The Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has published an evaluation of the UNDP’s support to access to justice. The evaluation examines UNDP support from 2014 to 2022, and is based on the following UNDP definition of access to justice: “the ability of people to seek and obtain a remedy, through the formal or informal justice system, and in accordance with human rights principles and standards”.

The evaluation’s six evaluation questions collectively identify the extent, effectiveness, relevance, coherence and sustainability of the UNDP’s efforts, which are assessed using qualitative and quantitative methods.

The evaluation’s 7 recommendations include:

• Enhanced investment by the UNDP, and the strengthening of the UNDP’s value proposition in the area of access to justice at the country level, based on comprehensive analyses of institutional and people’s justice needs;
• Pivoting UNDP programmes to people-centred justice, including ongoing support to the institutionalization of legal aid and programmatic focus on fairness, quality and oversight of justice processes in ways that align with people’s ability to address and prevent justice problems;
• Expanding the UNDP’s work to include more actors, such as alternative dispute resolution;
• Investment in more and better people-centred justice data.

The full Evaluation of UNDP Support of Access to Justice report and infographics are available in English here: http://web.undp.org/evaluation/evaluations/thematic/a2j.shtml.