News and Events

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[edit] Purpose of this page

The purpose of this page is to share noteworthy information. For instance, a milestone is reached, a new project is being kicked off or finalized, an important partnership is being established, the 5000th person is being helped to access his or her right in Bolivia, etc. In this way, the communication team gets a overview of news and events, and can determine when a newsletter should be sent to all our stakeholders.

[edit] November 2008

  • Jin Ho Verdonschot, Maurits Barendrecht, Laura Klaming and Peter Kamminga publish paperMeasuring Access to Justice: The Quality of Outcomes. This paper discusses the criteria outcomes of dispute systems should meet from he perspective of end users.
  • Township Blues, Legal needs of individuals in Ndirande, Blantyre. That is the title of the needs and capabilities assessment by a team from Malawi, led by Michel Knapen and Mirjam Vossen, see BoP Protocol Needs Assessment Malawi. Conclusions: People already pay a lot of money to solve their legal issues, around € 21 per problem. Microjustice should focus on the legal problems that residents of Ndirande identify as the most urgent: property grabbing, family issues (notably paternal neglect), employment issues, land and tenancy issues, theft and detention. Microjustice could focus on providing legal information about issues such as inheritance rights, affiliation responsibilities, tenancy rights, land rights and rights for accused. Other options are contracts and legal documents, as well as mediation skills. The report will be available through Microjustice.org shortly.

[edit] October 2008

  • Under the name Microjustice Sharing Rules, the norms and processes.com project was succesfully submitted to the Google project 10 to the 100. As part of this entry, a video was uploaded on YouTube.
  • The Executive Board of Tilburg University announced to support the Microjustice entry to the Google Competition. The Board makes available funding for the development of the 30 second YouTube video and other related communication activities.
  • Tisco has submitted a research program for a subsidy from NWO (the Dutch Research Foundation) in relation to the strategic theme Conflict and Security. The program proposal has the title: Microjustice: Evidence Based Dispute System Design. See MicroJustice:Evidence Based Dispute System Design for more information. The idea is that Microjustice presents opportunities for major advances in the direction of evidence-based dispute-system-design. A theoretical framework will be developed, integrating insights from conflict research, best practices, and potential remedies for market/government failure. Dispute systems (formal, informal; from countries in different stages of development) will be compared to the framework, and evaluated with a methodology for measuring the quality and costs of conflict management processes from the perspective of the user. Results will be disseminated through the knowledge sharing network of the Microjustice Initiative, and in a first handbook on evidence-based dispute-system-design.

[edit] September 2008

  • Before 20 October 2008, the Microjustice Initiative plans to file MicrojusticeNormsandProcesses.com for Google's competition for the idea that helps the world most, see Project 10 to the 100. A Youtube film of 30 sec. is one element of the presentation. We plan to make a longer film, for other communication activities.
  • The Mission, Vision, Strategy and Values for the Microjustice Initiative were approved by the board of the MJ Initiative.
  • The department of Private law of Tilburg University decided to invest €200k in Microjustice research.
  • Research in Malawi into the needs and capabilities related to access to justice, as well as the prospects for Microjustice started, see BoP Protocol Needs Assessment Malawi.
  • The program for Facilitadores Judiciales Rurales of the Organización de los Estados Americanos (OAE) considers cooperation with the Microjustice Initiative in the area of ensuring sustainability of its program.
  • On 24 september Eureko (Achmea) opened its new headquarters in Zeist with a conference about Microinsurance in the presence of Princess Maxima. During the panel discussion, for a high profile audience, Prof. Gert van Dijk (Nijenrode) introduced Microjustice as an important new member of the family of microservices that reduce vulnerability.
  • The Centre for International Legal Cooperation (Leiden) considers integrating elements of the Microjustice approach into its paralegal program in Mali.
  • Tisco and the Centre for International Legal Cooperation (Leiden) consider organizing a workshop for access to justice experts on best practices.
  • Martin Gramatikov, Maurits Barendrecht and Jin Ho Verdonschot publish paper Measuring the Costs and Quality of Paths to Justice: Contours of a Methodology describing a system for assessing procedures that give access to justice.
  • Maurits Barendrecht and Jin Ho Verdonschot publish paper Objective Criteria: Facilitating Dispute Resolution by Information About Going Rates of Justice. This paper describes part of the theory behind MicrojusticeNormsandProcesses.com.
  • A Microjustice Research Program has been finalized, which defines research projects at Tilburg University and connected research institutions.

[edit] August 2008

  • The board of the Microjustice Initiative met for a day at the premises of the DOB foundation to discuss the second version of the strategic plan.
  • Four master students from Tilburg University started their work at the Microjustice Bolivia project. Panagiotis Tsatsos & Mark Overdevest work on a Business case for Facilitators, Guido van Dijcke on Improving Property Rights Protection, and Erik Vosselman on Modularity, which is an essential element for Product Development. Their blogs can be found through the Microjustice-BOP Lab Master Thesis Project page.
  • A first version of the clickable demo for MicrojusticeNormsandProcesses.com has been developed. It shows how users can view norms, request norms that they need to settle issues, and rate norms according to their quality. Professionals, or other citizens that have knowledge about the going rates of justice have the possibility to upload norms, to answer requests for norms. Third parties can sponsor norms for issues that are not yet covered by norms of sufficient quality.

[edit] July 2008

  • Duarte Silveira reports on his thesis regarding information flow in a team setting up a Base of the Pyramid project. Bottom-line: feeling personally secure and safe is a very important condition for an open flow of information. Conditions in the phase of setting up a project may involve a lot of uncertainty, though.
  • Tisco presents a report to the Dutch Assistant Minister of Justice relating to the Dutch Access to Justice situation, formed through an interactive process with 120 stakeholders. The report stresses the importance of many elements that are also central to the Microjustice approach (transparency of going rates of justice, support with know how and structures for negotiation, the option of an early intervention by a court), see the wiki of this project. The Ministry of Justice has unofficially announced that it will continue developing policies in this direction
  • Microjusticia Bolivia introduces an improved website. It now has four service points, in La Paz (FIE and Corte Departamental Electoral de La Paz), El Alto, and Achacachi. The website contains self help information for issues regarding Civil Documentation (birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, and identity documents).

[edit] June 2008

  • Under the title 'Innovatieve Rechtsstaat' (Innovation related to the Rule of Law) a cooperation-agreement is enacted between the Hague Institute for the Internationalization of the Law, the Centre for International Legal Cooperation, the Academie voor Wetgeving, and the Microjustice Initiative. Aim is to set up an infrastructure to facilitate processes for developing innovative services and products that support the rule of law. In the wider The Hague area, a cluster of organizations and businesses exists that develop innovative legal procedures, support courts, facilitate ADR programs, find new legislation methods, develop evaluation methodologies, interactive web-based legal aid interfaces, and other innovations. This cluster, however, can still profit from innovation know how, and research and development methodologies that are used in business and market organizations. A program has been submitted to the City of The Hague and to the Ministry of Economic Affairs to this end.
  • On June 3, the UN Commission for Legal Empowerment of the Poor, co-chaired by Madeleine Albright and Hernando de Soto, published its report Making the Law Work for Everyone. It calls for enhancing bottom up approaches to the rule of law, and contains a wealth of information about the state of the art regarding access to justice. Maurits Barendrecht contributed texts to the report, and co-edited the Working Group report on Access to Justice.
  • Mirjam Vossen and Michel Knapen (of the organization FAQ Congressen) set off to Blantyre, Malawi. They will conduct a needs and capabilities assessment in order to explore the possibilities for Microjustice solutions. Further, they will make a SWOT analysis to find out the feasibility of a Microjustice Program in Malawi.

[edit] May 2008

  • Microjustice Initiative enacted as a Foundation (stichting). The board is formed by Toon Bullens (chair), Maurits Barendrecht (secretary), Freek Kauffmann (IT), and Frederik Schutte (legal, finance).

[edit] April 2008

  • MicrojusticeNormsandProcesses.com was kicked off as a project in April. Goal of this project is to define the specifications of the web interface and to build a prototype (clickable demo).
  • The first master student from Tilburg University, Duarte Silveira, arrived in Bolivia in april for conducting his master thesis research on sharing information in cross functional teams at the base of the pyramid.
  • A paper, Microjustice 2: Understanding the market for justice, was presented at the Rule of Law Network meeting of Hiil, and at the Amsterdam Centre for Law and Economics.
  • The Stichting Dijkverzwaring granted funds for developing the Microjustice Initiative Network Organization and transforming ILA's cross-border activities in Serbia into a sustainable Microjustice process.

[edit] March 2008

  • The Eureko Achmea Fund granted funds for developing Microjustice Products, the Handbook for setting up a local Microjustice organization, defining specifications and building a prototype of MicrojusticeNormsandProcesses.com, and developing a network organization.

[edit] February 2008

[edit] January 2008

  • This wiki started operating. See Microjustice.org for news and events from before this period.
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