Yes I Do Work

The past two weeks have been particularly busy for us and it made me realize that I really have not written much about the work I'm doing. It may surprise all of you but I'm really not on vacation here.

Part of the reason that I haven't given a lot of detail about what we're working on is we didn't really have a clear objective until recently. We knew from the beginning that we would be focusing on an evaluation that would combine empirical data from the project and theory in an attempt to demonstrate the role mediation can play in a justice system in a developing nation. In some ways it's a tall order. I don't know of any reports that have been able to empirically show mediation's effects on a justice system. (If anyone has any suggestions in this area, please pass them along.) Despite knowing this broad goal, there were a lot of related questions that were unanswered until last week at the meeting at USAID on my birthday. I guess that was USAID's birthday present to me, a final project description and goal. Now we know our final product will look far more academic than we had originally thought, which Mark and I actually like since we feel like we're on more familiar ground.

For the next 3-4 weeks Mark and I will be sifting through crime statistics, statistics from the mediation centers, ledgers of costs for the courts and mediation centers and hopefully making a few more site visits outside of San Salvador. How well the numbers will be able to show a direct and positive relationship between increased efficiency in the justice sector and the use of the mediation centers is yet to be seen. At the same time we will be diving into theories on rule of law, democracy, legitimacy and public perception surveys in an attempt to create bridges of theories, logic and statistics between mediation and its uses and effects. Mark and I now have 5 weeks left in El Salvador and the pressure is truly on. Word of our work has circulated fairly widely and we have already been invited to make a presentation to the Procurador (the Public Defendor) and many within USAID have expressed interest in the paper as well.

The work itself is extremely interesting to me. With my interest in post-conflict justice systems, this project is ideal for me in that respect. Searching for information has revealed an interesting trend. It seems that most people stopped writing about Central America, at least its challenges in the justice sector between 3 and 5 years ago. Finding recent information has been extremely challenging in some cases. Mark has been focusing on issues relating to democratization in the past day or so and he has commented that he is surprised that he can find so little considering the various levels of democratization and the very different processes one can observe in the region. Pass the word along to our DG friends, there's plenty to be done and learned in Central America.

Another note on our research process concerns politics, both in El Salvador and globally. Mark and I have recently had some meetings with representatives from the two violence prevention programs USAID is currently funding here. In both meetings concern was expressed over the less than ideal timing for attempting to promote some of our projects. 2009 is a major election year for El Salvador. January will see the election of a new Legislative Assembly as well as municipal councils and mayors. March will see the next presidential election. Within a few months almost every layer of the government here will face elections and the consensus is that these elections are going to be bitter and nasty. Some have even expressed concerns about the possibility of violence but of course it is far too early to really be able to predict that. While mediation in and of itself does not appear to be terribly politically sensitive, the approaching elections have made the upcoming out-reach program DPK is organizing far more challenging. The private sector is reluctant to donate money because they do not want to be associated with any governmental department, which the Procuradoria and Fiscalia are both widely seen to be (although that is technically not the case). Political changes can also threaten projects that have become associated with an opposition party and that can include some of the current mediation projects as well as some of the work being done by the other two projects.

In addition to the domestic politics of El Salvador, we also have to keep in mind our own elections this fall and the effects they may have on the policies and priorities of USAID and the State Department. All of these things can come into play. I have also learned that Canada, Italy and Germany are also major international development donors in El Salvador. Politics in those countries can also be very influential on projects they fund. This showed me yet another way that the globe has become interconnected.