Today the Ambassador of The Netherlands, Mr. Maarten Brouwer, and the European Union in Mali, Mr. Bielecki, Chargé d’affaires, presented the Minister of Justice and Human Rights of Mali, Mr. Mohamed Aly Bathily with an overview report of the Justice Needs and Satisfaction survey that HiiL Innovating Justice conducted in Mali earlier this year. Journalists in Mali are invited to come by the Netherlands Embassy in Hippodrome and pick up a free copy of the report.
The survey involved an unprecedented 8400 citizens of Mali, evenly spread out over each region except Kidal. They were asked about frequently experienced justice problems, how they dealt with them (if at all), and how they assessed the process and the outcome.
Sam Muller, HiiL’s director says: “Mali leads the world. This is really unique. We have never had such a large sample and the data presented to the government of Mali today shows only the tip of the iceberg. Mali now knows so much more about different kinds of justice problems people have, where they take them, and to which extent these different paths to justice work. That gives very concrete directions for improvement strategies. What is also unique is how well it all came together through close cooperation with tremendously professional civil society organisations and forward looking government leadership. »
“The report tells us a great deal about justice needs of Malian men and women across the country”, says Maarten Brouwer, the Netherlands’ ambassador in Mali. “With this report we also learn about people’s perspectives on reconciliation. The data gives us all, especially the Malian government and its partners in the donor community and civil society, the information we need to put citizens, their needs and their rights, at the centre of justice reforms.”
« This report gives us, for the first time, a broad and comprehensive view of the justice needs of the citizens of Mali”, says Mr. Bielecki, Chargé d’affaires. Without justice, you cannot have a living democracy. Justice is essential for development. It is for this reason that the sector is a key element of the cooperation between Mali and the European Union. »
The process of doing the survey and completing the first overview analysis only took 4 months to complete. “We worked very hard on developing a process that gets quick and actionable survey outcomes to actors in post conflict and transition settings. I am very pleased with the result,” says Dr. Martin Gramatikov, Head of HiiL’s Measuring Justice team. “Our method is tried and tested and is already being used in other transition and post-conflict settings.”
Click here to download the report.
