A multidisciplinary platform for judicial system reform in fragile States.
JIA-CERJA (Justice Impact Africa – Centre for Judicial Studies and Reform in Africa) combines strategic advice, applied research, and field expertise to address the full range of judicial, institutional, and human rights challenges that underpin the rule of law today.
Seven areas of institutional expertise.
Each area draws on years of field experience in Africa and post-conflict settings, multidisciplinary expertise, and alignment with international standards.
Criminal Justice Chain Reform
Modernizing the judiciary, reforming criminal legislation and policy, and strengthening penitentiary administration across the criminal justice chain.
Rule of Law & Governance
Support for governance frameworks and judicial independence.
Access to Justice
Support for establishing proximity justice benefiting vulnerable populations.
Transitional justice and peaceful conflict resolution mechanisms
Coordination between formal and informal justice for restoring social cohesion.
Institutional Capacity Building
Training and strengthening of judicial actors.
OHADA Law and Economic & Commercial Justice
Legal security for economic activity, commercial dispute resolution, and modernization of business justice across the OHADA space.
Research, Studies, Diagnostics, Evaluation and Quality Assurance
Applied research, monitoring and evaluation, knowledge management, and quality assurance for justice reforms.
Criminal Justice Chain Reform
JIA-CERJA supports comprehensive judicial system reform processes - from strategic diagnostics to long-term reform programs - to strengthen the effectiveness, integrity and independence of rule-of-law institutions.
We accompany criminal legislation reform as a whole, ensuring alignment with human rights and contemporary challenges, and supporting the development and implementation of penal policies and criminal justice chain coordination.
We also support penitentiary administrations in improving detention conditions aligned with international standards, reducing prison overcrowding and relieving pressure on prisons.
Key deliverables
- Sectoral and institutional diagnostics
- Strategic judicial system reform plans
- Legislative reform and modernization of procedural frameworks
- Reform of the penal code and criminal procedure code
- Advisory support in criminal policy development
- Establishment of criminal justice chain coordination frameworks
- Support for detention center inspections
- Capacity building for penitentiary staff
- Support for the design and implementation of penitentiary administration reform programs
- Application of alternatives to imprisonment
- Support for detainee social reintegration
Rule of Law & Governance
We work with national institutions and partners to consolidate institutions that represent the rule of law and good governance.
Key deliverables
- Accountability of judicial actors
- Anti-corruption and integrity strategies for judicial actors
- Advisory support to rule-of-law institutions
- Institutional governance and reform programming
Access to Justice
JIA-CERJA helps States design and implement programs that improve access to justice for populations and vulnerable groups, including women, children, displaced persons and other disadvantaged communities.
Key deliverables
- Support for organizing itinerant court sessions
- Establishment of proximity justice for populations
- Legal advice and legal clinic services
- Judicial protection of children and juvenile justice
- Establishment of gender equality-sensitive reform programs
Transitional justice and peaceful conflict resolution mechanisms
In post-conflict and transitional contexts, JIA-CERJA supports truth, accountability and reconciliation processes, including hybrid mechanisms and victim-centered approaches.
JIA-CERJA also helps States rationalize alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to restore or strengthen social cohesion.
Key deliverables
- Truth and reconciliation processes
- Reparations and victim support frameworks
- Special prosecution mechanisms
- Memorialization and historical accountability
Institutional Capacity Building
JIA-CERJA supports the design and delivery of construction or rehabilitation projects for judicial and penitentiary infrastructure.
We contribute to needs assessments and the development of initial training curricula and continuous training modules for judicial and penitentiary staff.
We also provide advisory support and mentoring for judicial personnel, including magistrates (prosecutors and trial judges), court clerks, registrars, etc.
Key deliverables
- Assessment of initial training schools for judicial and penitentiary actors
- Design of initial training curricula and continuous training modules
- Support for training judicial and penitentiary actors
- Regular advisory support and mentoring
- Tools, manuals and good practice guides
OHADA Law and Economic & Commercial Justice
JIA-CERJA works in OHADA law and economic and commercial justice to strengthen legal certainty for economic activities, improve dispute-resolution mechanisms, and modernize commercial justice.
We mobilize expertise covering business law, economic and company law, commercial litigation, debt recovery, collective insolvency proceedings, arbitration and mediation.
Key deliverables
- Diagnostics of the legal business climate and commercial justice
- Draft texts, legal opinions and reform notes
- Plans and tools to modernize commercial justice
- OHADA practical guides, training modules and tools
- Debt-recovery strategies and arbitration or mediation mechanisms
- OHADA litigation and case-law analyses
Research, Studies, Diagnostics, Evaluation and Quality Assurance
Through applied research, contextual analysis, institutional diagnostics, monitoring-evaluation and quality assurance, JIA-CERJA produces evidence-based recommendations that help national institutions make strategic decisions and plan judicial system reforms.
Key deliverables
- Sectoral and thematic research
- Performance evaluations of justice reform programs
- Institutional diagnostics and capitalization studies
- Knowledge-management and quality-assurance tools
- Proposals for reforms and support activities for the judicial system
EXPERT POOLS
The terms of reference set out the specialties sought, expected qualifications, types of missions and deliverables for each of JIA-CERJA's seven priority domains. Inclusion in a pool is a preselection and does not constitute permanent recruitment or a guarantee of contracting.
Seven priority domains
- Criminal justice chain reform
- Rule of law and governance
- Access to justice
- Transitional justice and peaceful conflict resolution
- Institutional capacity building
- OHADA law and economic & commercial justice
- Research, studies, diagnostics, evaluation and quality assurance
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