Governance & Institutions Umbrella Program (G&I)
Justice and Rule of Law - Activities
1. The Global Program on Justice and Rule of Law
The G&I contributes to the Global Program on Justice and Rule of Law (JROL), which is dedicated to enhancing the effectiveness of justice institutions. When these institutions function efficiently, they lead to increased accountability, foster greater trust in government, and enable citizens and businesses to invest with the assurance that their rights will be safeguarded. JROL plays a pivotal role in promoting judicial effectiveness by producing research outputs such as papers, policy briefs, and practical guides on justice reform, focusing on innovative topics. The program also engages in World Bank operations focused on judicial reform. These efforts concentrate on various areas, including legal framework reform, process reengineering, capacity building, legal empowerment initiatives, workflow efficiency, case management, and strengthening human resources.
Among the activities of the program, G&I has supported the following.
2. Zambia: Assessment of Access to Justice and Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems
The project continued the efforts of the Zambia Judicial Sector Public Expenditure and Institutional Review concluded in June 2022, focusing on the demand-side aspects of Access to Justice in a rural Zambian setting. It also evaluated the current state of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms in the country. Employing a people-centered approach, the assessment aimed to address three main lines of inquiry: understanding the justice-seeking experiences of citizens for a nuanced view of their behavior in pursuing justice; mapping the landscape of access to justice through ADR, including the infrastructure and interventions in Kawambwa, a rural area; and identifying actionable short- to medium-term solutions to enhance access to justice. The findings were discussed in a validation workshop with the Ministry of Justice, which will use the report’s findings to inform a new Government Strategy Paper.
3. Enhance Knowledge and Analytical Underpinning of Justice Sector Reform in Serbia
This newly launched project aims to enhance knowledge and analytical underpinning of justice sector reform in Serbia in line with the EU accession process. The objective will be achieved through targeted analytical work, advisory work, technical assistance, and capacity building initiatives. Justice reform is a crucial aspect of Serbia’s development agenda and is tightly entwined with the country’s journey to European Union (EU) accession. For several years now, Serbia has been working to ensure that its national legal framework is in line with EU requirements and has made significant efforts to undertake the necessary institutional changes in the justice sector. In January 2022, Serbia adopted amendments to its Constitution, aimed at improving judicial independence and accountability, which gave additional impetus to justice sector reform. Relevant legislation aimed at implementing constitutional changes was adopted in mid-2023 to reduce political influence over judicial appointment and promotion.
The activity is expected to contribute to:
- Strengthening key institutions in Serbia’s justice sector, with a particular focus on HR management.
- Raising the performance level of Serbia’s justice system so that it is comparable to EU Member States
Specifically, the activity will (i) support the development of an action plan of improvements in commercial justice; (ii) contribute to the improved capacity of key justice sector institutions (High Judicial and Prosecutorial Councils) to perform their newly acquired responsibilities. This will be done through a review of current HR capacities and recommendations for improvements needed to meet requirements for newly acquired responsibilities; and by prioritizing and sequencing pending judicial reforms through the preparation of a road map for implementing a selected number of recommendations from the 2021 Serbia Judicial Functional Review.
Read more in this blog: How Fast Is Fast Enough? Why Resolving Commercial Disputes Swiftly Matters for Serbia's Business Environment
4. Moldova: Strengthening Justice and Rule of Law
A newly launched G&I grant aims to strengthen the performance and integrity of Moldova’s justice institutions through system-level diagnostics, institutionalization of key reforms, and targeted capacity strengthening aligned with EU accession priorities. The Government of Moldova has placed justice reform and anticorruption at the center of its governance agenda and EU accession pathway, with reforms to the judiciary, prosecution, and integrity architecture forming core elements of the enlargement framework. As Moldova advances from reform design toward its implementation and results, system-level performance constraints in the justice sector are increasingly becoming binding for service delivery, public trust, and enforcement credibility. Justice digitalization is also emerging as a critical enabler of Moldova’s broader governance and EU accession objectives.
The grant supports the following outcomes:
- Improved efficiency and performance management across the judiciary and prosecution, supported by strengthened use of data and evidence-based decision-making.
- Stronger institutional capacity to align financial, human, digital, and infrastructure resources in the justice sector with workload and service delivery demands.
- Enhanced resilience and modernization of the Justice Information System, enabling secure digital services and improved system interoperability.
- Strengthened institutional accountability and specialization within anticorruption and prosecutorial bodies.
This grant is being implemented alongside another G&I grant for efforts to combat corruption in Moldova.
Explore other G&I-funded activities in:
Public Administration and Institutional Reform
Anticorruption, Transparency and Open Government
GovTech and Public Sector Modernization
Multistakeholder Engagement and Coalitions for Reforms
Go back to G&I Activities page
