BACKGROUND:

USAID strengthens Serbia’s rule of law by improving the transparency and efficiency of the judiciary, in particular the misdemeanor and administrative courts.  It improves the integrity and openness of government operations by supporting independent agencies' and civil society's efforts to make government open and accountable. 

ACTIVITIES:

• Enhancing the efficiency and transparency of misdemeanor and administrative courts;
• Strengthening independent agencies and their coordination with the judiciary and the National Assembly to improve government accountability;
• Assisting local organizations to advocate for improvements in the rule of law, to reduce corruption, to monitor political party financing, and to increase the culture of personal responsibility and respect for the law.

RESULTS:

• Provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Justice for drafting and implementing the new Law on Misdemeanors, which has resulted in a 50% increase in the collection rate, and voluntary compliance rose to 74%;
• Upgraded facilities in 19 courts to provide the public with efficient court services and easy access to information about court procedures;
• Computerized misdemeanor courts and contributed to better case processing by providing over 3,000 units of computer hardware;
• Provided training to approximately 17,000 misdemeanor and administrative court judges and staff, as well as representatives of independent agencies, on topics covering substantive law, ethics, court administration, anti-corruption regulations and computer literacy;
• Developed a misdemeanor court case management system that automates and manages the entire life cycle of misdemeanor cases.  The system has 2,000 users and to date, more than 3.3 million cases have been entered into the system;
• Helped independent agencies and misdemeanor courts establish a more effective coordination mechanism to address cases related to audit, corruption, personal data protection and freedom-of-information violations;
• Provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Justice for adopting and implementing the Anti-Corruption Strategy and the accompanying Action Plan, as well as the Law on Whistleblowers and Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence;
• Awarded 37 grants totaling $1.32 million to CSOs to support efforts to promote judicial reform and good governance. 

Project funded by:

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID/Serbia)

Project implemented by:

National Center for State Courts, Management Systems International, and Development Professionals Inc.

Key counterparts:

Ministry of Justice and Public  Administration, High Court Council, Higher Misdemeanor Court, administrative courts, misdemeanor courts, independent agencies, and others.

Where we work:

Nationwide

Project duration:

May 2011 - May 2016

Total amount: $21,885,396

Contact:

USAID Judicial Reform and Government Accountability Project

Cara Urosa 9

Belgrade 11000 Serbia

Phone: +381-11 414-0176

Fax:     +381-11 262-1116

E-mail:  office@jrga.org

Website: www.jrga.org