A. Who we are?

The Centre for Justice Studies and Innovations (CJSI) promotes rule of law as an avenue through which justice is delivered to all people in Uganda, particularly the poor and marginalized groups;

CJSI believes in giving to all their due and making provision for the poor and marginalized as the viable pathway to equitable economic and social development;

CJSI believes all individuals and communities have an inherent sense of justice. CJSI believes in building upon these sacred principles, tradition and the days’ practices to arrive at justice that is meaningful, relevant and credible to all involved;

CJSI exists to challenge all forms of organization (Government and/or Community grown; formal and informal)to consistently re-evaluate their basic assumptions; organization and intentions to ensure delivery of justice as a basic service that should be easily accessible, affordable and with predictable and meaningful outcomes for all.

B. Our Approach

• Through ground-breaking Research, CJSI reviews systems and practices to highlight what works, what does not and why and ensures regional good practices are available to the justice system in Uganda;
• Through Demonstrations, CJSI works within the system to demonstrate improved and/or new ways of work and builds the capacity of the system to operate in new and/or improved ways;
• Through Advocacy, CJSI promotes individual and system learning; integrates new and/or improved practices and policies into mainstream systems and builds a constituency to ensure consistency in integration, application and monitoring.

C: Our Values

Independence of our thoughts and ideas, mandates, processes and approaches and those of our partners;

Integrity to always seek and communicate the truth in our research, demonstrations; learning and advocacy;

Innovation through openness to experimentation with new and improved theories and concepts, tools, services, products, approaches and designs; and opening doors for partners to deliver improved services;

Empowerment; of ourselves and the systems where we work as a foundation of our competitive advantage; we value the continuous development of new capabilities within the Centre and in the justice systems of operation.

D: Our Technical Areas of Operation

Priority Systems for Improvement with ongoing work:

1. Information Management
2. Planning, Resource Allocation and Tracking
3. Performance Management: Management for Results

Research in these areas is conducted at CJSI own initiative, in partnership with justice system institutions, with academia and civil society in Uganda, at regional and international levels.

E: Cross cuttings Areas of Importance

1. Capacity Development: Back to Basics (Hearts and Minds Campaign) to enhance service delivery and needs-based specialized training;
2. Rights, Gender and Diversity Mainstreaming;
3. Organizational Development-Introduction to Management of Service Delivery Units.

F: Our Priority Demonstration Projects, 2013-2014

1. Justice for Children- 3-year systems improvement program for delivery of justice for Children; pilot in 16 sites of Amuru, Pader, Nwoya, Gulu, Lamwo, Kitgum, Agago in Northern Uganda; Mbale, Bududa in Eastern Uganda; Soroti, Kotido and Moroto in the North-East; Kyenjojo and Fort-Portal in Western Uganda and Nakawa and Entebbe in Central Uganda. In partnership with Justice, Law and Order sector(JLOS) and UNICEF-Uganda;
2. Youth Skills Enhancement Program: 3-year Youth Justice: Service Enhancement Program; Pilot in Amuru and Nwoya, in partnership with Save the Children Uganda.

G: Our Effort in Practice and Policy Advocacy is in these key areas:

1. Expanding scope, analysis and integrity of justice information systems;
2. Involving the front-line actors in Planning, Management and Results Tracking: Developing Capacity of Regional and District Justice Service Coordination Structures;
3. New Focus; New approaches- a System change that will deliver Services, Products and adopt appropriate procedures for Children;
4. Youth Programming- if the traditional approaches are not showing promise- let us try problem-solving approaches for youth in the justice system;
5. Governance reforms as a core component of service delivery reforms;
6. Opening our minds to alternative means of dispute resolution: the case of the Karamoja region;
7. Constituency building – Rule of Law civil society organizations contributing to Service Delivery Reforms at national and regional levels.