UNDP will hold Panel Discussion on 'Legal Empowerment of the Poor', Oct 16th

UNDP will hold a panel discussion on 'Legal Empowerment of the Poor' on 16th October, at the UN HQ, in conjunction with a debate of the same topic by the General Assembly. Official announcement here. 

Because it is such a relatively new endevor by the UN, the discussion topics are still very broad, and include:

• How can legal empowerment of the poor support the achievement of MDGs?
• How can property and land rights and tenure security as well as labour rights and rights to entrepreneurship play a critical role in securing the livelihoods of the poor?
• What factors and strategies will determine the success of legal empowerment initiatives and reforms on the ground?
• What are some of the approaches taken in implementing legal empowerment initiatives around the world and what are the lessons learnt?
• How can a stronger partnership among the national government, NGOs, CSOs and CBOs and the private sector be developed to foster legal empowerment of the poor?
• How best the international community can mobilize and channel resources to support national and sub- national level efforts for legal empowerment of the poor?
• What specific role the UN can play in promoting legal empowerment of the poor?

I will be interested to see if any concrete outcomes result from the discussion. 

Legal Empowerment event at European Development Days (EDD)

For the first time, Legal Empowerment of the Poor will be featured as an event at the EU's European Development Days. Here is the official announcement of EDD Legal Empowerment of the Poor event at the 4th EDD event to be held in Stockholm from Oct 22-24 2009. Invited speakers include:

• George Soros
• Mary Robinson
• Helen Clark
• Karel De Gucht
• Clotilde Medegan
• Joakim Stymne

You can follow it live on the website, or visit it post-conference for materials. 

(UPDATE: 12/15/10:  There is now a two-part video if the Legal Empowerment event, or you can listen to the same event via MP3. The site also contains many other useful event-related resources on international development.)

The Relationship between Law and Development (Davis and Treilcock, 2008)

Davis and Treilcock (from NYU and U Toronto respectively) have co-authored a paper laying out the state of current academic thinking of law and development. My summary follow:

• Examining articles appearing in recent Law and Development books,  they note that is more of disagreement than consensus on the topic:

Although the (articles) reflect decades of practical experience with and scholarly reflection upon legal reforms in developing countries, at the end of the day they are remarkably inconclusive. None of the authors represented in these
volumes seem strongly optimistic about whether legal reforms are likely
to promote development... -... however, their views range from mild optimism to mild skepticism and it is not immediately apparent how to resolve the differences in points of view and resulting uncertainties...We are struck by the lack of consensus.

• They also argue that flowing from that landscape, there are three questions that challenge whether law can have any impact in development

We show that there is ongoing debate about fundamental questions such as whether law is an important factor in determining social or economic outcomes in developing societies given the existence of informal methods of social control; whether there
are insurmountable economic, political or culture obstacles to effective
legal reform; as well as, assuming effective legal reform is feasible, what types of reforms are conducive to development and what types of actors ought to implement them.

I interpret these questions as follows:

• Conceptual- Does law have any causal impact on development? We don't really know, from the lack of evidence. Some of us suspect not.  

• Design- Even if it does, do we know how to design good programs? How do we decide what priorities and strategies are?

• Implementation- Even if the design is good, might there be so many obstacles that we won't succeed?

• Their  Conclusion:

We argue that although there are some reasons for optimism about the potential impact of legal reforms upon development, the relevant empirical literature is inconclusive on many important issues and counsels caution about the wisdom of continuing to invest substantial resources in promoting legal reform in developing
countries without further research that clarifies these issues.

• My thoughts: 
• I appreciate the ambitious undertaking of crunching so many recent articles, and trying to organize them into a 'optimist vs skeptic' framework
• They corroborate with my own take on the state of thinking (current and historical) on Law and Development
• They certainly went into much detail on certain parts of theoretical analysis
• Moreover, there are so many ambiguities surrounding concepts such as 'development', 'law', and 'success' that it is impossible to measure impact.
• I think that the field is still relatively new, and that it is tempting to take a 'all or nothing' approach to thinking about any field. As a practitioner, I can say that I've seem some really successful projects, some neutral projects, and some projects that have caused more harm than good through unintended consequences. I don't think that it will ever be that we will get 100% success.

• Read the entire article here:

Kevin E. Davis and Michael Trebilcock, The Relationship between Law and Development: Optimist versus Skeptics, New York University Law and Economics Working Papers, New York University School of Law (April 21, 2008).

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. 

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.

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.

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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.