Sierra Leone Paralegal Program Evaluation Underway

The Centre for the Study of African Economies, Oxford University, is evaluating a pilot criminal justice paralegal program launched last year by Timap for Justice and the Open Society Justice Initiative in Sierra Leone. Results are expected in early 2011.

The paralegal program is intended to provide access to justice for people detained at police stations and prisons.

The purpose of the study is to identify “what works." As there is little rigorous quantitative evidence on designing effective post-conflict access to justice and legal empowerment programs, hopefully this evaluation will provide unique insights for policy, particularly as paralegal work goes national. The research will also collect new, multi-purpose data on the functioning of the criminal justice system, which will highlight any abuses within the system and potential avenues for future intervention.

A detailed overview of the evaluation project is available for download.