The Foundation has been awarded funding by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany for the project Technical Legal Support and Capacity-Building for Parliamentary Committees in the Law-Making Process, the South Sudan Bar Association, and the Faculty of Law of the University of Juba.
The project aims to strengthen the capacities of selected Standing Specialized Committees of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) of South Sudan, in particular the Committee on Legislation and Justice, to support a sound and consistent legislative process and improve the quality and clarity of legislation. It also aims to strengthen the regulatory framework and capacities of practising lawyers who are members of the South Sudan Bar Association (SSBA) and to support the finalisation and application of the country’s first Code of Ethics for Lawyers. In addition, the project seeks to equip the future generation of legal professionals in South Sudan with the knowledge and resources needed to sustain the rule of law in the country.
The initiative comes at a critical juncture for South Sudan, as the country advances its Permanent Constitution-making process and prepares for national elections. It builds on the Max Planck Foundation’s engagement of more than two decades with South Sudan’s legislative, judicial and executive institutions, and complements the country’s ongoing implementation of the 2018 Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS).
Throughout the project, close cooperation with the Foundation’s partners – the TNLA, the SSBA and the University of Juba – will ensure that all activities respond directly to the priorities and needs identified by them. The project will run until August 2028.