Expanding Access to Justice program builds capacity of partners on outcome mapping

Expanding Access to Justice (EAJ), a USAID-funded program, has successfully conducted a three-days workshop on outcome mapping, from July 16-18, in Hargeisa, Somaliland. The workshop brought together nine partners to build consensus on the expected results of the program. It also sought to create a framework for capturing the processes, changes and lessons learned from EAJ while working toward meeting its goals and objectives.

Outcome mapping is a methodology for planning, monitoring and evaluating development initiatives that aim to bring about social change. It focuses on outcomes as changes in behavior, relationships, activities, or actions of the people, groups and organizations with whom a program directly works. The concluded training workshop will help the program to be specific about the actors it targets, the changes it expects to see and the strategies necessary to ensure those changes and results are realized.

The workshop covered topics such as; describing the vision, mission, identifying boundary partners, defining outcome challenges, developing progress markers, outcome journals and strategy maps as well as monitoring priorities.

Partners trained during the workshop include: Somaliland National Disability Forum (SNDF), Academy for Development and Advocacy of Minorities (ADAM), NAGAAD Women Network, Human Rights Centre (HRC), Somaliland Women Lawyers Association (SWLA), Somaliland Lawyers Association (SOLLA), AMOUD University Legal Aid Clinic, Hargeisa University Legal Aid Clinic and the Ministry of Justice (MOJ).

During the workshop, Mahamoud Musa, the Legal Aid Director at AMOUD Legal Aid Clinic said: “When I get back to my office, I will share with my colleagues how to select important partners to work with and developing strategies that will work for them.”

EAJ in Somaliland is being implemented by Pact and the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), in partnership with local legal aid organizations and the Ministry of Justice. The program’s goal is to support sustainable improvements to the quality and reach of legal aid services by formal and informal justice actors, as well as increasing citizens’ legal awareness on how best to access justice.

Commenting on the workshop, Yasmin Abdi Abdulahi, the Legal Aid Coordinator from SWLA said: “This training workshop has helped me gain knowledge on how to build boundary partners, define outcome challenges and strategies, which will all be useful for our work.”

A similar training will also be conducted in Mogadishu for four partners. It is expected that after the workshop, partners will be able to establish tools for reporting.