This paper presents a comprehensive assessment of Ethiopia's federal civil justice sector, drawing on administrative data from the Ethiopian Judiciary, a comprehensive review of Ethiopian laws, a national court user survey, and cross-country comparative data, and interviews and focus group discussions with nearly 200 stakeholders. Using the JUPITER Assessment framework, the analysis examines the performance of the Federal Courts across three key dimensions: Access, Efficiency, and Quality. The findings paint a complex picture of performance in the Ethiopian judiciary where the sustainability of good performance is challenged by limited consistent access across the country, staffing shortfalls, low quality of judgements, and limited availability of legal aid. Yet, digitalization is expanding and solutions are home-developed and affordable, the complementarity of customary justice and statutory courts is expanding effectively, and there is a strong political commitment for reforms. The paper situates Ethiopia's judicial performance within a regional comparative context, benchmarking key indicators against select African countries and global standards, and concludes with a discussion of potential policy interventions building on the ongoing reform efforts and taking into account Ethiopia's specific institutional and fiscal realities
| Repository name | URI |
|---|---|
| Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank) | https://reproducibility.worldbank.org |
Paper exhibits were reproduced in a computer with the following specifications:
• OS: Windows 10 Enterprise
• Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6226R CPU @ 2.90GHz 2.90 GHz (2 processors)
• Memory available: 32 GB
• Software version: Microsoft Excel for Microsoft 365 MSO
No other technology requirements
To successfully reproduce the analysis provided in this package, users should follow the instructions in the README file and replicate the analysis using the Excel spreadsheets. Since no code is provided, all results were verified manually following the instructions in the README. Some of the data are restricted, so users will not be able to verify results in the "Confidential" folder.
Some data is restricted and has not been included in the reproducibility package. For more details, please refer to the README file.
| Author | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| Sayed Madadi | World Bank | smadadi@worldbank.org |
2026-07-15
| Location | Code |
|---|---|
| Ethiopia | ETH |
The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.
| Name | URI |
|---|---|
| MIT License | https://opensource.org/license/mit |
| World Bank IGO Rider | https://github.com/worldbank/metadata-editor/blob/main/WB-IGO-RIDER.md |
| Name | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| Sayed Madadi | World Bank | smadadi@worldbank.org |
| Reproducibility WBG | World Bank | reproducibility@worldbank.org |
| Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reproducibility WBG | DECDI | World Bank - Development Impact Department | Verification and preparation of metadata |
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