About the Project
The Project aimed to facilitate the introduction of the Open Justice initiative as a part of the Open Government Partnership on a national level and to support the further progress of the Open Justice initiative, catalyzing its institutional take on through focused and strategic actions. The main goal was to increase the accountability and the transparency of the judiciary and restore the public trust in the Macedonian justice sector. The Project proposed development of a national mechanism for partnership work and cooperation between the civil society and the judiciary for implementation of the commitments and standards of openness, transparency and accountability. The Project supported the establishment of a Council for Open Justice by representatives of the judicial institutions and CSOs, providing necessary resources for smooth functioning of this body as the key implementer of the judicial commitments embedded in the Action Plan. The Council will establish and facilitate the dialog, cooperation and coordination between the CSOs and institutions towards developing activities and measures that are in the best interest for the citizens. The National Council for Open Justice will be an internal body of the Open Justice Initiative and its own members will participate in the work of the newly established Council for the fifth National Action Plan (that has representatives from the Government, Parliament, judiciary and civil society organizations). In addition, a focus was put on promoting the Open Justice initiative among the expert and the general public, which will also increase the institutional trust among citizens. The project was implemented in the period of June 2021 – December 2021 and funded by Open Government Partnership.
