The Program for the Development of the Judicial System (PDJS) has been set up by a group of consultants who have been working for years to strengthen the Rule of Law in Bulgaria. We believe that encouragement of changes in the judiciary, improvement of the access to justice, increasing the public support, trust and confidence in the judicial bodies are the roads we need to tread down in order to build the image of Bulgaria as a democratic European country where Rule of Law is observed.
We have already had opportunities to work together with the judicial institutions of Bulgaria as part of the team of the Judicial Strengthening Initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In this respect, the PDJS continues the main activities started under the Initiative to ensure sustainability and continuity of the good practices and experience gained. At the same time, we work on new activities as well to expand the scope of innovations and guarantee unification of the work of all judicial bodies.
Our team has a lot of experience in working with the courts in Bulgaria. We have taken an active part in the creation and implementation of the Court Improvement Plan which has been approved by the Supreme Judicial Council to be applied throughout the country and which has been the tool used by the courts in the USAID Model Courts and Courts-in-Partnership Program (a total of 36 courts from the regional, district and appellate levels from throughout the country).
We have also been instrumental in the organization and development of the Court Information Centers Concept which has also been approved by the Supreme Judicial Council as a national standard applicable in all courts in the country and which gives exhaustive instructions about the building of information centers and the services they can provide to the citizens.
Our consultants can help in the field of trainings a great deal – with the organization and teaching process and also with the development of a training program, determining of the content in accordance with adult learning theory and the conducting of the training itself.
Our experience with trainings has proven to be highly valuable in the organization of events on a larger scale such as the two Conferences for Judges in Bulgaria (in 2004 and 2005) and the first ever Conference for Magistrates in Bulgaria (in 2006). PDJS experts have worked together with a number of Bulgarian institutions including the Supreme Judicial Council, Supreme Court of Cassation, Supreme Administrative Court, Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Bulgaria, National Institute of Justice and Union of Judges in Bulgaria to conduct these significant fora. The conferences provided the magistrates with an opportunity to exchange experience and look for solutions to common problems together. Conducting the conferences in the coming years is a priority in our work. Our judiciary has gone a long way to reach the European and world standards in the administration of justice. There is, however, still a long road ahead. We are ready to go down this road together with the professionals from the judiciary and all citizens who see the foundation of a stable and functioning country in a stable and functioning judiciary.
