Concept Note

Overview

The Concept Note presents the basic elements of the initiative, while many details of the initiative have been developed in separate documents. For practical reasons we will conduct the consultations in English however, as a form of courtesy, we are providing translated versions of the Concept Note in several languages. All other documents which addressed details of this initiative are available only in English.

Rationale

Across the globe, isolated spheres of legal excellence exist that are advancing civic, economic, and social development outcomes, but their advances are not sufficiently translated or available broadly for replication. In particular, development experts are not currently able to directly and easily access and assess international research, policy, and practice. Because strong legal and judicial systems are an important cornerstone of sustainable economic and social development, there is a need in the international community for a permanent global knowledge exchange forum. Such a forum can greatly advance opportunities to connect experts and stakeholders from around the world for identifying, co-generating, sharing, and disseminating relevant knowledge and solutions. In our ever increasingly interconnected world, this can be accomplished by harnessing technological advances that are providing new opportunities to connect geographically distributed experts and stakeholders.

Project Overview

The Global Forum on Law, Justice and Development (GFLJD) will fill a gap by providing an innovative and dynamic international system of exchange and knowledge translation to connect World Bank Regions & Networks, client countries, think-tanks, regional and international organizations, International Financial Institutions, and civil society organizations with relevant research and practice to improve development outcomes. The project provides targeted audiences a coherent, sustained program of collaborative research and technical assistance to accelerate knowledge translation and use. The GFLJD has a multi-disciplinary approach, which combines economic, legal, and technical aspects of targeted issues.

Through the construction of an interactive web-based platform, the GFLJD will leverage production and dissemination of development-related legal knowledge, helping to identify, discuss, and produce innovative and customized legal solution to development issues. The technology enhanced collaboration connecting different countries from different regions will be equipped to discuss policy responses and to exchange first-hand experiences.

The proposed system will provide unprecedented access to knowledge from these groups, free of charge. The GFLJD will offer:

Knowledge exchange repository:  Users will be able to search the complete archive and also locate colleagues working on similar issues and post and search related events, such as conferences.

Resources for user evaluation and grading of shared materials: Users can tag and comment on citations, ensuring that knowledge users play a key partnering role in determining the quality of knowledge shared as well as its impact.

Multiple sub-platforms to host communities of practice (CoP): The platform will support multiple CoPs, which can create their own sub site and restrict participation to its members. CoP members will be able to set preferences for notifications for different activities such as when a document is uploaded.

Education tools for creating ongoing education and training opportunities: With webinar, video conferencing, and other technology features, multiple levels of continuing education courses, trainings, and seminars in real-time will be offered.

Social media and professional networking tools for ongoing collaboration between members: The platform will incorporate multiple tools for networking, including blogs, wikis, and message boards. A portal will allow users to post their profiles, search and connect with other members. Users can share their stories, work issues, and challenges through multi-media formats, such as video.

Expected Outcomes

GFLJD is a system where users will be empowered to advance culturally sensitive and informed partnerships that will enhance knowledge sharing on global and regional/country issues, as well as international issues.

  • Scaling up of successful solutions pertaining to law and justice in the development through generation of innovative and customized legal solutions to development
  • Better integration of law and justice considerations in the development process to increase development effectiveness
  • Better sharing of legal solutions to development challenges among development practitioners around the world and better use of academic and research institutions to help solve legal development challenges
  • Demand driven and participatory knowledge creation and application of solutions, breaking down traditional barriers to knowledge sharing across regions, resource disparities, and areas of expertise
  • Open Access Publishing to ensure that original intellectual knowledge is freely accessible, making it affordable for practitioners in resource limited environments