Sunday, August 30, 2009

UNDP-LEP's video "Capitalism at the Crossroads"

Previously I announced UNDP's LEP YouTube channel, and was hoping to see more independent video clips. They are still mainly UNDP focussed, with a PR-ish tone. Today, I chanced upon this promo video with Hernando De Sota, talking about capitalism (from his economic angle of course) and the exclusion of the poor by the legal system. Nice footage, at least, and a good introduction for those who have not done much grassroots international development work. 

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Report of the Secretary-General on Legal Empowerment

With all the recent activity in Legal Empowerment, led by the UN Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, the UN Secretary-General has released his report endorsing the Commission's report and providing operational direction on how the UN can implement the policy. You can read and download the pdf of the report here.

From the Report's Summary:
The present report has been prepared pursuant to General Assembly resolution 63/142 on the legal
empowerment of the poor and eradication of poverty. The report summarizes the emerging
approach to legal empowerment of the poor; highlights the operational scope and focus of legal
empowerment of the poor; summarizes national and regional experiences and the role of various
organizations of the United Nations system in fostering empowerment of the poor; and addresses
challenges and lessons learned.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

ADB and Asia Foundation Publication on Legal Identify and Poverty

The Asian Development Bank (through the research of The Asia Foundation) has published a study on legal identity and poverty, Legal Identity for Inclusive Development, accessible on ABD's and TAF's respective websites.  This publication presents the findings of a three-country study on legal identity, based on extensive field research conducted on ADB's projects in Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Pakistan. This study assesses the potential and actual value of legal identity, given the realities of the developing country context.

What I appreciate about the ADB/TAF approach is the emphasis on local realities that results in lessons learned after many years of on-the-ground programming. The general available literature on legal identity is usually either focused on the technicalities of civil registration, or advocated for universal birth registration. While there was some information on the correlation between legal identity and poverty, there was very little research in the field on the causal link between the absence of legal identity and exclusion. This research aims to contribute to the debate on legal identity and access to goods, services and opportunities, from a practical and empirical  perspective. It attempts to answer questions on what legal identity can realistically deliver in terms of promoting inclusion, and on how, when and under what circumstances legal identity actually improves lives in concrete and meaningful ways. 

The publication proposes that legal identity is an important element of inclusive development, provided that its promotion is part of a larger reform agenda. As the research demonstrates, legal identity touches upon many aspects of life, ranging from access to education, land and business registration, obtaining utility connections, and obtaining travel documents such as passports. Possessing some form of legal identity will become increasingly relevant to people’s day-to-day lives as countries develop their capacity to provide goods and services, economies grow, and regional integration deepens.



Conclusion and Recommendations:

However, the publication concludes with caveats against isolating registration as an ends :

1. BIRTH CERTIFICATES ARE AN INTERMEDIATE, NOT AN ULTIMATE, GOAL.
Too often programs aimed at increasing civil registrations are based on an inadequate problem analysis that fails to differentiate between intermediate and ultimate outcomes.

2. DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS SHOULD BE AWARE OF REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS WHEN DESIGNING DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONS BUT AT THE SAME TIME ENSURE THAT SUCH REQUIREMENTS DO NOT LEAD TO UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES.
When designing mainstream development projects in areas such as education, health, land rights, small and medium enterprise development services, and delivery of utility services, development partners need to critically analyze the potentially negative impact of the existing identity regime. Key questions to ask in the project design phase are: Could the domestic legal identity regime limit the range of project beneficiaries? If so, what can be done to mitigate this undesirable result?

3. COMPLEMENTARY REFORMS ARE NEEDED TO MAKE LEGAL IDENTITY MEANINGFUL.
The value of a civil registration document is only as far reaching as the state’s capacity to provide services and enforce laws intended to protect citizens’ rights. In countries characterized by poor governance, weak institutions, and resource constraints, legal identity may make little practical difference without complementary reforms.

4. DONOR-DRIVEN PROGRAMS MAY NOT BE SUSTAINABLE.
International pressure and donor support have engendered an increased level of political priority, domestic attention, and government engagement on the issue of legal identity in the three countries studied.



Two innovative approaches that hold some promise for addressing the central sequencing dilemma are highlighted here. These approaches are recommended because they use existing resources, and demonstrate an appreciation for citizens’ priorities and needs.


1. LINKING REGISTRATIONS TO SERVICE DELIVERY
One of the most promising strategies, particularly for addressing the sequencing challenges, involves piggybacking registrations onto other service delivery programs. Rather than making benefits contingent on proof of identity, this reverse approach provides birth registrations through avenues where other benefits and services are already offered.

2. BRINGING REGISTRATION TO PEOPLE’S DOORSTEPS
Another strategy that has proven effective involves bringing registration to the people’s doorsteps. such as a massive, nationwide mobile registration.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Top 10 Court Websites 2009 by "Justice Served"

Justice Served, an alliance of court management and justice experts, conducts a "Top 10 Courts Websites Awards" annually since 1999. While this is predominantly a US-based team, they asset that they assess all court websites worldwide- a few Singapore Courts websites won a few times, as did Australia and England. I don't doubt that they survey the entire landscape, but these would be the usual suspects for eGovernance.

When designing eLaw or eGovernance websites for my projects, I often consult these sites. If you look at the awards over the past 10 years, you will be able to see how court websites are more effective in service delivery and user design- based on new technologies and peer best practices. The evaluation criteria it uses for these awards is also relevant as a basic benchmark of what makes a good eGovernment/court website. (There have been numerous indicators and guidelines for eGovernance webdesign, that I hope to pull together soon)

These sites are 2009 winners, and the panel's comments.




SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF ORANGESUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF ORANGE
www.occourts.org/
Why do California superior courts consistently make our list? Because they are full service operations, and it makes great sense to put these services online. Orange County is a first time winner, but they deserve top honors for their terrific organization and navigation, including a handy “how do I” pull-down menu and ready access to e-content. To round it off, all complex civil litigation must be processed online.
 
COLORADO STATE JUDICIAL BRANCHCOLORADO STATE JUDICIAL BRANCH
www.courts.state.co.us
Another first-time winner, Colorado recently revamped their site using extensive public and staff outreach to determine what to include, resulting in significant improvements. E-court functionality is front and center with easy reading contrast and great navigation.
 
STATE COURT OF CHATHAM COUNTY GEORGIASTATE COURT OF CHATHAM COUNTY GEORGIA
www.statecourt.org
From citizen access terminals to WiFi in the courthouse, this court gets it. The site is chock-full with e-dockets, e-tickets, e-fines and even e-probation. As early pioneers of streaming video, it’s no wonder they are a 3-peat winner.
 
SINGAPORE SUBORDINATE COURTSSINGAPORE SUBORDINATE COURTS
www.subcourts.gov.sg
It’s hard to find something this 3-time winner doesn’t offer online. Highlights include e-ADR, improved traffic case management, and a virtual international judicial think tank called E-Justice Judges’ Corridor. Wow!
 
SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SANTA CLARASUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA
www.sccsuperiorcourt.org
This 2003 winner does it all, but has particularly useful restraining and protective order content, courthouse location information and multiple language support.
 
COURTS SERVICE OF IRELANDCOURTS SERVICE OF IRELAND
www.courts.ie
This international offering provides services in six languages, online payments, index of judgments and court calendars online with a twist — they’re readable on PDAs.
 
IOWA JUDICIAL BRANCHIOWA JUDICIAL BRANCH
www.judicial.state.ia.us
Iowa is back in the winner’s circle with a full array of online services including dockets, payments and jury services.
 
SPOKANE COUNTY DISTRICT COURTSPOKANE COUNTY DISTRICT COURT
www.spokanecounty.org/districtcourt
Limited jurisdictions are truly the “people’s court” and Spokane offers online payments, traffic postponements, traffic “mitigation” pleas and case/calendar indexes.
 
US DISTRICT COURT, DISTRICT OF MARYLANDUS DISTRICT COURT, DISTRICT OF MARYLAND
www.mdd.uscourts.gov
Federal district courts offer the same services, but Maryland’s simple, straightforward organization and presentation separates them from their colleagues.
 
ALABAMA’S LEGAL INFORMATION NETWORKALABAMA’S LEGAL INFORMATION NETWORK
www.alalinc.net
This state legal portal leads to court-specific online content, but also serves as a valuable Internet resource for lawyer and litigant alike.
 

Monday, August 3, 2009

Law and Development Blog moved to Blogger

The Law and Development Blog (by Law Professors) which I announced previously has moved from the Law Professors Blog Network, after two years, to Blogger at this url: www.lawanddevelopment.blogspot.com. This is a good blog (and the only one as far as I know) by law and development professors. While pretty much US-based, I appreciate being able to witness the parallel trends and events in academia, as well as being able to tap into the network and resources for my teaching. 

Saturday, August 1, 2009

UNDP Bangkok Regional LEP Online Library and Ning Group

The LEP (Legal Empowerment of the Poor) initiative seems to be slowly expanding on the web. UNDP-LEP's Bangkok office has set up an online document library at the UNDP- Snap website (which is UNDP's document management system that allows for public and private access). I am glad to see many non-UNDP articles as well, covering topics on or related to LEP. At the same time, UNDP-LEP, through Johanna Cunningham, has set up a Ning network for people interested in this topic- you can access it here via http://lepknowledgebank.ning.com/  


In light too of the UNDP's LEP youtube channel which I announced earlier, UNDP seems to be utilizing many web 2.0 tools for outreach and collaboration. Hopefully, this can extend into LEP programming efforts as well!

Gap between Economics and Sociology Widens to include Law

Shamelessly reproduced from Daniel Sokol's post last week at Law and Development Blog about the split between the economics/sociology disciplines, with concurrance from David Trubek. All I can say is, ditto-Asia too! And, ditto- practitioners too!
Law and Development Academic Communities: 
I just returned from two weeks in Chile. I have lots of interesting Law and Development thoughts but as we arrived in the US at 4:48am today, my thoughts are about going to sleep. However, I would note that from what I can tell, Law and Development is as fragmented in Chile as in the US. Generally, the law and econ people don't really talk to the law and society people and vice versa.   
David Trubek: I have observed the same thing in Brazil: fissures similar to those in the US academy show up in Brazilian debates on "law and development". This is a result of the globalization of academic discourse. It may be easier to network with people in other countries that share your scholarly orientation than with people in your own country who don't. This is especially true to the extent that political choices are encoded in the subtext of the various "disciplines"

Development Gateway community portal (dgCommunities) becomes zunia.org

Development Gateway is one of a handful of sites I go to for information on development since about 2004 or so. It has slowly matured into a good resource center, moved away from its World Bank historical baggage, and formed a community network of development professionals through dgCommunities. I have heard rumors that dgCommunities was going to have its own web presence (I don't know the business rational behind it, but it might have to do with funding or changing the web platform), and today I stumbled upon DG Communities' successor, a web 2.0y social networking site called Zunia.


From the Development Gateway website, describing Zunia (I noticed that the Zunia site itself does not contain an 'about' section):

Zunia is an online network for knowledge exchange among development professionals worldwide. Users from all over the world visit the portal to access news, events, best practices and publications on a wide range of development topics. 

Registration in Zunia is free and open to all. Users can stay informed on development issues, post information, get e-mail updates, create a professional profile and connect with peers. 

Zunia offers:

  • Over 50,000 registered users, more than half of whom are from developing countries
  • A searchable content database containing over 125,000 content items
  • Content aggregated from more than 200 development organizations worldwide
Zunia was launched in July 2009. Previously, the knowledge-sharing site of Development Gateway was dgCommunities. All the content from that site was migrated to Zunia. visit Zunia
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