The Impact Assessment of ICT Financing on Service Delivery in the Judiciary of Rwanda

Abstract

The purpose of this research project was to focus on the impact assessment of ICT financing and service delivery in the Judiciary of Rwanda. Specifically, the objectives for this research were to assess the level of contribution of computerization of information towards enhancing service delivery in the Judiciary, assess the impact of ICT financing in electronic case management systems, assess the level of user perception on service delivery as a result of ICT financing, to identify priorities for ICT financing needs towards improving service delivery in the judiciary. And, it is from such core objectives research questions were developed. The population under study was composed of 37 units namely 22 registrars, 5 legal researchers, and 10 IT staffs of the judiciary specifically in Supreme Court, High Court and Commercial High Court of Rwanda. Through the study, the researcher adopted qualitative design in order to assess the impact of ICT financing towards improving service delivery in the Judiciary of Rwanda. In addition, purposive sampling method was used and the entire population was taken into consideration to constitute the sample size of this study. Data from completed questionnaires was edited, categorized and summarized using tables and figures considering both frequencies and corresponding percentages distribution for the study analysis. Research findings revealed that 62.2% of respondents highly realized the contribution of ICT financing for the computerization of information in court processes, 21.6% of respondents had realized a very high level of the contribution while 16.2% of respondents had realized the contribution of computerization in court as moderate. Furthermore, the findings showed 54.1% of respondents agreed that ICT financing in the judiciary has remarkably contributed to the improvement in service delivery while 45.9% indicated that they strongly agreed with the statement. Through the assessment of the level of user perception on service delivery as a result of ICT financing in the judiciary, it was realized that 43.2% agreed with the statement that the service delivery in the judiciary has significantly improved as a result of ICT financing while 34.3% strongly agreed with the same statement. When it comes to prioritization of ICT financing needs towards improving service delivery in the judiciary, the findings showed 32.4% of respondents revealed that capacity building comes on the top among priorities, followed by ICT infrastructures investment with 2.7%. Based on the analysis of findings, it was recommended that the Judiciary should strengthen investment in all business automation systems and prioritization should be done on the basis of the frequently used and productive business automation system. In addition, it was recommended that capacity building in IT skills should be highly considered and then, there should be continuous assessment mechanism to evaluate the performance of electronic case management systems being used.