The Global Justice Campaign is a five-year strategic plan to extend the National Center for State Court's (NCSC) vision for projects abroad. Partnering with donor agencies, host-country governments, and non-governmental organizations, NCSC is making valuable contributions to strengthening democratic institutions and the rule of law in post-conflict societies and developing democracies. This plan defines NCSC’s vision and strategies for promoting democracy and the rule of law, strengthening public trust and confidence in the judiciary and advancing the administration of justice in countries across the globe.
The Global Justice Campaign features three strategic initiatives that promote NCSC engagement abroad, serving as a framework to organize and align NCSC resources in support of its international work.
| - Continue to support and strengthen democracy and rule of law programs in developing countries in alignment with United Nations and United States Government development goals. |
- Explore rule of law funding opportunities that leverage under-utilized implementing partners and/or that seek public/private partnerships, as well as team with other implementing partners. |
- Invest strategically to measure and report NCSC’s rule of law program impact across projects in developing countries and utilize storytelling to communicate NCSC’s institutional capacity in international rule of law. |
- Develop NCSC’s vision of a justice culture to shape international rule of law dialogue and thinking and promote reform opportunities that meet 21st century justice reform challenges. |
- Utilize the Justice for All Initiative (JFAI) court system strategic planning methodology for expanding legal aid and pro bono programs in international programs and present JFAI methodology to donors for direct funding. |
- Familiarize staff with key methodologies (such as weighted workload) and resources on core court administration topics (such as case management, records management) available through NCSC. |
- Develop an international-specific knowledge and information center on a narrow set of issues including ethics and case management. |
- Use International Framework for Court Excellence self-assessment methodology to assist international counterparts with needs/problem identification. |
- Adapt the Institute for Court Management educational model to create a curriculum package (modules) tailored to international justice constituents and deliver training on court role, court leadership, and case management in partner countries. |
- Develop “community of practice” mechanism to bring together U.S. courts and international counterparts around topics of common interest. |
- Expand the International Visitors Education Program (IVEP) to strengthen NCSC’s relationships with other judiciaries. |
- Engage targeted partner countries and credible regional organizations to identify their rule of law reform priorities and create concept papers (packages) that respond to partner countries’ reform priorities for marketing to donors. |
- Utilize NCSC’s considerable case management and technology capacity and services to improve court administration in partner countries. |
- Develop policy papers, training materials, and tools that help justice institutions in partner countries address, mitigate, and respond to disinformation campaigns/cybersecurity threats that affect the judicial process. |
- Promote a pilot regional center of excellence, or similar forum, to advance standards-based judicial governance and administration, situating NCSC at the forefront of international rule of law reform and problem-solving. |
Each strategic objective describes initiatives for NCSC to advance justice reform and spur innovation. This plan is the product of discussions across NCSC divisions and the International Program Division’s Advisory Committee. The pursuit of these strategic objectives will ensure that NCSC remains at the forefront of rule of law and justice administration abroad as a leader, an innovator, and an effective implementing partner.
Shaped by NCSC’s rule of law experience over the past decades, this strategic plan is a roadmap in the coming years for NCSC to maintain its long-standing global commitment to judicial administration and justice innovation.