Background
The mission of the Judiciary of Southern Sudan (JoSS) is to lay a strong foundation for a united, peaceful and prosperous society based on justice, equality, respect for human rights and the rule of law premised on an independent judiciary, a pivotal concept for a solid, democratic Southern Sudan. As a new institution created after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, JoSS must build up its personnel and infrastructure in order to serve the needs of the community. However, JoSS faces significant challenges in assuming its role, such as a lack of experienced, trained staff and inadequate infrastructure to support the daily operations of courts.

Objectives
• To increase the professional and institutional capacity of JoSS
• To develop the infrastructure of JoSS

Snapshots of the project's major achievements
• UNDP facilitated a study tour for a team of eight Justices to the Kenyan Judiciary in Nairobi to explore options for capacity building support for JoSS.
• UNDP organized a customized IT and computer skills training for nine Justices of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and High Court in Juba.
• UNDP conducted a training coordination mission to potential legal training institutions in Uganda (Law Development Centre and the Judicial Studies Institute) regarding organizing legal/judicial training courses for JoSS staff.
• With the support of UNDP, JoSS commissioned the Judicial Studies Institute to conduct training for 20 Southern Sudanese judges in Kampala in October 2008.
• UNDP facilitated the attendance of two female judges to a gender justice conference in Ghana.
• UNDP facilitated a study tour to Namibia and Botswana for an 11 member Sudanese delegation comprising of members of the judiciary, MoLACD, Local Government Board and traditional authorities in October 2008. The delegation was looking at how Namibia and Botswana have harmonized their statutory law systems with customary law. This experience will inform the development of a strategy on how to manage the interaction of statutory and customary law in Southern Sudan.
• Technical support was given to maintain ICT equipment, upgrade and update website and intranet facilities, establish an e-library, and to train JoSS ICT officers.
• Publication, printing and dissemination of judicial documents such as payam and local courts reports were completed in 2010. Printing and dissemination of recently enacted laws continued.

Infrastructure development:
• As part of UNDP’s infrastructure support to JoSS, technical assessments were completed in 2008 for selected locations of the Judiciary’s court facilities in: Eastern Equatoria, Central Equatoria, and Western Equatoria States.
• Equipment was procured for JoSS, including transportation equipment for the Supreme Court and the Special Courts.
• Renovation of the residence of the President of the Appeal Circuit for Greater Upper Nile (Malakal) was completed in 2009.
• Renovation of the Yambio High Court building (with a new holding cell) was completed in 2010 and furniture and a generator were provided.
• Renovation of the Raja County Court building completed in 2010 and furniture provided.
• Construction of Bor High Court is ongoing; it began in December 2010.