Chapter 2 Conducting a preliminary assessment – identifying the aims and focus An organization will often start with some idea of how a trial-monitoring programme will serve to support a process of justice reform. Often, specific problems with the administration of justice will already have been identified and some knowledge will have been developed regarding the domestic context. Even when this is the case, however, a thorough preliminary assessment should be undertaken to define what the programme aims to achieve and to evaluate the most appropriate focus, scale, and duration of the programme. This chapter provides an overview of issues that should be covered in a preliminary assessment, including evaluating various in-country conditions, as well as assessing an organization’s own capacities and the resources it possesses to organize and run a successful monitoring operation. Operational issues such as access and how a programme’s focus impacts its scale and duration are also addressed. Once completed, a preliminary assessment will provide an informed basis for selecting an institutional model that will best serve a programme’s aims and meet its anticipated operational needs (see Chapter 3, “Institutional models”). The preliminary assessment will also serve as the starting point for drafting a programme planning document for internal programme development or to secure external funding. 2.1 What should the aims of the trial-monitoring programme be? It is important that the aims and focus of trial-monitoring not only be clearly defined, but that they also be responsive to the country’s specific challenges, so that a programme’s findings and recommendations will be relevant to local actors. In the OSCE context, trial-monitoring programmes have largely aimed to carry out a systemic assessment of the functioning of parts of the justice system for purposes of identifying specific areas in need of reform. In this process, a focus on international fair-trial standards and related domestic laws are usually of primary interest. However, a more limited focus on specific legal issues or procedures may also be useful given the country’s particular circumstances. In the past, OSCE programmes have focused on specific issues or problems associated with new procedural reforms, the administration of justice in specific types of criminal cases, or other specific practices relevant to the effec- Trial-Monitoring: A Reference Manual for Practitioners 27