INPROL BLOG: An Introduction to Rule of Law Topics - Core Skills for Rule of Law Practitioners Part 2

October 20, 2016 - 2:11pm

An Introduction to Rule of Law Topics - Core Skills for Rule of Law Practitioners

INPROL's Introductions Series highlights a general rule of law topic or a specific topic from INPROL's Digital Library of relevance for rule of law promotion.

Rule of Law work requires an array of nonlegal skills - but some of these critical abilities may not be developed during formal education processes.

This topic, Core Skills for Practitioners, provides key resources on a variety of nonlegal skills that effective practitioners employ during their work in developing or postconflict countries. The topic is broken down into subtopics, and the Digital Library contains links to resources on each of them. Some subtopics were addressed in a previous blog, located here. The rest are reviewed below:

Technical Assistance

"Technical assistance" is defined as "the provision of know-how or knowledge" by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development in How to Provide Technical Cooperation Personnel. It can also take the form of personnel training and research. It is often linked to capacity development. Like capacity development, technical assistance is part of most rule of law assistance initiatives.

Capacity Development

"Capacity development" is a huge part of rule of law assistance because rule of law and justice capacity tends to be weak in postconflict and developing countries. In fact, even though capacity development can be pursued as its own goal, there is generally some element of capacity building that is implicit in most rule of law assistance measures, which is why it is such an important area to understand.

The term "capacity" refers to intangible capacities, or "human capacity." According to Capacity Development: A UNDP Primer, capacity development "[r]efers to the process through which individuals, organizations and societies obtain, strengthen and maintain the capabilities to set and achieve their own development objectives over time." The term "capacity development," rather than "capacity building," is used because the latter implies that there was no capacity previously, which is never the case.

Experts explain that capacity development is more of a cycle than a linear event. The UNDP has created a capacity development cycle consisting of five distinct phases, as summarized in the graphic below (see: UNDP, Capacity Development: A UNDP Primer).

The Five Steps of the Capacity Development Cycle, 2009. United Nations Development Programme, in Capacity Development: A UNDP Primer, available at .

Although some practitioners equate capacity development with training, capacity development involves much more. In fact, capacity development efforts focus on four areas:

  1. the enabling environment;
  2. the organization;
  3. specialized groups; and
  4. individuals.

The "enabling environment" can be further divided into the "hard environment," meaning legislation, regulations, and rules (see Law Reform for a discussion of capacity building of the hard enabling environment) and the sort of environment that consists of informal rules, values, and norms - which is much harder (and more contentious) to develop.

"Organizational capacity" focuses on "internal policies, arrangements, procedures and frameworks that allow an organization to operate and deliver on its mandate, and that enable the coming together of individual capacities to work together and achieve goals" (UNDP, Capacity Development: A UNDP Primer).

"Specialized groups" include units or groups within organizations (e.g., police special units); capacity development focuses on developing the group's knowledge and skills.

Individuals are targeted for capacity development to build their knowledge, skills, and overall performance.

Training

Training is a vital component of building the rule of law in a postconflict environment. Existing justice personnel (e.g., judges, police, prosecutors, lawyers) may be in need of continuing legal training, particularly where changes to domestic laws and processes have taken place or are part of broader rule of law reform efforts. New personnel may need to be recruited, particularly when a vetting process has taken place (see Vetting/Lustration in the INPROL Digital Library). Those involved in rule of law reform - both from the government side and from the civil society side - may require specialized training (e.g., legal drafting, leadership training) and training on specific rule of law topics (e.g., constitution making, human rights).

When faced with certain rule of law issues (e.g., human rights violations, domestic violence), many rule of law practitioners reflexively propose training on the topic. The rule of law community has learned over the years, however, that stand-alone training courses are not the sole solution to these problems; more multifaceted, multidisciplinary approaches are often necessary.

Unfortunately, some training efforts in postconflict and developing countries have not been successful because they have not been effectively implemented. For example, trainers who have not understood the particular legal system of a postconflict or developing country or its culture have provided training to national counterparts that was irrelevant to their unique context. In other cases, lecture-style training has been delivered that did not cater to the needs of adult learners. Fundamental to the failures of rule of law-related training is a lack of understanding that training is its own professional field - there is a body of knowledge and best practices that can be drawn upon by the rule of law community.

Institutional Reform and Change Management

In the aftermath of conflict, governance and justice institutions may be weak or even nonfunctional. Reform may be necessary to ensure that institutions function efficiently and effectively, and are consistent with rule of law principles (e.g., accountability, transparency). Institutional reform inevitably brings change.

"Institutional reform" is also known as "organizational development" or "institutional development." "Change management" is a systematic approach to dealing with change, both from the perspective of an organization and on the individual level (see Xiongwei Song, Why Do Change Management Strategies Fail? Illustrations with Case Studies).

Institutional reform and change management are both hard to conceptualize and hard to apply. Until recently, these concepts were not prioritized by the rule of law community, which was focusing exclusively on the technical dimensions of rule of law assistance. In addition, many rule of law practitioners and organizations did not grasp the challenges presented by key common stumbling blocks to change management, such as embedded bureaucratic systems, organizational culture, and the structure of human interactions.

Practitioners are now beginning to realize that institutional reform and change management are discreet fields of practice that need to be undertaken in tandem with the technical elements of rule of law reform. The rule of law community is beginning to draw upon the knowledge of scholars and practitioners in the institutional reform field to understand the factors that support institutional change, the assistance that can be provided to support the process, and the steps in managing change

Soft Skills

"Soft skills" (also known as "interpersonal skills" and "people skills") are generally defined as those skills that influence how we interact with people. They include, at the most basic level, such abilities as effective communication, leadership, team building, and listening skills. At a more sophisticated level, they include such abilities as career planning, marketing, project management and delegation, public speaking, and time management (Giuseppe Giusti, Soft Skills for Lawyers).

Soft skills can consist of personal attributes such as optimism, common sense, responsibility, a sense of humor, integrity, motivation, flexibility, adaptability, a strong work ethic, a positive attitude, self-confidence, and working well under pressure. Soft skills also consist of interpersonal components such as empathy, leadership, communication, good manners, sociability, the ability to teach, the ability to accept and learn from criticism, and acting as a team player.

It has been suggested that soft skills are often more important than occupational skills in determining professional success over the long term. The legal profession is certainly one example of a profession in which the ability to deal with people effectively and politely is a major determinant of an individual's success (ibid.)

The importance of soft skills applies as much to the rule of law field as it does to the legal field. Evaluations of rule of law projects have shown that their success or failure depends largely on the soft skills of those involved and their ability to form trusting and respectful relationships with each other and with their counterparts. The message is clear: technical legal knowledge is not enough to ensure that rule of law practitioners succeed in their field.

There is an established field of theory and practice around soft skills that can be drawn upon.

Leadership and Team Building

One of the core areas of institutional development in conflict-affected countries is the creation of strong leadership within organizations (e.g., ministries, the police force, the judiciary, government agencies). Leadership and teambuilding are not only important to state institutions, but apply equally to civil society organizations and really to any group of persons who are working towards a common goal (e.g. working groups, commissions, coordination groups). Practitioners or organizations working to promote the rule of law may be called upon to provide technical assistance, but also to support leadership development and teambuilding in the field.

What is leadership? Leadership is "a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal" (Peter G. Northouse, Leadership Theory and Practice). Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership knowledge and skills. The skills and knowledge required for good leadership can be learned, but it is important to note that there is a behavioral component to leadership. A person's beliefs, values and character play a huge part in determining whether he or she will be a good leader.

The ability to build teams is an aspect of good leadership.

Cultural Awareness

According to Raymond Willliams, "culture is one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language." Culture is a derivative of individual experiences, sometimes learned or created by individuals themselves or passed on to them socially by contemporaries or ancestors. Rule of law practitioners working in developing or postconflict countries have to quickly understand and fit in with a foreign culture, and communicate and act in a way that is responsive to that culture. Many in the rule of law field agree that there is a correlation between a person's ability to be culturally aware and adaptable, and his or her ability to successfully and effectively provide rule of law assistance.

To learn more, visit INPROL's Digital Library section on "Core Skills for Rule of Law Practitioners" which contains links to articles, reports and books on Core Skills for Rule of Law Practitioners. Access to INPROL's Digital Library is available for INPROL members. To become a member sign up at www.inprol.org.

We hope you enjoyed reading this blog on Core Skills for Rule of Law Practitioners. INPROL encourages comments from our readers. We welcome robust debate, but please avoid sweeping, unfounded attacks. Comments or parts of a comment that constitute personal attacks may be deleted at INPROL's discretion.