March, 16 2005	Wednesday	5 Safar 1426

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ISLAMABAD, March 15: The Asian Development Bank’s $350 million countrywide Access to Justice Programme (AJP) is facing delays due to lack of monitoring and evaluation of its activities at district and provincial levels.

Informed sources told Dawnhere on Tuesday that the Planning and Development Division had directed authorities concerned to ensure a comprehensive system of monitoring and evaluation of the AJP in the revised PC-I and PC-II.

The AJP was started in Sept 2002 and was to be largely completed on June 30, 2004. However, due to technical problems, the programme could only utilize Rs43.666 million (9.96 per cent) out of Rs437.96 million available during the Phase-I. According to revised details, the programme would now be completed in 36 months (1-7-2004 to 30-6-2007).

The programme, the sources said, had been revised on the instructions of the Planning and Development Division and it was decided at a recent meeting that the new approach should be adopted to remove delays to ensure justice by the judiciary for all.

Now, the sources said, it had been decided that the secretary, ministry of law and justice, would evolve a scheme on demand-driven basis at district and provincial levels to ensure justice particularly for the poorer segments of society.

The government launched the AJP with the financial assistance of the ADB amounting to $350 million to achieve the following broad objectives aimed at enhancing citizen’s access to justice: ensuring provision of security and equal protection of citizens, particularly the poor; securing and sustaining entitlements for reducing the vulnerability of the poor; strengthening the legitimacy of state institutions; and creating conditions conducive to pro-poor growth, especially by fostering investors’ confidence.

The Planning and Development Division believes that the proposed PC-II did not envisage a well laid out Monitoring and Evaluation mechanism with the Programme Management Unit (PMU) for monitoring of AJP activities. Also, the PC-I is silent on activities carried out under Phase-I and the expenditure incurred so far. “Therefore, there is a need to carry out a complete assessment/evaluation of the Phase-I and the results of the evaluation report be incorporated in the summary for the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec),” says the Planning and Development Division in an assessment about the AJP, also made available to this correspondent.

It also said that a majority of implementing agencies of the AJP were based in provinces, but the proposed PC-II did not envisage any role for provincial planning departments. Also, the PC-II did not describe as to how the programme would fund district agencies like Public Safety Commissions etc. which have a direct role in thematic areas of AJP but not recognized as implementing agencies of the AJP.

“The PC-II does not envisage as to how district level initiatives under the AJP would develop interface and coordinate with devolution related initiatives of the government under the Decentralized Support Programme. The PC-II does not accompany any timelines for recruitment of officers and staff of PMU and Provincial Programme Management Units (PPMUs),” observes the Planning and Development Division.