The Honourable Mr. Justice Kenneth Benjamin, Chief Justice of Belize will officially open the fourth in a series of collaborative workshops geared towards building awareness, momentum and consensus for the Judicial Reform and Institutional Strengthening (JURIST) Project’s Third Year Work Plan.
The two day workshop is being hosted by the JURIST Project in collaboration with the judiciary of Belize. It is being held Courtroom No. 2, Supreme Court, Belize City, Belize on June 29 and 30, 2016. The opening ceremony will take place on Wednesday June 29, 2016 at 9 am and Ms. Anika Jackson, Solicitor General of Belize will also address participants.
Belize is the fourth country to host this collaborative workshop. Jamaica, Barbados and Grenada have all hosted workshops in the past weeks. Workshops are also planned for Guyana and other countries.
These workshops are part of the Project’s participatory planning process and will bring together jurisdictional stakeholders at the national level, such as various levels of the judiciary, the Bar, court administration, mediation service providers, non-governmental and civil society organizations as well as other stakeholders from across the region where appropriate, to share knowledge, experiences and priorities linked to judicial reform.
The objective of these workshops is to develop the next work plan in a participatory manner, with a view to ensuring transparency and predictability in the implementation and timing of the Project’s proposed activities. The workshop will be facilitated by a strategic planning consultant.
ABOUT THE JURIST PROJECT
The JURIST Project is a five year regional Caribbean judicial reform initiative funded under an arrangement with the Government of Canada. The Project is being implemented on behalf of Global Affairs Canada and the Conference of Heads of Judiciary of CARICOM (the Conference), by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which was appointed by the Conference as its Regional Executing Agency (REA).
The Project has been working with judiciaries in the region, for the past two years, to support their own efforts to improve court administration and strengthen the ability of the courts and the judiciary to resolve cases efficiently and fairly. The Project is currently being implemented in at least six countries and will be expanded to include other territories in the region. The overarching goal is to establish a judicial system that is more responsive to the needs of women, men, youths and businesses.
