Job Opportunities at United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

 Background

In December 2018, UNDP, UN Women, UNFPA and ESCWA launched The Gender Justice Initiative , which was based on a series of 18 country reports, verified at the country level, on Gender Justice and the Law in the Arab Region. The reports assessed existing legal frameworks affecting gender equality and protection against gender-based violence. Through their publication, the partners sought to encourage legal, policy and institutional reforms to address barriers to gender equality and women’s empowerment. In 2019, the four UN agencies embarked together on phase II of the initiative, which focused on commissioning a regional report and dashboard to bring a unique regional lens to the detailed examination of legislative provisions included in the country reports, notably penal, personal status, nationality and labour codes. This phase was carried out in consultation with a regional Advisory Group of 15 experts from academia, government, civil society and the legal profession. In December 2019, the regional report on Gender Justice & Equality before the Law: Analysis of progress and challenges in the Arab States region was launched . It was complemented by the Gender Justice and the Law Dashboard, a color-coded chart that visually illustrates the status of legislation in 18 Arab States .

To ensure that both the regional report on Gender Justice & Equality before the Law: Analysis of progress and challenges in the Arab States region and the Gender Justice and the Law Dashboard continue to serve as useful tools for advancing gender-sensitive legal and policy reform in the region, the four agencies have launched phase III of the gender justice initiative. This phase focuses on expanding the scope of issues covered in the country reports and the dashboard, for example to include laws on sexual and reproductive health and rights and violence against women, and the launch of a dedicated Gender Justice website that hosts the data and information made available by the gender justice initiative.

In parallel to this consultancy, UNDP and UNFPA will have similar consultancies to cover the remaining countries under the programme. ESCWA is the administrator for the Gender Justice website (to be launched in June 2020) and is responsible for harmonizing all the consultants’ inputs, including ensuring their quality and consistency.

Duties And Responsibilities

The overall purpose of this consultancy is to review and analyse the existing legislative frameworks in seven focus countries regarding the promotion and enforcement of women’s civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, utilizing an assessment tool developed by the four agencies. The seven focus countries are: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Sudan.

To contract an individual to review and analyze the existing legislative frameworks in seven focus countries in the Arab Region regarding the promotion and enforcement of women’s civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, utilizing a pre-designed assessment tool and criteria; and to update existing country reports with new legal analysis.

Objectives Of The Consultancy

Based on the pre-developed assessment tool and criteria, collect data on laws in the focus countries regarding gender equality. Particular focus is on political participation, violence against women, employment and economic participation, marriage and family life, and sexual reproductive health and rights.
Identify and analyse gaps between the existing laws and policies and international standards in the focus countries.
Update the 2018 country reports to include the new legal analysis and to reflect any changes in relevant laws since the 2018 assessments.

Output And Deliverables

The International Consultant shall coordinate and contribute to the production of the following products which outlined in the below table:

Deliverables/Outputs

Estimated Duration to Complete

Target Due Dates

Review And Approvals Required

Payment Terms and Schedule

Deliverable 1

An inception report detailing the timeframe and methodology for the collection and analysis of data.

2 working days

Within 1 week of signature of contract

Leanne McKay (ROLSHR consultant) and Frances Guy Regional gender adviser)

10% upon satisfactory completion of required deliverables.

Deliverable 2

Completed matrix for each focus country detailing the status of laws and policies against the legal issues identified in the assessment tool.

21 working days

31 August 2020

As above

30% upon satisfactory completion of required deliverables.

Deliverable 3

Present draft updated country reports including qualitative analysis of the relevant legislative frameworks, including any recent law reform efforts for discussion and comments.

21 working days

1 October 2020

As above

40% upon satisfactory completion of required deliverables.

Deliverable 4

Present final updated country reports based on feedback.

7 working days

15 October 2020

As above

20% upon satisfactory completion of required deliverables.

Competencies

Corporate competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards.
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the United Nations.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies

• Background knowledge of status of legislation in the Arab region including CEDAW and relevant human rights instruments.
• Proven intellectual and practical capacity to understand and interpret different texts and provide a sound synthesis and analysis.
• Ability to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.
• High level logical and methodical organizational skills.
• Good writing skills.
• Knowledge Management and Learning
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information and best practices from a variety of sources.
• Demonstrates a strong capacity for innovation and creativity in providing strategic policy advice and direction.
• Judgment/Decision-Making
• Mature judgment and initiative.
• Proven ability to provide strategic direction to the project implementation process.

Education

Required Skills and Experience

• Bachelor degree in law. Advanced degree in law will be an asset.
• Additional course work in Women/Gender Studies and/or International Development is desirable.

Experience

• At least three years of experience in legal research including data collection, qualitative data analysis and report writing;
• Proven knowledge of human rights, and/or gender and equality in the Arab region, particularly in the focus countries;
• Familiarity with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals;

Language

Excellent command of English and Arabic.

INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT

• S/He shall perform tasks under the general guidance and direct supervision of the ROLSHR consultant and Regional gender adviser.
• The supervision will include approvals/acceptance of the outputs and deliverables as identified in the previous section;
• The individual may be expected to liaise and collaborate in the course of performing the work with other consultants, suppliers and UN colleagues;
• The individual is required to provide periodical progress reports on a regular and needed basis throughout the assignment to monitor progress;
• The individual is required to maintain close communication with UNDP-RBAS on a regular and needed basis at any period throughout the assignment in order to monitor progress. In the event of any delay, S/he will inform UNDP promptly so that decisions and remedial action may be taken accordingly;
• Should UNDP deem it necessary, it reserves the right to commission additional inputs, reviews or revisions, as needed to ensure the quality and relevance of the work.

DURATION OF THE WORK AND DUTY STATION

The Consultant is expected to start on 15 June 2020 for 51 working days spread over a period of 4 months. All work will be home-based.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminals expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed upon UNDP IC Rule and Regulations.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS.

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Candidates that fail to submit the required information will not be considered.
Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
Brief Description of why you consider yourself as the most suitable candidate for this assignment;
Writing sample of previous legal research assignment
Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive Deliverables/Outputs based total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided. The terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal. If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.
All necessary information including: Complete Procurement Notice, the Selection Criteria, and Annexes are found on the following link under Procurement http://procurement-notices.undp.org/

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications to Job advertisement website ( https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm ) and should submit their proposal by e-mail to the following address: proc.contract.rscjo@undp.org not later than 1 June 2020. Candidates that fail to submit the required information on or before the set deadline (will not be considered.

Please do not submit financial proposal in this stage. Financial proposal shall be requested from Candidates who are considered technically responsive

EVALUATION

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Step I: Screening and desk review:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

Applications will be first screened and only candidates meeting the following minimum criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

• Bachelor degree in law.
• At least 3 years experience in legal research.
• Proven knowledge of human rights, and/or gender and equality in the Arab region.
• Excellent written and oral English and Arabic.

Shortlisted Candidates will be then assessed and scored against the following evaluation criteria (max 100 points):

Criteria 1: University degree in law. Advanced degree in law will be an asset –Max 15 points (10 points for bachelor’s degree, 5 points for advanced degree);
Criteria 2: Minimum three years relevant research experience – Max 25 points.
Criteria 3: Analytical, research and writing abilities as evidenced by submitted research sample Max 30 points
Criteria 4: Proven knowledge of human rights, and/or gender and equality in the Arab region, particularly in the focus countries Max 25 points
Criteria 5: Excellent command of English and Arabic – 5 points

Step II: Final evaluation

The final evaluation will combine the scores of desk review and financial proposal with the following weights assigned to each:

Technical evaluation: 70%;
Financial proposal: 30%

Seniority Level

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Background

In the context of global counter-terrorism, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is mandated to provide assistance to requesting countries in their efforts to address the legal and criminal justice aspects of countering terrorism.

UNODC, through its Terrorism Prevention Branch (TPB), is one of the United Nations’ key providers of counter-terrorism technical assistance in the legal and related areas. Since 2003, UNODC/TPB has been implementing a technical assistance program with the objective of assisting requesting countries to strengthen the criminal justice responses to terrorism. TPB does this by: (i) providing legal advice to States becoming parties to the universal legal instruments related to terrorism; (ii) assisting states to incorporate their provisions into national legislations; (iii) providing training to criminal justice officials to implement rule of law-based criminal justice measures against terrorism and on related international cooperation in criminal matters; and (iv) providing assistance to strengthen national institutions dealing with terrorism. To achieve sustained impact, TPB has also been developing and disseminating legal technical assistance tools.

The scope of assistance provided has been broadening, with ever increasing attention being given to implementation assistance, as more countries have ratified more of the universal instruments. Special attention is given to assisting countries to implement the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (resolution A/RES/60/288, adopted on 8 September 2006) and the relevant Security Council resolutions, especially resolution 1373. The Strategy encourages UNODC to enhance its provision of technical assistance to Member States and it encourages Member States to resort to the technical assistance delivered by the Office.

Assistance delivery at the field level is pursued under the substantive leadership of TPB (within the framework of a global project on “Strengthening the Legal Regime against Foreign Terrorist Fighters in the Middle East and North Africa” and the operational leadership of the respective UNODC regional or country offices, as an integral component of UNODC’s respective regional and country programs.

Countries in North Africa and the Middle East have been a major focus of assistance delivery. Many of these countries continue to require extensive assistance to undertake rule of law-based criminal justice responses to prevent and combat terrorism – an essential component of an effective counter-terrorism strategy. There is an urgent need to strengthen the criminal justice response of Member States including to conduct effective investigations, prosecutions and adjudication of terrorism cases, through rigorous investigative interviewing of suspects, victims and witnesses.

Trafficking in persons (TiP) has become a source of increasing concern worldwide. It constitutes a serious crime and often involves organized criminal groups. UNODC is mandated to support Member States in implementing the key international instrument addressing trafficking in persons i.e., the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (hereinafter referred to as “ UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol ”) supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC). The UNTOC and the Trafficking in Persons Protocol proscribe the crime of TiP and call upon States to adopt such measures as may be necessary to implement their provisions and effectively combat TiP.

As the custodian of the UNTOC and the UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol, UNODC has a comparative advantage in providing technical assistance to Member States to prevent and combat TiP while protecting the rights of the victims. This assistance covers a number of issues, including ratification and development/revision of legislation; development of national policies and strategies; capacity building/strengthening of criminal justice officials in investigating, prosecuting and adjudicating TiP cases; international cooperation in criminal matters; support and assistance to TiP victims; awareness raising. Technical assistance activities are tailor-made to the specific needs of each country and/or region and are implemented at national, regional and global levels.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has shown a strong commitment to addressing TiP and undertaken significant efforts in that regard. Such efforts include, among others, the enactment of the 2009 Royal Decree M/40 criminalizing trafficking in persons for both purposes of labour exploitation and sexual exploitation; the Council of Ministers Decision166 criminalizing certain actions that make temporary contractual workers more vulnerable to trafficking; the adoption of the National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Persons (2017-2020) as well as the establishment of the National Committee on Combatting Human Trafficking (NCCHT) within the National Human Rights Commission (HRC) to coordinate national efforts across agencies and sectors to combat and prevent TiP. Furthermore, over the past eight years, the NCCHT as well as other national stakeholders have consistently participated in a number of capacity-building activities that were implemented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), whether at national or regional level.

UNODC through its Office for the Gulf Cooperation Council Region (OGCCR) received an official request from the HRC in its capacity as the chair of the NCCHT to engage in further technical cooperation, with the aim of strengthening the NCCHT’s role and capacity for leading and coordinating national consultations and efforts towards effectively preventing, suppressing and punishing TiP while providing victims with adequate protection, support and care, in compliance with the Kingdom’s relevant international obligations. UNODC has designed the present project proposal to respond to the needs and priorities jointly identified with representatives of the NCCHT during discussions held in 2018 and 2019. As a result of these discussions implementation of a technical capacity development project entitled “Support and strengthen national capacities to effectively prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons (TiP) in accordance with international standards and best practices” was initiated on 13 February 2020 by signing of a funding agreement between HRC/NCCHT and UNODC.

Duties And Responsibilities

Purpose of the assignment

The Consultant Will Support The Implementation Of Below Activities Under The Framework Of The Project Entitled “Support And Strengthen National Capacities To Effectively Prevent, Suppress And Punish Trafficking In Persons (TiP) In Accordance With International Standards And Best Practices”as Follows

The purpose of this consultancy is to provide technical advisory as well as design, develop and delivery of series of training activities (on-site and on-line) to a select group of government officials and criminal justice officers in KSA on National Referral Mechanism and its implementation.

Academic Qualifications

Required Skills and Experience

• A university degree in law, security studies or related fields, preferably with a specialization in criminal

Years Of Experience

• A minimum of seven (7) years of professional technical experience as a criminal justice practitioner, specifically as an investigator, intelligence officer.
• Previous experience in the provision of capacity-building/training courses in the area of organized crime, terrorism or a related area
• Experience in the Middle East and North Africa region
• Previous working experience with the United Nations (UN) is an advantage;

Language Requirements

• Fluency in Arabic and excellent Arabic report writing skills is required;
• Fluency in English is desirable.

FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

Interested candidates should provide daily fees for requested services with detailed breakdown. This amount must be “all-inclusive”. Please note that the terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables,…. etc.) if any. that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal. Also, please note that the contract price will be Deliverables/Outputs based

The contractor will be paid an all-inclusive Deliverables/Outputs based on number of working days for each deliverable ms over the assignment period, subject to the submission of Certification of Payment (CoP) duly certified and confirmation of satisfactory performance of achieved work (deliverables/outputs) in line with the schedule of payments table hereunder,