Democracy and the rule of law will get a boost south of the border thanks to Northeastern’s Burnes Center for Social Change. Supported by the late Nonnie Burnes ’77-’78 and her husband, Richard, the Burnes Center and its affiliated GovLab have partnered with the Mexican Electoral Tribunal to create the Open Justice Initiative (OJI). The tribunal is Mexico’s highest court dedicated to the resolution of electoral disputes, such as objections to the conduct of an election or the demand for a recount; working with the OJI, it will develop strategies for using data and community input to improve its overall effectiveness, efficiency and accountability.

“As part of the project, we created the world’s first MOOC (massive open online course) in Spanish and English to teach judicial and legal reformers how to use data, technology and community engagement,” said Professor Beth Noveck, head of the Burnes Center. In addition, the initiative has spurred 10 innovation projects developed and designed by a collaboration of court employees and their stakeholders, including political parties, lawyers and academics, relating to opening data, fostering collaboration across the system of courts, promoting access to justice for indigenous people, developing a process for citizen engagement and assessing gender equity in the courts’ work.

Noveck also credits Orna Madigan ’25, a research assistant with the Burnes Center, for providing field scanning and research to identify open justice innovations in countries as diverse as Brazil, Ghana and Fiji for applicable information.