Innovators & Influencers
Meet Innovators & Influencers—a network of local rule of law experts available to help navigate the terrain and design activities in their countries and regions
Shirani Narayana
Former USAID/Sri Lanka and Maldives • Independent Development Consultant • LinkedIn Profile
Country & Regional Expertise
- Sri Lanka
- Maldives
- Uganda
- Asia
- Global
Technical Skills & Leadership
- Access to Justice & Legal Empowerment
- Judicial Reform & Court Administration
- Digital Justice & Automation
- Alternative Dispute Resolution & Informal Justice
- Legal Education & Professional Development
- Good Governance/Anti-Corruption & Public Administration
- Gender Equity & Social Inclusion
Favorite Justice Quote
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” - Martin Luther King Jr.
Program Design & Management
Drawing upon 25 years of development experience, I specialize in designing and managing people-centeered and participatory justice sector reforms and rule of law programs, most recently as the lead of Rule of Law programming for USAID Sri Lanka and Maldives.
In designing programs, I utilize essential analytical and design tools such as rule of law assessment methodologies, political economy analysis, scenario planning, and human-centered design to understand the needs of justice seekers and institutional capacities while also assessing feasibility and anticipating challenges in politically fluid and fragile contexts.
My extensive experience spans a broad spectrum of rule of law and related initiatives such as civil society and media development. This includes ensuring access to justice through legal aid and awareness, legal empowerment and rights protection of marginalized groups, case and court management systems, enhancing legal education, and building institutional capacity and professional expertise.
As an involved program manager, I focus on robust management: constantly tracking progress and cost effectiveness, providing impactful technical direction, forecasting challenges and preparing implementing teams to problem solve. I also build and nurture healthy partnerships with high-profile government stakeholders, including senior justice leaders, to strengthen trust and programmatic effectiveness.
Innovations & Achievements
Digitizing Justice and Case Management Systems: Established digitized case management systems for the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Judicial Service Commission of the Maldives, streamlining case handling and administrative processes. Following implementation, both institutions reported significant improvements in efficiency, transparency, and the timeliness of case processing, marking a key step toward modernizing governance and accountability mechanisms in the sector.
Elevating Standards of Admission to the Legal Profession: Supported the first-ever Bar Exam in the Maldives with the Bar Council, establishing a national standard for entry into the legal profession and prerequisite for accreditation. This initiative elevated professional standards, fostered a competent new generation of lawyers, enhanced public trust and aligned the Maldivian Bar with international norms and best practices.
Improving Efficiency and User-Experience through Pilot Courts: Collaborated with the Sri Lankan High Council of Justice to improve justice administration and the efficiency of administration of justice and litigant-friendly practices in 21 pilot courts. Each court developed tailored case management and backlog reduction plans, supported by a digitized case management system. Measurable improvements in efficiency, prompted the Chief Justice to mandate expansion across all courts.
Enhancing Judicial Professionalism and Integrity: Established standardized curricula for judicial training in Sri Lanka, creating a unified framework for both induction and continuing judicial education. The Sri Lanka Judges’ Institute adopted these curricula, which now serve as the foundation for nationwide judicial training, judicial professional development of judges, consistency, integrity, and fairness.
Most Significant Justice Innovation Obstacle
Lack of political will and institutional buy-in are recurring challenges to modernization and innovation in the justice sector.
Best Practice for Justice Innovation
Building commitment and ownership and through participatory and user-centered design go a long way toward introducing innovation.
Most Promising Area(s) for Justice Innovation
Digitized case management from filing to judgement reporting, including paperless notification, judicial information sharing, tech enabled legal aid, and AI assisted legal research.
Rethinking Design, Delivery, and Financing of Rule of Law and Justice
Moving forward, rule of law programming should take a holistic approach built on extensive data collection, inclusive consultation, and participatory design. Building local ownership and securing high level political will and trust, especially since many justice sector problems are rooted in broader systemic failures. A mix of top-down commitment and bottom-up engagement with key stakeholders and communities will lead to optimal outcomes. We must prioritize phased, long-term programming supported by strict, systemized monitoring to deliver sustainable results, replacing the current reliance on short-term contracts.
Intentional, cross-cutting collaboration in programming is also critical. The present model features minimal and often ineffective coordination, usually only appearing late in the implementation phase. As a result, different donors often support overlapping areas, leading to both competition and inefficiency. Co-design and strategic collaboration must be mandated at the top levels, ensuring that all donor contributions are strategically aligned.