IDLO is very pleased to announce the publication of three new books on customary justice: Customary Justice: from Program Design to Impact Evaluation (Erica Harper); Working with Customary Justice Systems: Post-conflict and Fragile States (Erica Harper ed.); Customary Justice: Perspectives on Legal Empowerment (Janine Ubink ed.; Thomas McInerney, Series ed.). The books stem out of a broader IDLO research program started in 2009 and featuring activities in Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, Liberia and Uganda. The program aimed at expanding the knowledge base regarding the relationship between the operation of customary justice systems and the legal empowerment of poor and marginalized populations. One of the program’s main objectives was to obtain insight into programming at the customary level, to better understand the linkages and causalities between empowerment programming and the customary legal framework, to provoke critical analysis on efforts to engage with customary justice systems and to gain a better insight into the conditions that might enable more effective interventions.

Customary Justice: Perspectives on Legal Empowerment
Editor: Janine Ubink, Series Editor: Thomas McInerney
This edited volume explores the relationship between traditional justice and legal empowerment. It discusses key aspects of traditional justice, including the rise of customary law in justice sector reform, the effectiveness of hybrid justice systems, access to justice through community courts, customary law and land tenure, land rights and nature conservation, and the analysis of policy proposals for justice reforms based on traditional justice. The volume was developed in partnership with the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Development of Leiden University and features articles by some ten leading authors, country specialists and practitioners working in the areas of traditional justice and legal empowerment.

 

  

 
Working with Customary Justice Systems: Post-conflict and Fragile States
Editor: Erica Harper
This edited volume showcases research conducted under the IDLO Legal Empowerment and Customary Law Research Grants Program. Through this program, seven bursaries were awarded to scholar-practitioners to evaluate the impact of an empowerment-based initiative involving customary justice. The volume aims to assist readers develop a better understanding of the relationship between customary justice and the legal empowerment of users and identify possible entry points for engaging with customary justice systems. It features chapters on initiatives implemented in Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, Liberia and Uganda. It is hoped that the lessons learned and programmatic good practices identified will contribute to the toolbox of knowledge resources that programmers draw upon as they design, pilot, adjust and implement more effective interventions.

 

Customary Justice: from Program Design to Impact Evaluation
Author: Erica Harper
As it has become clear that orthodox development approaches have been relatively unsuccessful in improving access to justice for poor and disadvantaged populations, attention has shifted to the role that customary justice systems might play in the programming of national governments, international organizations and NGOs. This volume was developed to provide guidance to international and national actors on the potential role of customary justice systems in fostering the rule of law and access to justice in post-conflict, post-disaster and development contexts. Specifically, it aims to provoke thought among practitioners about the objectives of customary law interventions, to encourage critical assessments of the criteria on which programming decisions are made, and to provide tools to assist in gauging the extent to which interventions are having a positive impact.