The World Bank says a new data-driven assessment has strengthened efforts to reform Liberia’s justice sector by providing a comprehensive diagnostic of performance across access, efficiency and quality.
Liberia’s justice system faces persistent challenges as the country moves beyond conflict and fragility, the Bank said.
Court disposition times remain long, litigation is costly, and judicial services are unevenly available in rural areas. As a result, most Liberians continue to rely on customary justice mechanisms, valued for their proximity, speed, lower cost and cultural relevance.
But unclear jurisdictional boundaries and referral rules between customary and statutory systems can produce unfair outcomes and allow harmful practices to persist.
To address gaps in evidence for reform, the World Bank’s Institutions Global Department deployed the Justice Pillars Towards Evidence-based Reform (JUPITER) assessment under the Governance Reform and Accountability Transformation (GREAT) Project.
The methodology offers a structured framework for measuring justice system performance and identifying priorities for reform based on reliable data.
According to the Bank, JUPITER enabled a more rigorous, data-driven appraisal of Liberia’s justice institutions, facilitated policy dialogue among stakeholders and helped sequence and prioritize reforms.
The assessment also contributed to the analytical foundation for an upcoming World Bank project focused on institutional strengthening and rule-of-law objectives.
The World Bank said the JUPITER approach has since been applied in South Sudan and is being implemented in Ethiopia and Kenya, with exploratory discussions under way in several Latin American countries.
The Bank presented the methodology as a scalable tool for countries seeking to base justice-sector reforms on empirical evidence rather than ad hoc or anecdotal information.
The brief was produced by the Public Administration Global Unit in the Bank’s Governance Global Practice.
Stakeholders in Liberia have called for continued data collection, clearer referral mechanisms between customary and formal justice actors, and targeted investments to expand court services and reduce costs for litigants as next steps in the reform process.
