In January 2019, USAID’s Open Justice Project, in close cooperation with Moldovan counterparts, piloted the new Integrated Case Management System (ICMS) in three courts in southern Moldova. Between March and June 2019, the Project extended the implementation of the new ICMS to the five Northern Moldovan courts and the Supreme Court of Justice. The ICMS, an IT tool the Moldovan courts use to manage judicial cases from filing to disposition, will significantly contribute to improved court efficiency and transparency.
By June 30, 2019, the new ICMS was already successfully piloted in 11 of the 20 existing Moldovan courts, namely the Balti, Drochia, Edinet, Soroca, Cahul, Comrat, and Cimislia District Courts, the Balti, Comrat, and Cahul Appellate Court, and the Supreme Court of Justice.
The successful piloting and further implementation of the ICMS rest on the ability of the court staff — registrars, secretaries, judges’ assistants, judges, and court presidents and vice presidents — to effectively use the new ICMS. Recognizing this, during April–June 2019, Open Justice provided training to 1,267 judges and court staff from the pilot courts on the use of the new ICMS and continues to support them through an active call-center. The Project also developed detailed user guides for court staff on the ICMS functionalities and efficient troubleshooting.
Open Justice partnered with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) in April 2019 to deliver a series of training to presidents and vice presidents of Moldovan courts on how to use judicial statistics information that the new ICMS generates electronically to monitor court performance and any irregularities that come up. Open Justice also worked with the NIJ to include regular ICMS training as part of the judicial annual training curricula. Open Justice and Moldovan authorities will pilot the new ICMS in nine more courts in the Chisinau Appellate Court circuit. Thus, by September 30, 2019, all Moldovan courts will use the new ICMS.
