On March 16, 2023, the USAID Rule of Law Program (the Program) held a workshop for university law professors on People-Centered Justice (PCJ) and community engagement, which was attended by 20 academic staff from 15 different universities, including staff members from 5 regional universities.

Giorgi Chkheidze, Program Chief of Party, welcomed the participants and reiterated the Program’s commitment to promoting the ongoing engagement between the justice system and academia, through grant funding, educational projects and awareness raising initiatives in the field of PCJ.

During the first session, Dr. Tim Bunjevac, Community Engagement Advisor for the Program, delivered a lecture introducing the principles of PCJ and providing examples of global court-community engagement practices. Dr. Bunjevac explained relevant theories and design approaches and discussed strategies for enhancing the justice system’s interaction with the local communities. He explored distinctions between traditional and problem-solving courts, potential avenues for extending court-community engagement beyond courthouse boundaries, and opportunities for involving various external stakeholders in supporting court-community engagement. He talked about courtroom designs that incorporate PCJ principles for vulnerable court users, such as children or persons with a mental impairment. He gave successful examples of outreach initiatives that foster greater public trust in the justice system.

During the session, academy representatives actively participated in discussions, asked questions, and expressed interest in becoming more involved in raising awareness about PCJ in Georgia.

The second part of the event involved a practical workshop, where participants brainstormed about ways of incorporating PCJ theory and design approaches into their educational offerings at Georgian universities. They proposed four different methods for integrating PCJ into their teaching practice: 1) creating a standalone PCJ course; 2) developing an intensive PCJ course; 3) augmenting existing courses with PCJ modules; and 4) incorporating PCJ elements into clinical and street law programs already offered at the universities. They provided detailed examples for each teaching method and devised solutions to make the academic process more practical in relation to the justice sector.

Additionally, they discussed strategies to ensure that Georgian academia could continue its work with a PCJ approach in mind and shared new project ideas to further disseminate this concept through the Program’s support.