Activating Village Court Phase II

The Activating Village Courts in Bangladesh Project (AVCB) Phase II seeks to support Village Courts in Bangladesh as an effective total dispute resolution mechanism. The first phase of the project was piloted from 2009 - 2015, and the success of the pilot has led the Government to seek a scaling up of the project for a new phase in January 2016 - December 2019. The project is anchored in the Local Government Division (LGD) of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (MoLGRD&C). During AVCB Phase II the LGD will lead the activation of Village Courts in 1080 Unions across 8 Divisions. 

AVCB Phase II have three core components:

Ensuring Union Parish ads have resources and capacity to make the village courts function;

Monitoring Village Courts' performance through an effective reporting structure: and

Empowering the population to seek Village Courts services by increasing their knowledge of the Village Court's role and function.

The project aims to create a sustainable and effective framework to support Village Courts through these three components. And by ensuring LGD capacity to the lake over the project by the end of 2019.

 

Project Activities

The project has five Expected Results – three falling under Specific Objective 1, one under Specific Objective 2 and one cross-cutting and relevant to both Objective 1 and 2.

Specific Objective 1: To make local authorities more responsive to local justice needs and offer appropriate legal services in the form of well-functioning village courts.

This Specific Objective relates to all supply side activities, including activation of village courts and capacitation, and implementing the Decentralised Monitoring, Inspection and Evaluation (DMIE) system, and the following results.

Result 1.1: Capacity of relevant stakeholders at national and local level improved and key skills strengthened to enable Village Courts in new target Unions to function effectively by the end of the project implementation.

Result 1.2: Legal and policy framework revised to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of VCs.

Result 1.3: GoB monitoring capacity for evaluating VCs performance is strengthened and systematized.

Specific Objective 2: To empower local people, especially women, the poor and vulnerable groups to seek remedies for injustices and to resolve their disputes at the local level in an expeditious, transparent and affordable manner

Result 2.1 Beneficiaries in project areas understand the roles and functions of the Village Courts and are able to access their services when required

Result 3: Evidence-base and knowledge management on VCs increased

Objective

The overall objective is to contribute to improving access to justice for disadvantaged and marginalized groups in Bangladesh. The specific objectives are:

Specific Objective 1: To make local authorities more responsive to local justice needs and offer appropriate legal services in the form of well-functioning Village Courts.

Specific Objective 2: To empower local people, especially women, the poor and vulnerable groups to seek remedies for injustices and to resolve their disputes at the local level in an expeditious, transparent and affordable manner.

Key Results

Improve capacity of relevant stakeholders at national and local level

Revise Legal and Policy Framework for effective village courts

Strengthen Government’s monitoring towards village courts performance

Enable beneficiaries to access their services from village courts

Evidence-base and knowledge management

Impact

START DATE

January 2016

END DATE

December 2022

STATUS

Completed

PROJECT OFFICE

Bangladesh

IMPLEMENTING PARTNER

Local Government Division

DONORS

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS

$34,753,564

DELIVERY IN PREVIOUS YEARS

2015$23,875

2016$1,771,697

2017$8,009,700

2018$6,184,330

2019$5,369,979

2020$5,458,112

2021$3,726,951

2022$2,135,068

Full Project information