Internship Report

Internship Report 1

INTERNSHIP REPORT

Effectius ASBL

Rue Belliard, 205

Brussels 1040

BY

Nadiia Kotsiubailo

MiDIC Student 2008-2009

SUPERVISED BY

Wilfried De Wever

Presiden

t

FROM

15 February, 2010

Internship Report 2

TO

15 May, 2010

Internship Report 3

PREFACE

The purpose of this report is to fulfill the internship requirement for the Master in Development, Innovation and Change (MiDIC) international programme at Bologna University; to explain what I did, achieved and learned during my internship period (15 February, 2010 till 15 May, 2010) with a non-governmental organisation in Brussels called Effectius.

The report focuses primarily on intern’s duties and responsibilities, internship results, its successes and short comings, observations and conclusion.

Internship Report 4

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE……………………………………………………………………………………………………..2

TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………………………………………..3

I.

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………....4II. Duties and Responsibilities…………………………………………………………………………….4III. Internship Results: successes and short comings………………………………………………………..5IV. Observations and conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...6

APPENDICES………………………………………………………………………………………………....8

Appendix A: Brief project overview on ‘Expanding Effectius network among youth’……………………………………8Appendix B: Example of research contribution by item ‘Practice’ to Effectius information platform……………………...10Appendix C: Example of research contribution by item ‘Challenge’ to Effectius information platform…………………………….12Appendix D: Example of research contribution by item ‘Innovation Solution’ to Effectius information platform……………………14

Internship Report 5

I. Introduction

As an intern I performed the roles of Research Assistant and Project Manager at Effectius ASBL. Effectius is a non-profit association dedicated to identifying and promoting effective justice solutions worldwide. The aims of Effectius are to promote innovative solutions in the domain of justice and foster the exchange of justice practices, help its members understand the strengths and weaknesses of different justice systems, and identify the effects of past and present justice reforms.

My original interest in justice studies stemmed from my MiDIC courses. When I attended the International Political Analysis course, Prof. Pallotti raised a lot of current issues devoted to good governance, fight against corruption, crime prevention, access to justice, social justice, fundamental human rights, terrorism, organizational reforms, alternative dispute resolutions and so on. At his classes he challenged us to engage in an open discussion and generate problem solving actions in the field of justice that I had never initiated before. At the same time I had my passionate interest towards the choosing second term courses of Project Planning lectured by Prof. Pagani, and Innovation and Business Planning course launched by Prof. Donzella. The Project Planning course provided a lot of practical tools by its assignments on real project work as well as the Innovation and Business Planning.

So I decided to focus my internship project activity on justice issues, and learn how innovations are working in this field, concentrated more attention on E-justice research.

II. Duties and Responsibilities

I began my internship on 15 February, 2010 with Effectius. The internship was to last for three months and as a result my internship came to an end on 15 May, 2010.

When I first arrived, it was unclear to me what my duties were to be. This was because, firstly the internship description did not indicate exactly what I was to work on, and secondly I did not have a clear understanding on Effectius work in general. But thanks to regular meetings with my supervisor Wilfried De Wever (President) and other key team members Liévine Prince (Operations Manager) and Tiffany Fortney (Treasurer), I was able to quickly understand what both Effectius and my work involved and to what extent I was to do it:

2.1. To perform research on justice topics

In somewhat more concrete terms, Effectius has built up an information platform. Since Effectius launched in2009, the information platform has rapidly expanded, and now has a truly global reach.

As an intern Research assistant, my prioritized duty was to contribute items to the information platform through making research on a wide range of topics in the domain of justice. The information platform items are organised according to four criteria on the effectiveness of justice: Cost, Ease, Fairness, Speed.

Items include:

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- Challenges: issues that are faced by a country or topics that constitute a real challenge in a country.- Best practices: projects or programs that have been implemented to answer to a particular challenge.- Innovative solutions: innovative products or services sold by private companies.

Each item was rigorously evaluated by me to ensure that it is of the highest standard, promoting effective justice solutions with the maximum impact.

Not only above items were included in my research duties, but also other items:

- Documents (reports, statistics, academic and evaluation reports, policy papers, legislation, etc)- News (press releases, etc)

Internship Report 7

- Events (conferences, workshops, seminars, etc)- Funding or tender opportunities in the field of justice- Links to relevant websites

2.2. To develop and implement the Effectius network strategy

Effectius uses a method based on a global search for practices and standards through its international network of justice experts. Individuals in the network take on research, communications and networking roles. They may also engage in consulting assignments.

I was involved in a range of different assignments related to Effectius network expanding according to local gateways strategy:

- I was responsible for the development of a profile representing a new leadership role in Effectius.

- I had the responsibility to launch and manage my own project on Expanding Effectius network among youth who are interested in justice studies. The brief project overview is attached in Appendix A.

2.3. To assist Effectius with event management

From time to time Effectius organizes its own interesting events related to justice.

I had a duty to provide my assistance in carrying out Effectius event on ‘10 Tactics for Turning Information into Action’. It is a film by the Tactical Technology Collective that includes stories from 25 rights advocates around the world who have successfully used information and digital technologies to create positive change.

2.4. To participate in external events

Effectius provides its members and interns by learning opportunities from various external events as conferences, workshops, seminars, forums and so on. I had an optional assignment to participate in such kind of events.

III.Internship Results: successes and short comings

Successes

Personally the following is what I succeeded at Effectius (references to Duties and Responsibilities in part II:2.1., 2.2., 2.3.):

3.1. I have contributed to Effectius information platform by total numbers of 38 items (6 items of Best practices; 2 items of Challenges; and 30 items of Innovative solutions), most of which were directly devoted to E-justice topic as a prioritized topic selected by Effectius core team. All these items assured Effectius of very objective but also high quality information. Three items examples of my research contribution are attached in Appendix B, C,

Internship Report 8D.

Information on other items provided by me were published in the monthly Effectiusnewsletter and on its website (job, funding, tender opportunities) and submitted to the EffectiusFacebook and LinkedIn page (links, news stories and events).

3.2. Since the local gateways strategy was determined, I had developed a city coordinator volunteer role and posted it on the Effectius website and various recruiting websites (Euroactiv, Idealist.org, etc.). As a result of it, 13 people from different cities of such countries as Belgium, Greece, Denmark, Romania and Turkey were interested to be city coordinators. Two City Coordinates are from Gent and

Internship Report 9

Brussels (Belgium), and one City Coordinator is from Edirne (Tukey). They are working with Effectius actively. So I provided my support and assistance to the city coordinator from Turkey playing a role of his ‘buddy’ and helping him to develop a justice movie initiative for kids.

A very detailed database of universities was created in Excel file. It covers 22 cities with 146 of total numbers of education organisation in law studies. The special package on cooperation was developed and proposed to all target universities. As a result, 13 universities from all over the world (American University, Faculty of Law, USA; George Washington University Law School, USA; Georgetown University Law Center, USA; Kings College London School of Law, UK; University College London, Faculty of Law, UK; University of Cape Town, Faculty of Law, Africa; Stellenbosch University, Africa; Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, Faculty of Law; Russian University of Cooperatives, Faculty of Law, and State University - the Higher School of Economicsin Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) have expressed their interest to cooperate with Effectius and be part of its network.

To show how the Effectius network works, I handled my e-learning initiative on the video development. The video was uploaded on YouTube, Effectius Facebook page and its website, so now it is available at: h ttp : // www . y outub e . c om/ wa t c h ? v = v r P P Km x p8mc

3.3. Within the ‘10 Tactics for Turning Information into Action’ event, I assisted Effectius with printing materials, participants’ registration tasks and donation activities.

3.4. I participated in five external events organized by European Parliament, British Council in Brussels, Bologna University in Italy and Expats Networking in Brussels Event. At the last of two events, I had an opportunity not only to learn from its topics but also to present Effectius and its activity among events’ audience. Some events’ certificates or programs could be available upon your request.

Short Comings

There were not many short comings since as intern I was given a lot of support by the supervisor and other core team members. Therefore the major short comings that I did face were:

- In terms of cultural differences I should say that nobody expect it as easy to integrate in a different culture. But the difficulty was not based on the way I was welcomed here, it was that I needed some time to feel comfortable with my new environment.

- I was not familiar with video arrangement very well, and I spent a lot of time to discover Windows

Movie Maker software. But now I can confidently use it with ease.

IV. Observations and conclusion

During the three months, I realized that it takes many steps to achieve a common goal. This was ascertained by a number of observations:

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- I did observe that teamwork played the most important role in achieving common goal. But in the same time it was also important to work independent. And the goal must be to find a way to combine it in the right way.

- Contributions to the network from all Effectius members are based on voluntary participation. In this case they should have a high level of self motivation. While Effectius core team provide technical assistance to all members.


- Interns are given the much needed supervisory support that goes beyond work related issues. This was very encouraging.

My internship was unpaid, but I can say that I benefited from my internship; it represented a great opportunity for me:

- to gain a working experience with a non-profit organization located in the heart of the EU.- to put into practice my research, analytic/assessment and project work skills

which have been obtained within the MiDIC study, and to enhance the understanding of academic materials by application in the internship settings.

- to strengthen management, presentation, communication, interpersonal and English language skills.- to develop a network of contacts through participating in various external events.- to obtain references from the Effectius co-founders for my future career path.

One of the most significant aspects of my internship was being surrounded by a network of passionate people whose main mission is to make differences in society by providing effective justice solutions. This allowed me to learn more from them, and helped me to develop new innovative ways of thinking about the same issues I had previously been thinking about.

In addition, I feel that my knowledge on justice, especially E-justice issues, is largely broadened. I am still not a professional, but now I am able to clearly understand what important role innovations play in the area of justice.

In conclusion, I would like to attest both my supervisor Wilfried De Wever and the other members of the core team for their good job. I really appreciate the way I have been guided through the internship with Effectius, beginning from the opportunity to take the time I needed to expand my knowledge in several issues concerning justice, over a somehow protected period where I could discover and learn to value my new working environment, and finally earned the confidence to deal with assignments myself. It is through them I did enjoy my work everyday.

From my experience I can wholeheartedly recommend an Effectius internship to everyone who would like to experience the start-up non-governmental organisation that has in my opinion realized its approach to find the balance between being progressive, able to balance human concerns, and nevertheless being successful.

What you should bring with you, is the willingness to improve knowledge about justice, your work experience and you should be able to work independently, and you should be a passionate and self motivated person.


Appendix A:

Brief project overview on ‘Expanding Effectius network among youth’

Project title: Expanding Effectius network among youth

Project Lead: By Nadiia Kotsiubailo (with an assistance and guidance from the whole team)

General definition

Dates: 15 February, 2010 – 15 April, 2010

1. Description: The project is about the expanding Effectius network through the attracting both the young people from the youth organizations and students from the Universities in the Effectius internship/activities. The youth will be involved from the high-priority countries/cities selected by the Effectius core team. The project nr.1 starts from the end of February 2010 till the beginning of April 2010.

2. Objective: To engage dynamic youth interested in the area of justice effectiveness by providing them internship opportunities on research, communications/networking roles, and consulting assignments.

3. Strategic Importance: Engagement the dynamic youth is crucial for expanding Effectius network within the global strategic goal on identifying and promoting the effective justice solutions worldwide.

4. Risks related to non-implementation: Insufficient motivation of youth due to voluntary perspectives of involvement in the Effectius network.

Concrete description

1. Milestones with estimated durations and dependencies

Project step

number

Name of the step

Description (if needed)

Duration(days) (not

Dependency (can only start if...)

1 To create a relevant database of youthorganizations/universities in compliance with the Effectius main issues and prioritized countries/cities

The database (excelformat) will be created in compliance with the Effectius main issues and prioritized

2-4 weeks

The core team defines a prioritycountries/cities for my responsibility

2 To identify a common ground with theselected organizations/universities and develop a relevant proposal

2-3 days The database is created andapproved

Template of proposal is

Internship Report 133 To contact the leaders of the

selectedorganization/universities

2-3 days The contacts are adequate andcorrect

4 To evaluate and discuss the feedbacksfrom contacted persons

On-going Replies are coming


5 To develop more specific proposalsbased on feedbacks

On-going

6 To send the proposals and startcooperation

On-going More specific template ofproposal is developed and approved

The contacted persons are ready to cooperate

7 To develop a long-continued Effectiusinternship programme within a compulsory part of the academic education supported by the Ministries of education

e.g. Master inDevelopment, Innovation and Changeat the Bologna University in Italy

2 weeks The previous verbal agreementis existed

8 To make an Effectius as an officialpartner provided the developing internships

e.g. To sign a long-continued agreements

On-going The previous verbal agreementis existed

9 To post the partners’ name, their URLsand logos on the Effectius website

On-going The previous verbal agreementis existed

10 Regular database updating On-going The adequate information isavailable

11 Evaluation meeting with core team

Discuss successes, areasof potential improvement,

1-2 hours The project was carried out

2. Resources

Personnel (mandays) Financial needs (euro) – Other resource needs

Staff Support, inspiration, facilitating Free

Internet connection

Existing contract costs

Phone connection Existing contract costs


Appendix B:

Example of research contribution by item ‘Practice’ to Effectius information platform

Practice _E-Justice_EU_Towards a global security and visibility framework for Justice in Europe

Contributor: Nadiia Kotsiubailo

PRACTICE

Summary: A top concern for the European Union (EU) is to make a working reality of its guarantee of freedom and justice for all its citizens and businesses. Greater mobility, the development of the Single European Market, and pressures to make judicial processes more transparent are all increasing Europeans’ expectations of the judiciary. To these ends, EU institutions and Member States have been strengthening collaboration in this field, in both civil and criminal matters.

TARETS

Challenge(s): Criminal justice, Judicial co-operation

Goals: Helping to establish the security and trust needed to modernise the

European judicial system. PROJECT

Project Start Date: 2004-03-01

The project/activity has become part of a regular service: No; Project End Date: 2006-02-28

Country- Region - Covering cities, areas: EU countries

Basic assumptions, theoretical linkages and models: One case study links into an Austrian national initiative to implement fully electronic law-making. The initiative, known as eRecht, has implemented a completely electronic process for creating legislation, from initial drafts through to the final passing of laws. Technologies developed under eJUSTICE project are being applied in the electronic workflow and authentication processes used in eRecht.

Another trial application focuses on speeding up inter-European legal collaboration in the case of European Rogatory Letters. This is a judge's written request to another state's judge requesting that a witness have his/her testimony taken in the other state's court for use by the local court case. Other cases concern the definition of a European order of payment for use in cross-border contracts and debt recovery, and more effective use of the European Arrest Warrant.

Actions involved in the practice?: The project eJUSTICE considers a wide range of actions, from the ethics of introducing electronic methods in judicial processes, to workflow processing, biometrics and security. In particular, it aims to propose

Internship Report 11solutions for future national identity cards so as to ensure their technical

interoperability, including biometric features (such as fingerprints, face recognition).

OUTCOMES

Type of evaluation performed? Indicators?: Improving the efficiency of European legal and administrative processes

Quantitative and qualitative results in relation to the goals: eJUSTICE project gave birth to a patent on strong security. The idea relates to a new mechanism to verify the integrity of digital equipment, an important feature when mobile equipment is used to access critical information. A start-up company, MobileGov Ltd, has


been created to develop and exploit the technology. Through these developments eJUSTICE is helping to ensure that administrations, businesses and citizens are able to fully utilise the European dimension to their agreed national laws and procedures so as to save time, money and effort.

Recommendations, lessons learned?:

CLIENTS

Target population: Magistrates and other civil servants of national justice and home affairs administrations (criminal, civil, commercial legal services), legal auxiliaries (lawyers, notaries, experts, etc.), European crime prevention organisations; Researchers in the fields of justice, social and political sciences, IT; citizens of European member states, accession and associated states

Target customers: European and national organisations and administrations

COSTS

Resources involved:

- Project Funding: 4 million euro, funded under 6th FWP (Sixth Framework Programme)

- Project Participants: Universitaet Des Saarlandes (Germany), Thales Security Systems Sa (France), Viisage Technology Aktiengesellschaft (Germany), Deutsches Forschungszentrum Fuer Kuenstliche Intelligenz Gmbh (Germany), Max-Planck Gesellschaft Zur Foerderung Der Wissenschaften E.V. (Germany), Generalstaatsanwaltschaft Zweibruecken (Germany), Sap Labs France (France), Bundeskanzleramt Der Republik Oesterreich (Austria), Bundesverfassungsgericht (Germany), Greffe Du Tribunal De Commerce De Paris (France), Unisys Belgium Sa (Belgium), Infocamere - Societa Consortile Di Informatica Delle Camere Di Commercio Italiane Per Azioni ( Italy), Institut Eurecom (France), University of Leeds (United Kingdom)

Estimated cost: 6.55 million euro

CONTACT

Links (urls): Yes

Project URL: http:// ww w . e ju s ti ce . e u . c om/ IST Project Fact Sheet: http:// c o r di s . e u r op a . e u/ f e t c h ? CA LL ER= P R O J _ I S T & AC TI ON = D& RC N = 7 4600

Documents: YesInformation Society Policy Link initiative. Governance: Justice, Freedom & Security.

Copyright: No


Appendix C:

Example of research contribution by item ‘Challenge’ to Effectius information platform

Challenge_E-Jistice_ Database on reported cases involving a missing child


DESCRIPTION

Summary: When a child is abducted, law enforcement must collect and disseminate accurate information about the event, the child, and the abductor. Memoranda of understanding (MOUs) for local, state, and regional AMBER Alert plans must define agency roles and responsibilities in abduction cases and establish standards for conducting timely and thorough investigations.

The National Child Search Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5779, 5780) requires law enforcement to immediately enter into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database every reported case involving a missing child. The intent of this law is to ensure that law enforcement disseminates as quickly as possible information vital to the recovery of a missing child.

Date of challenge identification: April 2005

Topic: E-justice

Country:

USA

IMPACT

Who is impacted?: Children

SOLUTION INITIATIVES

Project, initiatives, steps: The steps for entering a child abduction into NCIC are critical:

- Enter the information immediately—with NO delay. Law enforcement should enter a child into NCIC immediately without delay. The initial entry should be reviewed within one hour of entry into NCIC and verified as to the entry time, accuracy of the descriptive information of the victim and/or perpetrator, vehicle used in the abduction, and other information that could help law enforcement apprehend the perpetration. (Information about the perpetrator should also be entered in the Wanted Person File if a warrant is issued, and the records should be linked.) Unfortunately, in some cases data about an abducted child was not entered into NCIC until hours and even days after the child’s disappearance. Such delays can have disastrous consequences.

- Use the proper NCIC category. Child abduction cases should be entered into the NCIC Missing Person

Internship Report 14File in either the endangered or the involuntary category, and the child

abduction (CA) flag should beentered. An NCIC number will be automatically assigned when the record is entered. The reporting agency should assign a case or originating agency case (OCA) number to the preliminary or initial investigation. Each entry of a child age 17 or under should be reviewed to ensure that the information has been entered into the appropriate category. NCIC will then send an immediate notification to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). NCMEC call center staff will get in contact with the appropriate law enforcement agency to conduct the intake of the case and offer all available resources. The designated supervisor should also audit each entry within one hour of the initial entry to verify and authenticate each record, signature, and time.

- If an AMBER Alert is issued, the AMBER Alert (AA) flag should be entered in the record. If the local law enforcement agency or the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Systems Agency (CSA)


cannot set the flag, NCMEC should be notified immediately so that NCMEC staff can modify theNCIC record on the agency’s behalf.

Outcomes: Local, state, and regional AMBER Alert coordinators should pay close attention to the jurisdictions. By examining the data, coordinators can quickly determine patterns and trends in the accuracy of the information being reported and then make changes in their policies and practices that will improve the quality of the data on missing children in the:

- Evaluate the quality of preliminary investigations in all missing children cases.- Request reports of missing children entries from the FBI.- Interview terminal control operators.- Add the image of the child to the record when available.- Update information about the victim and suspect on an ongoing basis.- Use the MIS field to provide detailed information that does not fit in one of the standard NCIC fields.- Provide refresher training.- Establish a system for issuing a formal auditing report on all missing juvenile- Modify policies, procedures, and MOUs to ensure that they reflect the best

policies and practices and the most effective use of NCIC.- Educate local agency personnel.

CONTACT

Links (urls): Yes

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention website: http:// www . o jjdp.n c j rs . g ov/

Documents (meeting minutes...): Yes

AMBER Alert Fact Sheet, U.S. Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Office of Juvenile Justice andDelinquency Prevention. April 2005.


Appendix D:

Example of research contribution by item ‘Innovation Solution’ to Effectius information platform

Innovation _E-justice _USA _ Data-Sharing


DSCRIPTION

Summary: The Hawaii Juvenile Justice Information System (JJIS) is a statewide juvenile information tracking system managed by the Hawaii Attorney Generals Office. Police, prosecutors, correctional staff, courts and the attorney general’s office use the JJIS system to track the status of a juvenile at any time throughout the criminal justice process.

Linda Martin, a JJIS staff analyst, said, “Information must be entered into the statewide network within 72 hours. All of the different government agencies were entering data on the juveniles into their own disparate case management systems, then duplicating their data entry to input the information into the JJIS program.”

All the different government agencies were entering their juvenile data into separate case management systems then duplicating their data entry. Data entry staff in the Maui County Prosecutor’s Office entered all case information into JustWare | Prosecutor, and then entered duplicate data into both the JJIS system for juvenile cases and the CJIS system for adult cases.

Different systems did not allow for data sharing for the statewide network. Valuable time was lost in duplicating data between systems.

Data exchanges between jurisdictions could be sluggish, deterring the ability of prosecutors to effectively restore juveniles. Communication between systems was broken.

Topic: E-justice

Country: USA (Maui,

Hawaii) INNOVATION

Product or Service: Product

Solution: Since 2003, the Maui County Prosecutor’s Office has been using JustWare prosecutor software. The Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center, a department of the Hawaii Attorney General’s Office, is responsible for Hawaii’s statewide criminal history record information system (CJIS). In early 2005, New Dawn Technologies began work on JusticeBroker, the interface between the prosecutor’s office in Maui County and Hawaii Attorney General’s Office, for integrated case management.

JusticeBroker allows seamless data exchanges to go back and forth from JJIS and CJIS to the JustWare prosecutor software database in the prosecutor’s office. Cases submitted to JJIS and CJIS are assigned case identification numbers automatically and then that information is transmitted back to JustWare. All of these XML data exchanges are done automatically on a schedule; no manual transaction is required.

Internship Report 17Centrally locating juvenile information enables agencies to track juveniles through

the criminal justice system with the objective of restoring the juveniles to productive citizens.

A Global Justice XML Data Model (Global JXDM) interface developed by New Dawn Technologies enabled the Hawaii Attorney General’s Office to efficiently and successfully manage the state’s juvenile criminals by improving communications between jurisdictions.

Martin said, “We wanted to establish the interface for many reasons. The information was already entered into JustWare. We have similar data exchanges and they are already in XML. We wanted to put that all into one system that all government agencies could access statewide.”


Outcomes: JusticeBroker allows seamless data exchanges to go back and forth from JJIS and CJIS to the JustWare database in the prosecutor’s office. Cases submitted to JJIS and CJIS are assigned case identification numbers automatically and then that information is transmitted back to JustWare. All of these XML data exchanges are done automatically on a schedule; no manual transaction is required. Martin said, “This system is the only one that all users have access to on a statewide level.”

Martin said, “We were very happy with the way New Dawn Technologies was responsive to our questions on a technical level.” She said the JusticeBroker interface was delivered fully functioning, on time and within budget. She praised the custom development team at New Dawn, saying that they were instrumental in handling the issues that arose and keeping the project on schedule.

IMPACT

Who is impacted?: Police, prosecutors, correctional staff, courts and the attorney general’s office

CONTACT

Innovation designer: New Dawn Technologies, Inc.

Links (urls): Yes

http:// www .n e w d aw nt ec h. c om/ T e s timoni a l s . a s p ?

Ca t eg o ry = 3& I d = 7

Documents (meeting minutes...): No