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Under the Supporting Criminal Justice Reform and Strengthening Anticorruption Efforts in Moldova (CJ AC) program, American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) supports the development of the criminal justice system and actors in Moldova. ABA ROLI is partnering with the University of South Carolina Rule of Law Collaborative (USC) and the Central and Eastern European Law Initiative Institute (CEELI Institute) to achieve the program objectives. The program is funded by the US Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).

ABA ROLI, partnering with Moldovan counterparts, is supporting increased integrity, professionalism, and further reform within the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Superior Council of Prosecutors; building the capacity of key justice sector entities to more effectively combat corruption; supporting criminal procedure and other justice sector law reform initiatives meeting European standards; and supporting legal professionals (including lawyers) and others working in the legal aid system and legal clinics to improve professional standards and increase their capacity to appropriately protect the rights of eligible clients.

Through the CJ AC program, ABA ROLI has been supporting Moldovan legal clinics to build and strengthen their institutional capacity and become sustainable legal aid providers.

As part of these efforts, ABA ROLI organized a one-week study tour to Washington D.C. for representatives from Moldova’s five legal clinics—Moldova State University, Academy for Economic Studies of Moldova, Cahul State University, Balti and Comrat legal clinics, and the Executive Director of Moldova’s National Legal Aid Council. Through these meetings, including with the Georgetown Law Clinical Programs, the delegation gained insight into the US legal aid system and the operational activities of university clinics and legal aid providers in D.C. For example, they addressed legal aid funding and how they can leverage community partnerships to help increase participation from students and tutors.

Notably since the start of the program, ABA ROLI has trained a total of 983 justice sector actors to date on various anticorruption, criminal justice and professional ethics related topics. Also, ABA ROLI has been piloting the Model Prosecution Office (MPO) initiative to improve the performance of the prosecution offices and quality of services delivered—incorporating the nine areas of excellence developed with ABA ROLI support: (1) leadership, (2) management of resources, (3) strategic plans and prosecutorial policies, (4) efficient criminal proceedings, (5) quality of prosecutorial work, (6) effective cooperation with external justice actors, (7) public trust and confidence, (8) integrity, and (9) accessibility. ABA ROLI began the implementation of the development plans for all three MPO Pilot offices in November 2023, and is expecting results by the end of the program.

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