This guide is intended to assist USAID Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) Officers and other practitioners in designing, implementing, and monitoring rule of law programs that include support for community-level non-state justice systems (NSJSs). It aims to provide a digest of techniques used by donors in supporting such NSJSs and offers guidance on best practices and lessons learned, including a sample scope of work (SOW) that may be used as a starting point for future support programs. The observations and conclusions herein may also be useful for programmatic support to other types of NSJSs.

In addition, USAID emphasizes that this guide exists within an ecosystem of primers, assessment methodologies, and programmatic documentation developed and maintained by the Democracy, Rights, and Governance Center of Excellence. It is intended to be used in concert with other USAID technical leadership tools.