Project title: Support to the improvement of training programmes in the judicial sector in Portugal

Project length: 1 September 2019 - 17 February 2020

Project funded: the project is funded by the Structural Reform Support Service of the European Commission (90%) and the Council of Europe (10%)

Beneficiaries / Partners: Directorate General for the Administration of Justice of the Ministry of Justice of Portugal, administrative staff of courts (judicial clerks), judges, prosecutors

The project aims to contribute to an implementation of the judicial reform in order to enhance sustainable growth, job creation and investment, in line with Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2017/825 on the establishment of the Structural Reform Support Programme, in particular:

  • to support the efforts of national authorities to define and implement appropriate training processes and methodologies for the administrative staff of courts by taking into account good practices and lessons learned by other countries in addressing similar situations;
  • to provide Portuguese authorities with the analysis of the training needs of the administrative staff of courts based on best European practices.

The main expected results include the delivery of the training needs analysis for the Portuguese administrative staff of courts (judicial clerks) and the benchmarking study on the training and functioning of judicial assistants in other countries of the European Union to encourage the Portuguese authorities to develop a new model and training plan for court officials, secretaries, court managers, judges and prosecutors.

The main activities

  • a kick-off meeting in Lisbon, 5 September 2019;
  • a survey design workshop of the training needs analysis, Lisbon, 6 September 2019;
  • preparation of two surveys, for judicial clerks and for the court management councils, September 2019;
  • a workshop and focus group discussions of the analysis of the results of two surveys, in Lisbon, 30-31 October 2019;
  • preparation of a benchmarking report, with a comparative description of the functioning and training of judicial assistants in France, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Portugal, November-December 2019;
  • preparation of a final report with the SWOT-analysis and recommendations, January-February 2020;
  • a final conference, in Lisbon, on 7 February 2020.