Makandra (Council for the Judiciary)

The Suriname Court of Justice faces under staffing, given the increased number of cases and complexity of cases to be handled. To address these issues, a partnership with the Dutch Council for the Judiciary, SSR (the training institute for the judiciary in the Netherlands), CILC, the CDR and the Surinamese Court of Justice aims to modernize, professionalize, and structurally expand Suriname’s justice system and its staff.

By deploying Dutch judges and legal professionals with extensive experience and a long track record within the Dutch judiciary, this project aims to contribute to the professionalization of the judiciary. The project is complimentary to the EU project “Strengthening the (criminal) justice system in Suriname”, running from 2022-2025, which includes six theoretical training programmes for trainee judges, trainee legal staff and trainee court clerks, but offers limited practical coaching.

The Makandra project foresees the continuous practical coaching on the ground of the trainees. The objective of this project is to coach a total of approx. 30 trainee judges and 10 trainee legal staff. The project encompasses both civil law and criminal law training.
Dutch judges and legal professionals will make an on-site contribution as coaches in one of the training programs. Dutch supervisors rotate every two months, sharing their knowledge and experiences in an expert pool initiated by the Dutch Council for the Judiciary.

The Dutch judiciary has extensive experience in educating and training judges and legal professionals, and investing in training and practice supervision contributes to the further professionalization of the judiciary organization. Overall, the practical coaching by the Dutch legal experts will consolidate the Surinamese members of the Court’s capacity-building, substantive knowledge and practical skills, which are indispensable to excel within the judiciary and ultimately, contribute to the strengthening of the rule of law.