BELGRADE – On September 19, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a U.S. government agency, and the High Court Council (HCC) of Serbia celebrated the achievements of USAID’s “Institutional Strengthening of the High Court Council” activity—a $500,000 project to support Serbia’s judicial reform efforts.

“USAID’s support to the High Court Council in its effort to reform the judiciary has moved Serbia one step closer towards realizing the goals outlined in the Action Plan of the National Judicial Reform Strategy 2013-2018,” said Dragomir Milivojević, the President of the High Court Council.

“The High Court Council plays a central role in establishing an effective judiciary that serves the needs of the Serbian people,” said USAID Mission Director Azza El-Abd. “The United States has partnered with Serbia to strengthening the judiciary for more than a decade – ours is a longstanding partnership.”

The project helped the HCC:

• Introduce “needs based budgeting,” allowing the HCC to improve its analysis of budgetary needs, set strategic priorities, and ensure that resources are allocated to achieve those priorities;
• Streamline data collection processes required to update and purchase annual insurance policies for the courts and judicial facilities. Previously, the process took more than a month; it now can be completed in four days;
• Create an easily searchable, standardized electronic human resources application that enable the HCC to track staff, conduct performance reviews, and ensure employees are receiving the training and support they need to execute their jobs.
• Develop a business process automation tool that helps the HCC register, track, process and complete actions (such as external requests for information or resource and personnel requests from a court). The system improves the HCC’s efficiency and has logged 5,000 tasks since its introduction;
• Introduce centralized statistics within all basic courts, to be used by the HCC, Supreme Court of Cassation, and the Ministry of Justice. This system automates data collection on case backlogs, duration of cases, and the performance of individual courts, supporting efforts to reduce backlogs and shorten case duration.