other courts and prosecutors’ offices in Port-au-Prince and the rest of the country were seriously damaged. In response to the disaster, PROJUSTICE prepared an emergency plan to provide necessary equipment to the MJPS.
The project provided active support to the courts’ criminal hearings and coordinated the legal assistance program’s daily activities. In Petit-Goâve and Saint-Marc, the project carried out preliminary preparations to launch a roving justice of the peace program, and completed an in-depth review of alternative dispute resolution possibilities. Old motorcycles furnished by the previous project for the implementation of the roving justice program were repaired so that they could be used by PROJUSTICE.
PROJUSTICE also held constructive conversations with Mr. Lionel Bourgoin, Director of EMA, regarding PROJUSTICE’s training assistance to the school. At the Director’s request, PROJUSTICE developed an initial training curriculum in court management, records management, and case filing. PROJUSTICE agreed to develop and implement continuing education training and programs, including a training curriculum and modules for a mentoring program for trainee judges.
The project supported the development of an initial training curriculum in court management, records management, and case filing for the School of Magistrates. PROJUSTICE also agreed to develop and implement continuing education training and programs, including a training curriculum and modules for a mentoring program for trainee judges.
In the target jurisdictions of Port-au-Prince, Saint-Marc, and Petit-Goâve, PROJUSTICE provided active support to the courts’ criminal hearings and coordinated the legal assistance program’s daily activities. The project carried out preliminary preparations to launch a roving justice of the peace program in Petit-Goâve and Saint-Marc, and completed an in-depth review of alternative dispute resolution possibilities.