By: Robert A. Blair, Ontario Court of Appeal, Toronto, Canada

In 2008-2009, the National Judicial Institute of Canada worked with the Institute of Legal Practice and Development in Rwanda to develop a program for advanced education and training of judges and lawyers in Rwanda.  The project – funded by the Canadian International Development Agency – is interesting and significant both for its substantive accomplishments and for its impact on the capacity of the Rwandan leaders involved to lead.  Justice Constance Hunt, of the Alberta Court of Appeal, Ms. Susan Doyle of the NJI, and the writer were the Canadian participants

The National Judicial Institute is the education arm of the judiciary in Canada.  It is run by and for judges and regularly presents a wide range of judicial education sessions across the country.  Over the past 20 years, the NJI has also developed an expertise in preparing and presenting judicial education and training programs for use in a variety of international initiatives. 

The Institute of Legal Practice and Development was established in Rwanda in early 2008 as part of that country’s push for law reform following the adoption of a new constitution and presidential elections and the creation of a new Parliament in 2003.  Most of the Rwanda judiciary has been appointed since that time and they are relatively young and inexperienced (in the civil code tradition, they are appointed at a very young age, following their university education, and work their way up through the system).

The ILPD was created as a national institute to provide a Rwandan “post-graduate curriculum” for practical legal training and education in the development of the law (and to do so in three languages –French, English and Kinyarwanda – and across three legal traditions – civil law, common law and African law!).  In very short order, the Institute developed a 10-week in-residence training program for judges, prosecutors and lawyers,ⁱ that now leads to what is called a Diploma in Legal Practice.  The program is presented at the ILPD’s pleasant and functional facilities in the town of Nyanza, about a 2-hr. drive from the capital, Kigali. 

One of the components of the diploma program is a two-week module relating specifically to judging.ⁱⁱ The NJI was engaged to play a role in both the creation and the presentation of that module.  The project had two broad objectives: (a) to convey some substantive/practical learning and skills to the participants, using the NJI’s resource-based and interactive training techniques, and (b) to help train Rwandan judges and administrators to develop the skills and institutional expertise necessary to be able to prepare and present the programs themselves.  As Dr. Roelof Haveman – Vice Rector of the Institute at the time – expressed it, the ultimate goal was to equip the Rwandan administrators and judicial leaders to be able to present the programs without the need for international assistance.

The encouraging progress made towards attaining that goal over the course of two years, and its continuing advancement under the aegis of a USAID-sponsored program, is the central theme of this article.

In June 2008, Susan Doyle and the writer travelled to Rwanda to work with the ILPD in designing the curriculum for the module.  More about that curriculum in a moment, but any reader who has experience in dealing with educational programs in developing countries will know what came next.  We were greeted warmly and told: “We’re really looking forward to the program you’re going to put on for us.”  Or, in the course of discussing some aspect of the program, we would hear: “The Canadian experts will do that, of course.”  Not quite, was our response.  If we were going to accomplish the Vice-Rector’s aspirations, we had to negotiate the “No” to those attitudes.  And it turned out to be rather easy to do. 

Lack of ability to acquire the necessary skill and knowledge in such situations is not the problem.  An understandable timidity, based on a lack of training, experience and encouragement, is.  Thus, shortly into the planning stage for the curriculum – as he began to see it evolve – the administrative “chef d’équipe” began to see what his role entailed and to agree to take on various responsibilities.  At the same time, the two Rwandan judges who had agreed to work on the module – judge Bernard Hategekimana and judge Blanche Bwiza – but who were very reluctant at first to commit to any form of up-front participation, ultimately undertook to make one presentation each.  One presentation is a beginning, however.  Soon, these three individuals were beginning to take ownership of the program.  To adopt a northern hemisphere analogy, the snowball had begun to roll downhill, gathering momentum as it went.

This was reflected in the two-week presentations of the judging module that occurred in August 2008 and May 2009.  Justice Constance Hunt and the writer attended those sessions.  In 2008, we were unquestionably called on to be the program leaders and directors, responsible for its overall leadership and for adapting to the inevitable contingencies – technological, logistical and otherwise – that arise over the course of a two-week module.

As the 2008 and 2009 sessions evolved, however, so, too, did the administrative, organizational and teaching skills of the Rwandan leaders/trainees.  Far from simply making a single presentation, judge Bernard and judge Blanche were soon participating with great animation in mid-module-planned, but relatively spontaneous, class room exchanges with the students on the diverse issues covered (conducted mostly in Kinyarwanda, somewhat to the confusion of the Canadians present!).  By the 2009 module, our trainee leaders were making multiple presentations and were effectively leading the module.  And were doing so with composure, good humour, and great effect.

What sorts of things did the judging module cover?  We were intrigued, first, to discover a keen interest in the common law and its companion adversarial system, both foreign to the Rwandan tradition, which is the civil code/ inquisitorial system inherited from Belgian colonial days.  However, there is a move in Rwanda towards an approach that combines the civil code, the common law and traditional African law.  As a result, there were several sessions dealing with common law/civil code comparative issues.  In addition, the module addressed in some depth the subject of judicial independence, judicial ethics and (the focus of considerable emphasis) judgment writing. 

The techniques employed were varied and are well-known to we North Americans, but were novel in this context.  They included presentations by the two Canadian judges and the two Rwandan judges, questions and feedback following those presentations, the use of videos, practical exercises in groups (e.g. drafting decisions) and the presentation by the trainees of the product of those exercises, and role-playing scenarios (for example, with respect to conduct in the courtroom and judicial ethics).  All of these were eagerly received, and participated in, by the young Rwandan judges, prosecutors and defence lawyers attending the program – and who, with some justification, viewed themselves as part of a pioneering vanguard in the reform movement designed to produce a justice system founded on the rule of law in a re-born Rwanda. 

A postscript. The Rector of the Institute, Ms. Vastina Nsanze, reports that the DLP program is flourishing. A total of 212 judges, prosecutors and lawyers have participated in the five sessions presented since 2008.  In addition, the Institute has presented a total of 86 continuing legal education short courses, involving a total of 2246 participants.  The DLP module was presented in 2010 by the well-known American expert on legal writing, Professor James Raymond. Building on the foundation laid by the NJI project, he was assisted by four High Court Rwandan judges. This was done through a project funded by USAID called the Millenium Challenge Corporation Threshold Program (Justice Strengthening Program).  Judges Blanche and Bernard continue to lead when available.  Other judges have also received the “training the trainers” preparation in judgment writing, teaching methodology and curriculum development.  As a result, there is presently a pool of approximately 30 Rwandan leaders from whom the ILPD can draw for the various DLP modules.  The story is very encouraging.

Canadian and American judges are well known for their commitment to projects such as the one described in this article.  The projects all contribute in some way to the enhancement of the rule of law and judicial independence around the globe.  They are particularly rewarding, however, when they prove to be the catalyst to enable judges and administrators in the project country to attain the leadership capacity necessary to allow them to continue, without international direction, the very type of programs provided by the Rwandan Institute of Legal Practice and Development.  Happily, this Rwandan project fell into that category.

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