Title: Study to re-design the work processes in the
judiciary civil and criminal registries
Client: Cabinet Office - President's Office
Country: Zambia
Year: February 2002 - April 2004
Financing: World Bank
Description of project and services rendered
The government of the Republic of Zambia embarked on a program to reform its Public Services in 1993. The re-structuring of the judiciary is part of the Public Service Reform Program, whose aim is to stream line the structure and operations of the Judiciary to make it more efficient, cost effective and responsive to the needs of the people of Zambia.
The re-designing of the work processes in the Judiciary Civil and Criminal Registries is aimed at removing organizational weakness, unclear definitions of roles, overlaps, delays in decision making, inadequate use of management information and poor utilization of resources in order to strengthen the autonomy of the Judicature.
The Judiciary comprises the following sections: The Supreme Court, the High Court, the Industrial Relations Court, the Subordinate Court, the Local Courts, Central administration and the Sheriffs Office. The Judiciary employs a total of 5076 employees.
The overall objective of the study is to enhance the Capacity of the Judiciary in processing cases in order to make the process of litigation more efficient, cost effective and responsive to the needs of citizens.
The specific objectives of the study are:
- To determine ways and means of stream lining the existing work processes, identify and remove weaknesses and enhance effective utilization of resources in order to strengthen the autonomy of the Judiciary.
- To assess the effectiveness of the existing Supreme Court Rules, High Court Rules, Industrial Relations Court Rules, Subordinate Court Rules and Local Courts Rules; and to make recommendations for change where necessary.
- To review the manual case management system in place in order to determine the causes of delays in disposing of cases and make recommendations.
- To explore the possibility of establishing a computerized case management system and to make recommendations.
The activities
- Identify organizational weaknesses of the judiciary system in terms of unclear definitions of roles, over lap of functions, delays in decision-making, inadequate use of management information and poor utilization of resources and develop alternative processes.
- Analyze the effectiveness of all existing Supreme Court Rules, High Court rules, Industrial relations court rules, subordinate Court rules and the local courts rules and to examine their suitability to the litigation process.
- Analyze the case management system in place, identify bottlenecks in the system and set targets for disposing of cases.
- Explore the possibility of setting up a computerized case management system and make recommendation.
- Design and arrange the documentation of the recommendations into a handbook for the users.
- Develop a strategy and action plan for implementation of these recommendations.
The outputs of the study
- Clearly defines alternative procedures for the processing of litigations;
- A list of recommendations proposing change to the Supreme Court Rules, High Court Rules, Industrial Relations Court Rules, Subordinate Court Rules and Local Courts Rules;
- A comprehensive narration of implications for the alternative case management system;
- Recommendations on the establishment of a computerized case management system;
- A handbook for the users of the proposed procedures;
- A strategy and action plan for implementing the recommendations.
