Strengthening the criminal justice chain in the Sahel to address instability in the region

2,000,000

More than 2 million people are internally displaced in the Sahel.16

80% of the Sahel’s farmland is degraded due to global warming.17

80%

The Sahel region faces many challenges, such as food insecurity, water scarcity and lack of social services. Impunity, corruption, abuses by security forces and self-defense groups and difficulty with access to justice fuel citizens’ resentment and undermine social cohesion. States in the Sahel experience challenges in responding to common crimes, which contributes to the deterioration of state integrity and legitimacy and creates a breeding ground for the expansion of violent extremist armed groups and criminal networks.

IDLO’s regional program in the Sahel was designed to help reduce instability and insecurity in the region by strengthening criminal justice systems in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. The program aims to improve the quality of justice so that it is accessible to citizens, respectful of human rights, more efficient, transparent and gender sensitive, and focused on the needs of justice seekers. The program was developed in close collaboration with the Ministries of Justice in the three countries and is aligned with the G5 Sahel Priority Investment Programme.

Building on an innovative approach piloted in Mali, called problem-driven iterative adaptation, the program uses consultation frameworks to engage local formal and informal criminal justice actors such as police officers, magistrates and traditional authorities, as well as civil society organizations. Together, they identify challenges and propose solutions that are locally accepted and owned by all those involved in providing legal aid and justice.

“Before the creation of the consultation frameworks in Ségou, there was no direct collaboration between the traditional authorities and the judiciary,” said Broulaye Bagayogo, Coordinator of the NonGovernmental Organizations’ Regional Coordination Group. “Justice was seen as an exceptional structure that the traditional authorities were afraid to approach or even to discuss with the magistrates of the high court. Today, there is a strong synergy between the traditional authorities and justice actors thanks to the consultation frameworks.”

Slowly, the consultation frameworks are changing mindsets and yielding results. Several traditional judges are now taking advantage of the expertise of legal actors to request approval and formally register their decisions, showing a renewed trust in the formal legal system. In 2020, consultations in the region of Mopti in Mali made it possible to reach a negotiated solution between the court and traditional chiefs around the construction of a re-education center for minors which had been causing tensions among inhabitants and landowners.

The consultation frameworks also serve as the primary mechanism for monitoring program results. This programmatic approach makes it possible to identify and respond to the specific needs of the regions, encourage local ownership, and adapt to new opportunities while drawing inspiration from lessons learned.

Problem-driven iterative adaptation

Problem-driven iterative adaptation is an approach to justice piloted in Mali by IDLO which facilitates responses to very dynamic and constantly changing local contexts and demands. Priorities, challenges and solutions are designed in and by local communities, promoting ownership and flexibility. This innovative, demand-driven, flexible approach is based on four principles: 1� Local solutions for local problems 2� Experiment to find solutions 3� Try, learn, iterate, adapt 4�Scale up through diffusion of practice