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Pacific Judicial Development Program
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Activities

Under the four components of the Program, a number of activities are being conducted between July 2007 and June 2008. If you are from a participating Pacific Island Country and interested in finding out more about the activities for your own country, please contact the Program Coordinator.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Systems for court-annexed mediation have been developed and will soon be introduced in Kosrae and Samoa. To find out how they did it email the Program Coordinator.

Family & the Law

PJDP is supporting the Cook Islands and Kiribati to identify how they might best respond to issues involving women and children and how they can better deal with witnesses and victims. PJDP support will culminate in the development and implementation of policies and procedures to address these issues. To learn more, email the Program Coordinator.

Inter-Agency Communication & Coordination

PJDP will work with Samoa and Vanuatu to develop mechanisms for them to communicate and coordinate between agencies. It is anticipated that the judiciary will more efficiently be able to work towards its goals working collaboratively with other agencies while respecting the parameters of judicial independence. To find out more, email the Program Coordinator.

[DOC] Inter Agency Communication Model

Professional Standards

Recognising that increasing confidence in judiciaries includes ensuring that judicial officers adhere to a code of conduct; PJDP is supporting Niue to develop such a code. For more information, email the Program Coordinator.

Information regarding the courts of other jurisdictions provides Pacific Island countries with external examples of practices and procedures for comparative analysis and consideration when progressing reform agendas. Thus the PJDP has liaised with a number of jurisdictions in order to provide the Codes of Conduct from a wide variety of Commonwealth jurisdictions and these can be found below:

Codes of Conduct

Leadership

The PJDP will deliver four regional leadership workshops focusing on the roles, responsibilities and development of Chief Justices, the Heads of Lower Court Benches and National Coordinators in participating PICs. Materials from the Leadership Workshop for the Heads of Lower Court Benches are below:

Materials from the National Coordinators leadership workshop are below:

Strategic Planning

The PJDP will work with Tonga and Vanuatu to improve the capacity for strategic planning, policy development and budgeting. It is anticipated that with robust and comprehensive strategic plans, judiciaries will be in a better position to control the pace and content of their own progress. Are you interested in this for your own country, email the Program Coordinator.

Registry and Data Collection Systems

Following on from diagnostic studies in Kiribati and Niue registries, a plan for improvements concerning the efficiency and effectiveness of registry processes and system and court data collection has been developed. The implementation will include court visits to Maori courts in New Zealand court registries and the provision of technical assistance. Do you want to see improvements in your registry and data collection systems, email the Program Coordinator.

Financial Management

The PJDP is assisting Vanuatu and the Marshall Islands to refine their financial management system to increase the strength of their positions in defending their claims to government for resources. To find out how it’s going, email the Program Coordinator.

Human Resource Management

The PJDP will support the Tongan Magistrates’ and Supreme Courts to complement and build on the registry assistance provided to date by developing human resource management processes, training and customer service frameworks. This will include the development of an appropriate and affordable organisational structure within the two courts, supported by position descriptions and duty statements for all staff and control career management mechanisms. Ask the Program Coordinator for more.

Professional Development: court clerks

The PJDP will support the conduct of needs assessments to develop a comprehensive list of core skills and knowledge required for professional members of registries. PJDP will consult with key stakeholders in Kiribati and Niue to develop templates for the provision of future training of court clerks in other PICs to improve technical skills and customer services.

Professional Development: judicial officers

A comprehensive list of core skills and knowledge required by judicial officers will be developed based on assessments conducted in all PICs. The PJDP will work with Niue, Nauru, Tokelau, Tuvalu and Palau to design and deliver criminal, civil and / or land law workshops to develop. A land law workshop will also be designed and delivered in collaboration with Kiribati and an orientation workshop for justices of the peace resident in the Cook Islands is being developed. To review the impact of previous PJDP activities, an assessment will be undertaken regarding training and workplace practices, commencing with a review of judicial officers decisions in Samoa, FSM and the Cook Islands following the decision-making workshops conducted in those PICs. To find out more, please contact the Program Coordinator.

Training-Trainers

The PJDP provides judicial educators’ training across the Pacific to people within the judiciary and court staff. It is a three-level course providing training to the standards required by Registered Training Organisations in Australia. When trainers have completed all three levels of the training they are eligible to become certified educators and can conduct training in their own country. PJDP has expended this concept and is creating a Regional Training Team of educators who will provide training across the region.

Responsive Fund

A flexible funding mechanism is provided to respond to emerging and local Pacific needs and support initiatives for enhancements to the professional development of judicial and court officers and the systems and processes they use. Proposals for funding will be assessed and prioritised then processed with the provision for feedback on all applications. See link for directions, further information and an application form. Below are details and documents from activities funded under this mechanism.

Responsive fund

Bailiff training Tonga

Training of Bailiffs was held in Tonga in November 2007 to improve technical skills and ensure sustainability by encouraging the provision of training materials and future workplace training. Please note that the materials were developed for and with Tongan Bailiffs and if used elsewhere might need to be modified.

Probation Officer training Tonga

Training of Probation Officers was held in Tonga in November 2007 to improve the technical skills and ensure sustainability by encouraging the provision of training materials and future workplace training.

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