Abstract

IDRC's Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) has supported judicial information centres in Burkina Faso, Niger and Sénégal. Established within the law associations of their respective countries, the purpose of these centres is to publish and keep up to date the body of national jurisprudence on line.

Free distribution of legislation over the Internet has several objectives, notably, to reinforce the rule of law and the functioning of democracy by making primary sources of legal information available to all citizens. Moreover, it makes the work of judges and lawyers easier and renders the national judicial system more transparent.

Although free distribution of legislation over the Internet is available in several countries around the world, there has been no research to date aimed at understanding its impact. One of the prime objectives of electronic distribution of legislation is to improve the competence of lawyers, given their important role in reinforcing the rule of law, establishing democratic process and protecting civil rights. This project will therefore design an evaluation framework for better understanding the impact of free access to legislation on the competence of lawyers.

Recipient Institution(s)