International Development Law Organization

Good Governance

By transferring resources from public to private hands, corruption negates the benefits of development. Similarly, favoritism and nepotism are the antithesis of fairness and equality. It is no coincidence that the most corrupt polities are also the poorest, most unequal and most justice-deficient. If the rule of law and development are to take hold, good governance is a necessary condition.

For this reason, IDLO has undertaken to expand its portfolio of integrity-focused projects. Promoting good governance is an area so broad as to be almost inexhaustible. In our case, it may mean helping countries make the institutions of justice cleaner and more responsive; reducing conflict of interest in procurement and public life; seeking to ensure adequate funding for the judiciary; or strengthening the capacity to fight fraud and economic crime.

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Key Initiatives

  • The Brief (or Lessons Learned Brief), titled Avoiding Violence and Enhancing Legitimacy: Judicial Preparedness for Handling Electoral Disputes in Kenya and Beyond, explores IDLO’s support to the Kenyan judiciary to resolve electoral disputes. The 2007 electoral violence in Kenya demonstrated that disastrous consequences can follow when the electoral dispute resolution system is not trusted to deal fairly and efficiently with contested elections.
  • Corruption can be difficult to uncover, especially as technology is increasingly used to conceal corrupt behavior. Corruption cases handled by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) that involve electronic evidence, such as e-mails or social media posts, have contributed to a conviction rate of 100 percent. Yet, law enforcement officers do not always allow electronic evidence in courts, and standard operational procedures providing guidance on electronic evidence handling and a digital forensic lab that meets international standards are lacking.
  • Through its decentralization and anti-corruption efforts, the Government of Ukraine is attempting to improve and extend the application of e-governance, or digital, tools in public administration based on international best practices. Over 100 existing registries and databases managed by various state institutions lack interoperability and do not allow for smooth exchanges of data between each other.
  • Somalia’s economy remains heavily dependent on remittances from the Somali diaspora, which the International Monetary Fund estimates account for approximately 23 per cent of Somalia’s GDP. However, examining and supervising such transactions is difficult as Somalia’s formal banking sector is nascent and underdeveloped. Concerns over the lack of a basic, functioning, regulated financial sector and weak financial regulation and oversight, including customer identification measures, have eroded international confidence in Somalia’s financial firms.
  • Español​ | English: Mexico has made significant efforts to modernize its criminal justice system, specifically regarding public security and strengthening the rule of law. The current justice system, which entered into force in 2016, is based on the presumption of innocence and includes police professionalization as a public policy.
  • The Kyrgyz Republic has made significant strides in working toward improvements to a justice system shaken to the core following the 2010 Revolution. While a wholesale reselection process of judges changed the landscape and provided hope for real change, it also created a judiciary staffed with many inexperienced, under-skilled first-time judges who are more easily exposed to negative influences - both perceived and real. Consequently, the public mistrusts the judiciary and holds a negative perception of it being corrupt, inefficient and dependent on other branches of government.
  • The Ombudsman of the Republic of Indonesia handles citizens’ complaints about public service delivery and maladministration. Often, similar complaints are filed, or citizens return with additional grievances, leading to the refiling of cases and extra legal and administrative costs. The Ombudsman of Indonesia seeks to improve its service delivery, its effectiveness when handling complaints and its relationship with citizens and other stakeholders.
  • Kyrgyzstan’s new Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code are set to enter into force on January 1, 2019, with the aim of improving the system of law enforcement in the country. Specifically, the new Criminal Code seeks to reform criminal law, procedure and types of criminal punishment, promote the integration of the Code into security measures, institute probation, introduce mediation in criminal matters, and support new mechanisms and approaches for the social integration of persons convicted of criminal wrongdoing.
  • Until recently, court processes in the Kyrgyz Republic have not been automated. Manual or paper systems still are required and are the norm although automating all processes has started very actively. According the country’s National Target Program for Development of the Judiciary, automated information systems need to be expanded and rolled out to the whole judicial system, not only within all first instance courts, but also second and third instance courts.
  • In recent years, the Kyrgyz Republic has adopted a new Criminal Code and reformed the Criminal Procedure Code with the stated aim to humanize the system of law enforcement in the country. The new Codes were developed by a group of dedicated technical experts that have subsequently supported the development of a training program aimed at building the capacity of all key stakeholders - judges, police, defense lawyers, and prosecutors - on the foundational understanding of the codes.
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