Educating and Equipping Tomorrow’s Justice Reformersin Indonesia

The Foundation is

supporting the

establishment of

dozens of legal

education clinics

across eight leading

Indonesian universities.

THE NEXT GENERATION OF REFORM

Justice sector reform efforts have reached a critical juncture in Indonesia. For the lastdecade, the nation’s highest courts, prosecutors,and police have driven reform efforts toincrease citizens’ access to justice, basic rightsand security, and to uphold the rule of law.While the pace and progress of justice reformhas been inconsistent, the reform effort hasbenefited from episodes of thoughtful leader-ship among the senior ranks of the SupremeCourt of Indonesia, the Attorney General’sOffice, and other state institutions. Theseepisodes have been supported by partnershipsforged with civil society organizations to definethe reform agenda, craft blueprints for change,and facilitate informed public engagement and oversight.

As a result, public pressure has grown for thenext generation of judges, prosecutors, and otherpublic officials to be more reform-minded, better attuned to human rights and the conse-quences of gender-based discrimination, andinclined to take a more principled approach indecision-making and combating corruption.

There remain, however, several obstacles toreform in the justice sector. While there is noshortage of law graduates to fill entry-levelpositions in the civil service, top law graduates often forego public service and aredrawn to the private bar or business careers.When in school, law students have few oppor-tunities to gain exposure to the practical skillsneeded to serve as judges or prosecutors.Further, law schools and civil society organiza-tions have limited ability to effectively collabo-rate on research and advocacy to inform andpromote reform processes.

Through the E2J program, The AsiaFoundation is working in partnership with university law schools, civil society organiza-tions, and formal justice institutions to respondto these challenges. The Foundation is backedby the expertise of the Asian Law Center of theUniversity of Washington Law School and thePartnership for Governance Reform (Kemitraan).

PRACTICE-ORIENTED EDUCATION

The E2J program has four highly interrelatedcomponents: clinical legal education clinics,research projects relevant to issues of law

Clinical legal education

clinics are at the heart

of the E2J program,

bringing togther law

faculties, civil society

groups and formal

justice institutions in a

mutually beneficial

relationship.

The Asia Foundation

has supported justice

sector reform in

Indonesia for more

than 40 years.

The Asia Foundation’s justice sector programs have supported Indonesian efforts to strengthen legal institutions, improve legal education, and drive reform for more than 40 years. The Educating and EquippingTomorrow’s Justice Reformers (E2J) program furthers this aim. This four-year initiative, funded by USAID, isworking to improve the performance of Indonesia’s justice system by partnering with university law schools,civil society organizations, and formal justice institutions to provide a new generation with the knowledge, skills,opportunities, and incentives to pursue careers in public service and to contribute to justice sector reform.

INDONESIA

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www.asiafoundation.org

reform, curriculum development, and supportfor civil society organizations. Each componentserves to reinforce and enhance the effectivenessof the others.

At the core of program are the law clinics,which provide students with a crucial opportunity to develop their practical legalskills - an element lacking from many univer-sity law courses. The Foundation is supportingthe law faculties of eight leading Indonesianuniversities to develop clinics that offer stu-dents hands-on experience in civil law, criminallaw, anti-corruption law and public legal educa-tion on environmental, women’s, and children’sissues. The law clinics bring law facultiestogether with civil society organizations andformal legal institutions to provide a forum forstudents to apply their theoretical knowledge ina practical setting.

SUPPORTING DEVELOPMENT OF ENGAGING

AND PRACTICAL TEACHING MATERIALS

A central feature of the law clinics is theclose collaboration between civil society orga-nizations and law faculties. The program alsooffers opportunities for professionals fromlaw schools and civil society organizations towork together on research on legal practiceand reform. To ensure that research is robust,sharply-focused, and able to provide usefulinputs to policy, the Foundation is support-ing researchers from law schools and civilsociety to undertake advanced researchmethodology and writing skills training.Following a competitive selection process,the E2J program is providing grants for col-laborative research on issues including crimi-nal law, anti-corruption law, environmentallaw, and women’s and children’s rights. Theprojects draw on the lecturers for theoreticaland intellectual aspects of the law, while civilsociety representatives are able to lend theirfield experience and knowledge of the practi-cal aspects of application of the law. To

further enhance the research process, theFoundation is drawing on its network ofregional and international law schools, legalresearch institutions and civil society organi-zations, facilitating new connections andproviding opportunities for research collaboration.

STRENGTHENING LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS

Civil society organizations have played a critical role in justice sector reform during the reformasi era. And the Foundation has been attheir side during this process, supporting themin their efforts. The E2J program seeks toextend this collaboration, working to strength-en the capacity of civil society organizations tosupport, monitor, and advocate for justicereform. The Foundation is providing trainingand technical support for organizations toenhance their financial management capacity,strategic planning skills and internal standardoperating procedures. And in addition to sup-porting civil society organizations to conductresearch, E2J is assisting them to disseminateand utilize research results in a manner thatadvances a better, fairer justice system based ondemocratic ideals and the sanctity of individualrights and freedoms.

SUPPORTING EMERGING LEADERS

The program also provides financial support fora number of law lecturers and promising civilsociety organization staff to pursue graduatestudies at the Asian Law Center of theUniversity of Washington Law School. Ongraduation, these emerging leaders will returnto further hone the development of the clinicalprograms and play an active role in shaping thenext generation of reformers.

For additional information on the E2J program, please contact Chief of PartyEric Putzig (eputzig@tafindo.org).

The Asia Foundation’s E2J program is made possible by the generous supportof the American people through the United States Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID).

12/2012

The Asia Foundation

is a nonprofit international

development organization

committed to improving

lives across a dynamic

and developing Asia.

Headquartered in San

Francisco, The Asia

Foundation works through

a network of offices in

17 Asian countries and in

Washington, DC. Working

with public and private

partners, the Foundation

receives funding from

a diverse group of

bilateral and multilateral

development agencies,

foundations, corporations,

and individuals.