Start Date: 01 January 2026
End Date: 31 December 2026
Status: Active / Implementation & Institutionalisation Phase (Project Extension)
Project Office: UNDP Samoa Multi-Country Office (MCO), Apia, Samoa

Brief description of Project

The overall goal for the Access to Justice Project extension from January to June 2026 is to strengthen the institutionalization and establishment of the Legal Aid Policy directives, so that they are effective and enforced. That will ensure the strengthening of governance and policy oversight through proper mechanisms and capacity development support for the Law & Justice Sector Steering Committee (Committee), tasked with governance and policy oversight of the Legal Aid Policy. Following the adoption and launch of the Legal Aid Policy, the project will also support the implementation capacity set up with the mobilization of human resources and relevant office set up for a dedicated Legal Aid Unit within the Ministry of Justice, Courts & Administration (MJCA) to support the effective execution of policy. 

To further strengthen the implementation capacities, the project will support MJCA with the development of implementation guidelines, operational tools, and systemic processes to support policy implementation in consultation with relevant (internal and external) stakeholders. These guidelines, operational tools, systems and processes will relate to assessing and approving eligibility and grant of legal aid, include guidelines for approving, rostering and monitoring Legal Aid Providers, systems, databases and processes for administering the legal aid programme and monitoring and reporting on performance. The extension will in like manner enable and facilitate knowledge exchange engagements between MJCA and other nearby jurisdictions that are of similar nature. That is to foster practical knowledge exchange and replicating of experiences, with comparable and nearby jurisdictions who have extensive experiences in legal aid systems and assistances.