| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

Section D: Related Areas

Page history last edited by linwells@gmail.com 14 years, 6 months ago

Section C: Critical Enablers

 

D. Related areas: 

1.      Social networks, including those enabled by the communications infrastructure (via community / content applications)  need to be developed and trust built so that solutions are solving Afghan problems and to develop their sense of ownership so that equipment won’t be sold in local markets to meet short-term priorities.  Begin with Strategic Listening.  DTP 53

a.       General:

1.      There are over 80k (est) young men who have moved from RC South and RC East to Kabul to avoid Taliban conscription.  I think this is an untapped reasource provided GIRoA can welcome and assist them as they come into the city.  Authentic engagement and support could lead to the formation of a CCC (new deal type) for AFG that may fill some of the human capacity gap here.  If we picked the smart, honest hardworking of the lot, we could put them into a civil service training program.  If done by cohort and bonded effectively, they could serve as a sort of young turks project to change the tactical level of GIRoA agency operations (reduce corruption). 

2.      Multi-cultural ethical considerations are key, and consideration should be given to appointing an ethics advisor knowledgeable of both Afghan and partner nation norms.

3.      NGO and DoD experiences in Muslim areas of Mindanao have provided experiences in innovative approaches to community development that may be relevant here.

4.  Barriers

b.      Jalalabad.  Sister City Foundation.

     Reference:  Steve Brown, Dave Warner, Fary Moini

c.       Each of four district  capitals

d.      Each of 25 villages

e.       Camp for refugees or IDPs

 

2.      Policy and doctrine need to be converted into field operating procedures that can help all concerned work effectively together.  Efforts must be coordinated.

a.       General:  Review policy and doctrine like: DODD 3000.05, DODI 8220.02, FM 3-24, 3-07 and 3-0, Sphere Standards, S/CRS planning framework, UN rules, rules of individual PVOs, IOs, NGOs, etc. Address implications for field operating procedures.

     Barriers

b.      Jalalabad

c.       Each of four district  capitals

d.      Each of 25 villages

e.       Camp for refugees or IDPs

 

3.      Legal and regulatory constraints must be understood—what can be shared with whom?  Under what circumstances?

a.       General:  Engage Chip Wedan (DOD GC).  Take advantage of MG Fields' (SIGAR) offer and IG/GAO people.  Address covenential relationships. 

     Barriers General uses of Title X funds, limits on CERP, donor constraints, Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) rules

b.      Jalalabad

c.       Each of four district  capitals

d.      Each of 25 villages

e.       Camp for refugees or IDPs

f.     Access to legal services, and understanding the constraints, was researched by Internet Bar from 2005=2008;  the  framework for the research is linked in a speech given by ICT director of UNESCAP, Daewon Choi, at the inaugural forum held at Ropes and Grey in DC - summary of research follows:

 

  1. To effectively harness the development potential of microcommerce, the economically disadvantaged must be afforded access to qualified legal systems.  However, there are several barriers to providing legal access to economically disadvantaged persons:
    1. Legal costs, including retaining a lawyer and paying for any court costs
    2. Opportunity cost of participating in the legal system
    3. Sophistication required to navigate the legal system
    4. Difficulty obtaining access to current legal materials
    5. Lack of respect for the law among the poor

                                                              i.      Frequent violations of the law (such as squatting) create the impression that the law need not be followed

                                                            ii.      Intimidation from others that are more powerful makes it seem like the legal system only works for the wealthy and powerful

    1. Fear of punishment for unrelated violations of the law, including living or drawing electricity illegally
    2. Elites blocking reform efforts
    3. Corruption
    4. Cultural factors, such as social stigma attached to even a legitimate legal action
  1. What are some of the qualities that these legal systems must possess?
    1. It must be functional and offer real protection to participating parties
    2. Transparency as to how justice is rendered
    3. Independence from improper influences
    4. Open and easy access to all individuals and entities, including the economically disadvantaged
    5. Justice must be rendered in a timely manner
    6. Enforcement and accountability

                                                              i.      There must be recourse to hold others accountable to legal judgments

  1. Where do these legal systems exist?
    1. Domestic legal systems – legal systems in the person or business’s home country that provide access to protection of legal rights and redress for violations of those rights
    2. International legal systems – supra-national organizations that offer access to protection of international legal rights and redress for violations of those rights 
    3. Foreign legal systems – legal systems in other countries that offer access to protection of foreign legal rights and redress for violations of those rights
    4. Development of an online justice system proposed by IBO
  2. General suggestions to improve legal access:
    1. Establish feasible and quantifiable goals
    2. Don’t try to do everything at once – focus on a particular geographic area or market that has an existing and stable legal profession that can be used to support a microcommerce initiative
    3. Local legal training to increase the quality and quantity of legal representation available to the economically disadvantaged

                                                              i.      Train lawyers to provide direct legal counsel to micro-entrepreneurs

                                                            ii.      Train domestic and foreign paralegals to offer basic legal information to micro-entrepreneurs

                                                          iii.      Offer certification and/or create institutional law schools to provide institutional legal education

                                                          iv.      Enable and encourage others to share legal knowledge

  1. Develop Alternative Dispute Resolution systems, including ODR and phone-enabled systems

                                                              i.      Foster arbitration and mediation outside of the legal system

                                                            ii.      Develop corresponding legal support for these systems

  1. Public awareness campaign as to the need for legal advice and how to obtain it
  2. Create a global information system to link legal professionals with micro-entrepreneurs. 
  3. Decentralize access to legal information by creating more access points to legal information, such as small libraries or individual computer centers that provide free internet access

                                                              i.      Fund more Mobile Telecentres, a bus with computers, wireless technology, and solar powered electricity that can bring the Internet and computer training to rural areas that have little or no access to the Internet.

    1. Foster a coalition of support for reform in developing countries
  1. Providing sustainable funding for on-going legal improvements:
    1. General comments:

                                                              i.      Create standardized guidelines to manage funding

                                                            ii.      Create an online global legal information system to match those that need legal advice to donors willing to pay for it

1.      Use donations to subsidize legal training and advice until the market has grown sufficiently to support a financially independent legal profession

2.      Potential donations can be used to create an endowment

3.      Ensure that donations are independent of any religious, political, or economic agendas

4.      Be aware that, as with any donation, there is a risk that donations can be misused and channeled to groups that lack a financial need (such as the wealthy) or to groups that will misuse the resources (such as organized crime or terrorist groups)

    1. Encourage and provide the support system so that micro-entrepreneurs are encouraged or required to donate a portion of their profits to organizations that provide the same benefits to others that the entrepreneurs have received
    2. Governments may tax microcommerce wealth
  1. Ensuring that wealth creation is channeled into projects that help the poor and ensure ongoing improvements in legal systems
    1. The nature of microcommerce is such that the wealth that is generated will be decentralized, creating a strong and steady demand for legal improvements and an expansion of supporting legal infrastructure
    2. Link continued access to microcommerce technological infrastructure to feasible, quantifiable goals for poverty reduction and legal infrastructure development
    3. Standardized guidelines for allocation of grants

                                                              i.      Place restrictions on any large grants made to governments or large nonprofit organizations

  1. Funding can be placed in an international account supervised by qualified NGOs and/or  the United Nations  (as has been done with oil-producing nations) to disperse funds to appropriate projects

                                                              i.      Restrict access to the money

                                                            ii.      Require that a certain percentage of proceeds be used to address poverty issues and improving the legal system

  1. Develop alternatives such as working with microentrepreneurs to support community projects as is required in IBO’s PeaceTones initiative

 

    1. Independent audits to evaluate progress and identify changing needs
  1. Creating a global legal information system that links legal professionals and entrepreneurs
    1. Develop a central online resource with answers to common legal questions that arise

                                                              i.      Even though not all microcommerce entrepreneurs will receive access to a lawyer, this central resource can provide a basic knowledge of local legal structures to allow unsophisticated individuals to pursue microcommerce opportunities with some legal knowledge and a corresponding confidence in their rights.

  1. Microvouchers - Create a central online support that can match individuals that need legal advice to donors that can provide monetary support or legal information

                                                              i.      Lawyers can donate services or money

                                                            ii.      Other individuals can donate money to support micro-entrepreneurs obtaining necessary legal advice

    1. Develop a system of Field Partners to connect those micro-entrepreneurs that most need legal advice to the resources that can help them
  1. Other issues
    1. Consider how cultural issues will affect the implementation of legal infrastructure on a national and regional basis

                                                              i.      Anticipate cultural issues that can be accommodated (such as reluctance to check email frequently)

                                                            ii.      Be sensitive to cultural issues that cannot be accommodated and must be incorporated into any development plan

  1. Create a communication network so that individuals and groups can share lessons learned
  2. Publicize positive results and rely on individual “success stories” to influence public opinion and pressure public officials to support these initiatives

 

4.      Resources must be allocated effectively from several different supply chains:  Government, non- government, commercial, empowered citizens, etc. 

a.       General:  recommend maintaining close coordination with the SIGAR.  This will involve non-traditional approaches, multiple streams of money, and vey different national and organizational cultures.  Up front engagement my help avoid long term problems.

1.       How do we find out what pots of resources are available and who’s working on what?  When will the Afghan project data base be ready soon

2.      People:  Where come from, what kind of rotation?  Include volunteers and reachback and private sector (AACC, AACI)

3.       What are the execution metrics (see beginning).  Engage GMU

Barriers

b.      Jalalabad

c.       Each of four district capitals

d.      Each of 25 villages

e.       Camp for refugees or IDPs

 

5.      People must be trained, lessons learned (not just “observed”), exercises held, and educational curricula changed.

a.       General:  CCO, Project-Based Learning, FabLab and FabFi.  Exercises like OGP and FaHum show what can be done.  Curriculum change—engage Transformation Chairs Network.  How is training matched to future job creation and the ability of the economy to absorb it?

b.      Jalalabad

c.       Each of four district capitals

d.      d.    Each of 25 villages 

e.       e.    IDPs

 

 

6.      6. Engagement with related activities, such as governance, rule of law, other infrastructures, security.  For example, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms the leverage improved communications (and are adapted to Afghan conditions) may contribute to rule of law, and the availability of more information could enhance transparency in government. 

  

a.       General

1. Governance:  impact of more satisfied populace, increased transparency and transaction security

2. Rule of Law

     a. See below under Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

 

Dispute Resolution:  Rule of Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)/Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) in Afganistan

 

On July 16th, Colin Rule gave a presentation on ADR/ODR to a US Institute of Peace (USIP) seminar on "Smart Tools for Smart Power."  It focused on how ADR/ODR is used in e-bay and pay pal to resolve online financial disputes among distributed parties.  One of the key shortfalls that's repeatedly cited in Afghanistan is a weak "rule of law" (delays in bring disputes to trial, government and police corruption, etc.).  This typically first affects citizens at local levels in Shuras/Jirgas or Sharia courts.  Has anyone given thought to how dispute resolution might be enhanced in these environments by alternative (but culturally acceptable approaches) if there were widespread access to cell phones?  Afghanistan is a verbal culture and it will be awhile before broadband reaches these many, so ADR is probably more appropriate that ODR, but maybe there's a PDR (phone dispute resolution) that could link together dispersed people in mountain valleys.

 

The dialogue below is intended to contribute to understanding in this area.  Lin Wells

-------------------

From Colin Rule <crule@paypal.com> on July 16:

 

I’m cc:ing Jeff Aresty, a good friend of mine in the ODR field and Founder of InternetBar.org – Jeff is just coming back from Afghanistan, and we were talking about the prospect of doing some ODR/ADR work there, so I think he’d be a great point of contact.  I’m also cc:ing Dan Rainey, another ODR giant and a frequent co-conspirator of Jeff’s – he’s the biggest ODR advocate in Federal circles (he works at the National Mediation Board) and he’s done some work with Afghanistan as well.

 

My partner in crime Chittu Nagarajan has been doing some work with the Microjustice initiative in The Netherlands – seems like they’d be a great repository of expertise in thinking through how a robust ADR/ODR system could be designed for Afghanistan.  Also, Sanjana Hattotuwa is the person with the most experience using mobile devices to build ODR systems – I bet his experience in Sri Lanka would be informative.  Ethan Katsh has written extensively about how ODR systems can help the developing world (see the UNCTAD report, page 201).

 

I’d love to do a call to brainstorm on this topic (this call was held on July 20).  I’d love to learn more about the Conflict Transformation programs at the NDU as well.

 

Additional note: The team has put together a powerpoint file detailing some of the thinking we've been doing around how such a cell-phone-enabled justice system might work.  We're calling it "The Mobile Jirga" or the M-Jirga.  For a powerpoint detailing its proposed operation, visit here (ppt download) or here (in-browser viewer).

 

-----------------

Sanjana Hototawa <sanjanahattotuwa@ict4peace.org> weighed in from Sri Lanka on July 17:

 

Thanks Colin for putting me on this list and your excellent presentation. This is an interesting idea to which I can only contribute some probative questions based on my some lived experience of using mobiles for ODR. 
 
1. Can the US military, govt and other bilateral and multilateral funders countenance culturally accepted norms that are very different to the lib-dem framework of justice? What is "culturally acceptable" in Afghanistan may be extremely violent towards gender relations, women, children and violate tenets of the UDHR. How will the project's raison d'etre negotiate what may be the strengthening of policies and practices at the local level inimical to what the Western liberal mindset sees as democracy, esp. if it really helps local level dispute resolution? See for example the conclusion of this article published just two months ago - http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090517/OPINION/705169864/1335
 
2. Combined with the above, will the introduction of models of dispute resolution, invariably fashioned the justice frameworks informed by the West, cause more conflict? E.g. A justice system that does not accept stoning as a form of punishment, or such abominations as this - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/law-will-let-afghan-husbands-starve-wives-who-withhold-sex-1740229.html, signed by the good Mr. Karzai himself? And how will the project deal with tensions between competing Islamic justice systems such as the Hanafi code or and the ultra-conservative Salafist code?
 
3. Pgs. 14 - 15 of the ICTJ's report on HR violations in Afghanistan suggests a rich, textured understanding of and approach to justice by its citizens (http://www.ictj.org/static/Asia/Afghanistan/aihrc.callforjustice.eng.pdf). Aspects of this texture are served by mobile phone based ODR and by the communities themselves, for example using mobile phones for restorative justice (with its focus on the community instead of the State) instead of retributive justice, addressing their fears of persecution for HR abuses "destroying the country".
 
4. Recognise the difference between access to information on justice and redress of grievances and ODR platforms. An Interactive Voice Response system (IVR) does not need a literacy greater than punching numbers on a keypad to access a rich spectrum of information, otherwise difficult to find and access, which can help in DR. This can be through solutions like Freedom Fone's http://mobileactive.org/directory/vendors/dialup and combined with multi-lingual single number information delivery mechanisms set up by (local) government. If you strip away the marketing spiel, the 1919 service in Sri Lanka as described here - http://www.icta.lk/index.php/en/component/content/article/86-re-engineering-government/610-1919-one-window-for-government-services-information - is also a model in this regard, for the service in a country not known for its effectiveness or efficiency in government, actually works. And works well. 
 
5. Re. ODR platforms per se, obviously these need to work in the local languages, and perhaps even sometimes in the local dialects. Easier done verbally than textually, making an acceptable ODR system more voice based than text based in Afghanistan. 
 
6. Recognising that it may not be necessary to create sophisticated ODR platforms. Communities with mobile phones will automatically find ways to integrate them into justice patterns such as the village councils and various regional councils. If the objective is to "enhance" dispute resolution, then culturally appropriate and realistic markers of success need to be established first. You're not going to have Judge Judy type courts anytime soon, and women are not going to be emancipated anytime soon. Can then these mobile phones, in addition to however they may be used for community justice, also encourage competing narratives that bear witness and feed into a national reconciliation process? Can they help strengthen processes such as the National Solidarity Programme (http://www.nspafghanistan.org/about_nsp.shtm) which from what I have read is one of the largest efforts in history of an international force seeking to rapidly merge or interweave traditional, Islamic, and state representational and justice systems in a country?
 
My experience in Sri Lanka suggests that the careful design of projects of this nature is pivotal to their success on the ground. There is space for innovation - such as progressive, on-demand over the air (OTA) access of progressive judicial interpretations of Islamic law and vital precedents in cases related to land, marriage etc that can help marakas settle disputes without going to, or having to hold a qawmi jirga
 
The attached paper (Mediation from the palm of your hand (Sanjana).pdf), written a few years ago, provides ideas that can possibly be adapted to enhance DR at the local community level in Afghanistan, from my experience in Sri Lanka. 

 

 

a.  To effectively harness the development potential of microcommerce, the economically disadvantaged must be afforded access to qualified legal systems.  However, there are several barriers to providing legal access to economically disadvantaged persons:
  1. Legal costs, including retaining a lawyer and paying for any court costs

  2. Opportunity cost of participating in the legal system

  3. Sophistication required to navigate the legal system

  4. Difficulty obtaining access to current legal materials

  5. Lack of respect for the law among the poor

                                                              i.      Frequent violations of the law (such as squatting) create the impression that the law need not be followed

                                                            ii.      Intimidation from others that are more powerful makes it seem like the legal system only works for the wealthy and powerful

    1. Fear of punishment for unrelated violations of the law, including living or drawing electricity illegally

    2. Elites blocking reform efforts

    3. Corruption

    4. Cultural factors, such as social stigma attached to even a legitimate legal action

  1. What are some of the qualities that these legal systems must possess?

    1. It must be functional and offer real protection to participating parties

    2. Transparency as to how justice is rendered

    3. Independence from improper influences

    4. Open and easy access to all individuals and entities, including the economically disadvantaged

    5. Justice must be rendered in a timely manner

    6. Enforcement and accountability

                                                              i.      There must be recourse to hold others accountable to legal judgments

  1. Where do these legal systems exist?

    1. Domestic legal systems – legal systems in the person or business’s home country that provide access to protection of legal rights and redress for violations of those rights

    2. International legal systems – supra-national organizations that offer access to protection of international legal rights and redress for violations of those rights 

    3. Foreign legal systems – legal systems in other countries that offer access to protection of foreign legal rights and redress for violations of those rights

    4. Development of an online justice system proposed by IBO

  2. General suggestions to improve legal access:

    1. Establish feasible and quantifiable goals

    2. Don’t try to do everything at once – focus on a particular geographic area or market that has an existing and stable legal profession that can be used to support a microcommerce initiative

    3. Local legal training to increase the quality and quantity of legal representation available to the economically disadvantaged

                                                              i.      Train lawyers to provide direct legal counsel to micro-entrepreneurs

                                                            ii.      Train domestic and foreign paralegals to offer basic legal information to micro-entrepreneurs

                                                          iii.      Offer certification and/or create institutional law schools to provide institutional legal education

                                                          iv.      Enable and encourage others to share legal knowledge

  1. Develop Alternative Dispute Resolution systems, including ODR and phone-enabled systems

                                                              i.      Foster arbitration and mediation outside of the legal system

                                                            ii.      Develop corresponding legal support for these systems

  1. Public awareness campaign as to the need for legal advice and how to obtain it

  2. Create a global information system to link legal professionals with micro-entrepreneurs. 

  3. Decentralize access to legal information by creating more access points to legal information, such as small libraries or individual computer centers that provide free internet access

                                                              i.      Fund more Mobile Telecentres, a bus with computers, wireless technology, and solar powered electricity that can bring the Internet and computer training to rural areas that have little or no access to the Internet. 

    1. Foster a coalition of support for reform in developing countries

  1. Providing sustainable funding for on-going legal improvements:

    1. General comments:

                                                              i.      Create standardized guidelines to manage funding

                                                            ii.      Create an online global legal information system to match those that need legal advice to donors willing to pay for it

1.      Use donations to subsidize legal training and advice until the market has grown sufficiently to support a financially independent legal profession

2.      Potential donations can be used to create an endowment

3.      Ensure that donations are independent of any religious, political, or economic agendas

4.      Be aware that, as with any donation, there is a risk that donations can be misused and channeled to groups that lack a financial need (such as the wealthy) or to groups that will misuse the resources (such as organized crime or terrorist groups)

    1. Encourage and provide the support system so that micro-entrepreneurs are encouraged or required to donate a portion of their profits to organizations that provide the same benefits to others that the entrepreneurs have received

    2. Governments may tax microcommerce wealth

  1. Ensuring that wealth creation is channeled into projects that help the poor and ensure ongoing improvements in legal systems

    1. The nature of microcommerce is such that the wealth that is generated will be decentralized, creating a strong and steady demand for legal improvements and an expansion of supporting legal infrastructure

    2. Link continued access to microcommerce technological infrastructure to feasible, quantifiable goals for poverty reduction and legal infrastructure development

    3. Standardized guidelines for allocation of grants

                                                              i.      Place restrictions on any large grants made to governments or large nonprofit organizations

  1. Funding can be placed in an international account supervised by qualified NGOs and/or  the United Nations  (as has been done with oil-producing nations) to disperse funds to appropriate projects

                                                              i.      Restrict access to the money

                                                            ii.      Require that a certain percentage of proceeds be used to address poverty issues and improving the legal system

  1. Develop alternatives such as working with microentrepreneurs to support community projects as is required in IBO’s PeaceTones initiative

    1. Independent audits to evaluate progress and identify changing needs

  1. Creating a global legal information system that links legal professionals and entrepreneurs

    1. Develop a central online resource with answers to common legal questions that arise

                                                              i.      Even though not all microcommerce entrepreneurs will receive access to a lawyer, this central resource can provide a basic knowledge of local legal structures to allow unsophisticated individuals to pursue microcommerce opportunities with some legal knowledge and a corresponding confidence in their rights.

                                                            ii.      Microvouchers - Create a central online support that can match individuals that need legal advice to donors that can provide monetary support or legal information

                                                          iii.      Lawyers can donate services or money

                                                          iv.      Other individuals can donate money to support micro-entrepreneurs obtaining necessary legal advice

    1. Develop a system of Field Partners to connect those micro-entrepreneurs that most need legal advice to the resources that can help them

  1. Other issues

    1. Consider how cultural issues will affect the implementation of legal infrastructure on a national and regional basis

                                                              i.      Anticipate cultural issues that can be accommodated (such as reluctance to check email frequently)

                                                            ii.      Be sensitive to cultural issues that cannot be accommodated and must be incorporated into any development plan 

  1. Create a communication network so that individuals and groups can share lessons learned

  2. Publicize positive results and rely on individual “success stories” to influence public opinion and pressure public officials to support these initiatives

 

 

 

 

 

     b. ICT contributions to resolution of land disputes (but note corruption issues at the beginning of most digitization processes)

     c.  Tribal law vs Islamic law--impact of "Bottom-up" approach

3. Other infrastructures

     a.  Shelter Eric Russi

4. Security

 

b.      Jalalabad

c.       Each of the four district capitals

d.      Each of 25 villages

e.       Camp for refuges or IDPs

 

7.  Information about other provinces in prep for scaling

 

Section E Commerce Training for Afghan Women

 

 FrontPage 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.