In January 2008, ABA ROLI initiated an Ethiopia program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The program aims to contribute to the ongoing effort to reform Ethiopia’s judicial education and legal education systems.
News
ABA ROLI Works to Improve Access to Ethiopian Laws
Adequate access to laws is a fundamental requirement of a functioning legal system. The ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), with the United States Agency for International Development’s support, prepared a CD-ROM compilation of all Ethiopian laws ratified during the 2007–2008 parliamentary calendar year. Read more »»
ABA ROLI Assesses Legal Education in Ethiopia
The ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) implemented its Legal Education Reform Index (LERI) assessment tool in Ethiopia to evaluate the state of legal education in the country. This assessment—the first LERI ABA ROLI has performed in Africa—analyzes issues such as law school curricula, admissions policies, quality assurance, teaching methodologies, academic freedom and access to resources. Read more »»
Programs
Strengthening judicial training centers
ABA ROLI’s Ethiopia program aims to strengthen training centers for judges at the federal and state levels by providing technical expertise in curriculum preparation, course design and teaching material development. In support, ABA ROLI also conducts training-of-trainer efforts.
Compiling the nation’s laws
One of the challenges confronting Ethiopian judges is a lack of information about, and access to, Ethiopia’s current laws. In response, ABA ROLI has begun compiling current laws, which will be included in a user-friendly database and distributed in both electronic and hard copy formats. Once created, these compilations will be distributed without charge to judges and other legal practitioners.
Assessing the judiciary
ABA ROLI has applied its Judicial Reform Index to comprehensively assess the current state of Ethiopia’s judiciary. The survey stage of the assessment is complete and the final report is expected to be released in late 2009. The report will provide baseline information about key indicators for judicial independence and efficacy. Furthermore, the findings will be used to identify needs for additional program initiatives.
Developing courses and training
The legal education provided in Ethiopia’s law schools has long relied on outdated materials and teaching methodologies. ABA ROLI addresses this challenge by engaging legal educations experts to work in collaboration with law school deans and faculty to improve and develop teaching techniques and modules. ABA ROLI will begin to focus on training instructors on practice-based teaching methodologies, including advanced legal research methodology for instructors and law students at Addis Ababa University.
Assessing legal education
ABA ROLI plans to conduct a systematic assessment of Ethiopia’s legal education system by applying its Legal Education Reform Index. The outcome of the assessment will be published as a report and will provide stakeholders with important baseline data that can be used to measure progress and guide future reform efforts.
Mandefrot BelayCountry Director
Background
The themes of good governance, capacity building and decentralization form the building blocks of Ethiopia’s National Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty. Notwithstanding the efforts that have been taken by both Ethiopian and international stakeholders over the last 15 years to improve the justice sector, there remains a pressing need for continuing reform to legal and judicial education.
Since 1991, moves toward decentralization have resulted in the evolution of the federal Ethiopian state. The development of the federal and state systems brought about an increased demand for qualified judges and court support professionals. However, the pressure to fill new justice sector positions overwhelmed the universities with law faculties. For example, the Law Faculty of Addis Ababa University became unable to produce enough graduates to keep up with the demand for legal professionals.
In an attempt to respond to this problem, the government of Ethiopia introduced legislation that provided for the expansion of higher learning institutions. This resulted in the creation of more public and private universities with law faculties. However, as a result of this expansion, there are ongoing concerns about the quality of education at these institutions, and the uniformity of the Ethiopian legal education system.
In January 2008, ABA ROLI initiated an Ethiopia program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The program aims to contribute to the ongoing effort to reform Ethiopia’s judicial education and legal education systems.
