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Republic of Serbia The High Court Council

“4 Digits Consulting – Judiciary and Public Sector Support ”

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4 Digits Consulting

“4 Digits Consulting – Judiciary and Public Sector Support ” (“4DC”) is a non-government association, a part of the civil society sector in Serbia and worldwide, established to support reform of the judiciary and public administration.  The organization’s members have extensive experience in Rule of Law projects, court efficiency and improved access to justice.

Thanks to the grant of U.S. Agency for International Development, in next two years “4 Digits Consulting – Judiciary and Public Sector Support”  is going to supportfurther development of institutional capacity of the High Court Council (“HCC”) through the project  “Institutional Strengthening of the High Court Council”. Project implementation started on October 1, 2015 and it’s going to last until October 2017.

The purpose of this two-year project is to provide support to institutions in Serbia, primarily to the High Court Council of the Republic of Serbia, in order to strengthen its institutional capacity and to improve judicial independence and efficiency as key pillars of the 2013-2018 National Judicial Reform Strategy in Serbia. Increased court efficiency as a general goal of the grant, should include several results: less expensive court procedures, savings made in administrative part of the court procedures, backlog reduction, case processing efficiency, improved court users satisfaction, better internal communication.

The goal of the cooperation with the High Court Council is to:

  • Improve the judiciary’s financial independence by increasing the capacities of theAdministrative Office in program budgeting, forecasting, and management. Trainings are planned for the employees of the HCC Material-Financial Affairs Sector (MFAS), as well as for court staff in order to properly implement “Program Budgeting” and “Budget Advocacy” methodologies in processes of planning and execution of budget, collection and analysis of financial data and drafting reports on improved budget capabilities for each budget year
  • Enhance the judiciary’s personnel management and efficiency (including judicial performanceaccountability and evaluation) by building the HCC’s capacity for human resources andinfrastructure management. Trainings are planned for HCC Administrative office staff to educate them on proper use of available data from HR application for judges with creation of additional modules -for lay-judges, judicial assistants and court administrative personnel, stafftraining on new application, study visit to independent judicial institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
  • Strengthen court efficiency and modernization through increased judicial statistical andlegislative analysis capabilities and other innovations. It is planned to develop a new methodology for collection of courts’ statistical data, introduction of centralized statistics and strengthening capacities in analysis of statistical data.
  • Increase transparency and accessibility of the HCC and the courts through information andcommunications initiatives. As a part of project activities, PR/Outreach expert will be permanently positioned at the High Court Council and will work dailyon increase of openness, transparency and public trust in work of HCC. The project will support presentation of court statistics and hearing scheduleon-line for all court users in Serbia, and broader. It is also planned to create HCC Communication strategy for the period beyond 2015.