"Rule of law practitioners from around the world are keenly aware that customary justice systems are a potentially important means of improving access to justice. Whether by choice or because they have no alternative options, the world?s poor overwhelmingly favor customary justice systems over their formal counterparts. While the quality and equity of the outcomes delivered may vary, the sheer volume of outcomes suggests that there is significant opportunity to enhance legal empowerment by improving the quality of the justice processes that disadvantaged individuals and communities already use. At the same time, it is clear that customary justice systems can also restrict access to justice, particularly for marginalized and vulnerable groups. These processes can reinforce power imbalances, and outcomes can contravene human rights and justice standards. A central conundrum of engaging with customary justice systems is therefore how to support their many important positive aspects and enhance their capacity to protect the human rights of the most vulnerable members of society, notably women, minorities, indigenous peoples, disabled people and children. Despite these obvious linkages, the question of the role that customary justice systems should play in rule of law development programming remains poorly understood. In particular, there is scant knowledge on the extent to which assistance has translated into behavioral change among actors involved or on methodologies for evaluating impact and drawing lessons for future activities..."