• Client/contracting entity: Attorney General’s Office (AGO) y main Ethiophian Government
• Financing entity: USAID
• Countries: Ethiopia
• Date: 10/19-02/20
• Budget: 38.500€
• Service provided: Proyecto Feteh (justice) activity. Evaluation and development of manuals and/or other resource materials governing directorate work practices on international contracts and international arbitration and conduct training for Civil Law Directorate staff and experts from other key government institutions

Services provided

Feteh is a two-year activity funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide flexible, rapid response technical assistance to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), the FSCE, appropriate committees in Parliament, and other Ethiopian institutions in the process of legal and judicial reform. This assistance includes making grants to civil society organizations (CSOs) to ensure public input to the proposed changes to Ethiopia’s legal and judicial framework.

Feteh’s main objectives are to:

1. Build the capacity of the AGO, its Advisory Council and legal drafting working groups, the FSCE, and other rule of law actors to adopt and implement legal and judicial reforms consistent with the needs and aspirations of the people;
2. Support the appropriate committees in Parliament to ensure they garner sufficient capacity and know-how to approve the adoption of the legal reforms;
3. Support the FSCE to improve Ethiopia’s court management system, justice sector transparency and judicial independence; and
4. Support the ability of CSOs and the media to engage the AGO and FSCE on legal and judicial reforms.

The International Expert, Dr. Jesus Bores-Lazo, working closely with the local consultant, Prof. Yazachew Belew and in cooperation with the AGO’s Civil Justice Administration Directorate, performed the following tasks:

1. Assessment of current work practices of the AGO’s Civil Justice Administration Directorate (AGO’s CJAD) including manuals, model contracts, and procedures;
2.  Identification of gaps, limitations and needs of the AGO’s CJAD;
3. Development of manual/resource materials governing the systems and procedures of the AGO’s Civil Justice Administration Directorate;
4. Draft templates of international contracts to be used by the AGO’s CJAD and other Government Agencies;
5. Preparation of training modules on international arbitration and contracts and international contracts’ negotiation, management and enforcement;
6. Conduct two 3-day trainings on international contracts and arbitration for staff of the AGO’s Civil Justice Administration Directorate and other key Government Agencies.

Considering the scope of work, an exhaustive assessment on the existing legal framework and practices on the negotiation and drafting of international contracts and arbitration has been carried out. To evaluate the current state of the play over 30 meetings have been hold with the main stakeholders reviewing the most relevant proclamations, directives, rules, guidelines and protocols. In fact, despite the mandate of the Federal Attorney General Establishment Proclamation N. 943/2016, AGO’s Civil Justice Administration Directorate involvement in contract preparation and negotiation and legal advice on dispute settlement procedures must be improved. Hereby the need for further regulation and legal instruments together with a protocol and the developing of human resources for improving the provision of legal services and ensuring proper coordination among governmental ministries and agencies has been revealed as fundamental priorities both at the meetings and the conclusions of the Workshops.

Regarding arbitration, Ethiopia is facing interesting challenges and opportunities. In the process of joining the New York Convention for the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, a Proclamation to provide for arbitration and conciliation is parallelly being discussed. Besides, there exists an AGO’s draft on its own arbitration rules in accordance with the mandate given by its establishment proclamation. With a clear intention to develop arbitration most officials and experts on the matter envisage the need to ensure legal consistency among the several documents and to envisage a greater relevance for the private sector considering the process of reform and trade openness since Ethiopia is experiencing an unprecedented political and economic change.

In order to reinforce the training of the AGO’s Civil Justice Administration Directorate and other governmental officials, two 3- day workshops on international contracts and arbitration have taken place in Bishoftu. Doubling what was initially established, these activities have contributed to jointly assess the situation in Ethiopia, establish the main legal issues to be covered in the field of international contracts and arbitration, review and provide with useful tools, manuals, protocols and templates, and facilitate its implementation. The report refers the methodology, structure, content, contributions and results of the workshops providing detailed information in the annexes. With a total of 50 participants – one third of them belonging to the AGO and the rest being officials with legal positions in ministries and public bodies -, the triple approach of training, facts finding assessment, and validation of proposal has been highly appreciated by all of the participants. The evaluations evidence an excellent outcome which encourage to develop further training and action to continue reinforcing the capacities of the AGO but also facilitating a better coordination and exchange of information among governmental and other public institutions.

Overall, it has been a very demanding and intense assignment bringing together assessment, legal review, capacity building and the provision of instruments and guidelines to facilitate the compliance of the AGO’s Civil Justice Administration Directorate with the mandate of Proclamation N. 943/2016. The positive reaction of participants and officials, particularly at the AGO, has confirmed that the Feteh (Justice) Activity is addressing fundamental matters and further action will be required to continue and consolidate the work currently initiated.

Products results and visibility

The methodology was proposed considering the Scope of Work pursuant to which Feteh provided support to build the capacity of the AGO’s Directorate for Civil Justice Administration in drafting and administering international contracts and arbitration as part of its priorities. The absence of adequate experience and lack of trained personnel in these areas has meant Ethiopia is facing serious challenges in adequately handling international contracts and disputes arising from them, especially those disputes that end up in international arbitration fora. Briefly, the support to the AGO’s Civil Justice Administration Directorate consisted of a thoughtful assessment of practices, identifying gaps and needs, providing manuals, resource materials, templates and working protocols and conducting a 3-day training on international contracts and international arbitration for Civil Law Directorate staff and experts from other key government institutions:

1. Assessment of international contract management and coordination by the AGO in Ethiopia within the government and other entities involved navigating common challenges, as well as specific considerations that need to be carefully studied. With the collaboration of the local. expert we have studied the existing legislation, manuals, models and other legal material identifying the main texts and meeting the main actors in order to compile full information on the state of the play.
2. After a complete diagnosis we have met with the beneficiary officials to establish the main priorities, manuals, protocols and templates to be developed. Permanent contact and coordination with the AGO was required.
3. The two 3-day workshops content, participants, and methodology were also agreed with the AGO considering the particularities of this assignment. In order to build an empowered and skilled workforce, the AGO needs to do more than audit official competences and achievements. A process of selecting the right candidates, providing manuals, protocols, templates and establishing a practical training has been fundamental to facilitate the coordination and proper management of international contracting and alternative dispute resolution tools when applicable.
4. Furthermore, and as initially planned, a review of the main documents and guides of the AGO’s Civil Justice directorate is provided in order to facilitate compliance with its roles under Proclamation N. 943/2016. Upon the gaps and suggestion provided by public officials both through the meetings and the workshops hold, the proposals to improve the existing protocols have been validated during the second workshop.

In short, our contribution has intended to jointly assess the situation in Ethiopia, establish the main legal issues to be covered in the field of international contracts and arbitration, provide with useful tools, manuals, protocols and templates, and facilitate its implementation throughout trainings.