UNDP Jobs - 37353- Human Rights Expert for the development of indicat

Human Rights Expert for the development of indicators framework for human rights monitoring and reporting

Location :

Home-based with mission to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

26-May-2013

Application Deadline :

12-May-13 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

20 working days

Languages Required :

English Russian

Expected Duration of Assignment :

20 working days in May-June 2013

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The European Union (EU), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Turkmenistan and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) are currently implementing a joint project entitled “Strengthening the national capacity of Turkmenistan to promote and protect human rights”. This project started in September 2009 with duration of 46 months.
The overall objective of the project is to engage the Government of Turkmenistan on its duty and capacity to comply with its international human rights standards and to improve the knowledge and capacity of rights holders to claim their rights. The main implementing partner is the Turkmen National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights under the President of Turkmenistan.
One of the activities foreseen under the project entails the provision of support to the preparation of dialogues with UN human rights treaty bodies and follow up to their recommendations. This activity targets in particular the members of the Interdepartmental Commission for monitoring the implementation of international human rights instruments (IC) and its Working Group (WG).
In June 2012 the project organized training for the members of the IC/WG on the development and use of indicators framework and benchmarks for human rights implementation and reporting. The purpose of the workshop was to train the members of the Government of Turkmenistan in gaining better understanding of the indicators available to the country in order to improve planning, compliance, reporting and implementation of the human rights standards and treaty obligations. During the workshop further follow-up work was agreed with the national partners. This work includes consultations and training to provide direct assistance to one or more specific ministries in their planning processes. This would entail work with one ministry at a time – as a pilot ministry – in helping staff of the ministry to design indicators around their programs or new programs under consideration in order to facilitate benchmarking around human rights implementation. This can assist development of a human rights indicator framework that is tailored directly to ministry needs, and help their reporting back to NIDHR for treaty-body reporting. Such a pilot-framework could serve as a basis for development of similar instruments for other ministries. It would help to ensure that the ministries responsible can help target programs or adjust them to ensure more effective data collection and monitoring of human rights implementation in all areas relevant to their work. The Ministry of Education was identified by the national partner as the pilot ministry.

Duties and Responsibilities

In accordance with the overall objective of the project and under the supervision of the Team Leader/Human Rights Specialist of the EU/UNDP/OHCHR project, the Human Rights Expert will provide consultative support to the beneficiaries – members of the IC/WG and representatives of the Ministry of Education – on the development of an indicator framework, as well as facilitate the validation working session and related consultations as required. More specifically, the Human Rights Expert will have the following tasks:

Develop a type design of human rights indicators related to education system of the country (a module), which could be used as a basis for elaboration of indicator framework to be used for further data collection, analysis and reporting by other ministries and agencies in the country; The document should include specific methodologies, instructions, and other auxiliary materials on development of an indicator framework as per additional requests;
Share the best practices and lessons learned of other countries, preferably from the same geographical region, with the similar geopolitical situation;
Evaluate the data, used by the country in its national reports submitted to treaty bodies (selectively and relevant), and give expert comments and advices if needed;
Produce first draft of human rights indicator framework for the pilot ministry;
Facilitate the validation working session and consultations at the last stage of development of the human rights indicator framework for the pilot ministry;
Prepare a mission report with recommendations for further maintenance, updating and usage of an indicator framework.
The International Consultant – Human Rights Expert will use, as a resource base, the recommendations given by the UN human rights treaty bodies, Human Rights Council within the UPR cycles and national sectoral development programmes. Development of indicator framework has to go through several stages before being rolled out to other ministries. First draft of indicator framework will be discussed among the participants of training and their inputs and suggestions should be used in producing the final document by the international consultant.

Outputs:

Type design of human rights indicators related to education system of the country (a module), including specific methodologies, instructions, and other auxiliary materials, as well as best practices and lessons learned of other countries;
Validation working session and consultations at the last stage of development of the human rights indicator framework;
Mission report with final draft of human rights indicator framework for the Ministry of Education together with recommendations for further maintenance, updating and usage of an indicator framework

Deliverables and timeframe:

Phase I:

Develop a type design of human rights indicators, including specific methodologies, instructions, and other auxiliary materials, as well as to collect the best practices and lessons learned of other countries
Home based- 5 days, May 2013;
Evaluate the data, used by the country in its national reports submitted to treaty bodies (selectively and relevant)
Home based- 3 days, June 2013;
Develop a first draft of indicators framework for the pilot ministry
Home based- 4 days, June 2013

Phase II:

Mission to Ashgabat to facilitate validation working session and consultations with the project
Field work,-3 days, June 2013;
Prepare a mission report, including the final draft of the indicator framework for the pilot ministry as well as recommendations for its further maintenance and usage,Home based-5 days, June 2013

Payment Conditions:
This is a lump sum contract that should include costs of consultancy required to produce the above deliverables. The final schedule will be agreed upon in the beginning of consultancy.
Payment will be released in two installments: Fifty % (Phase I) and Fifty % (Phase II) – upon timely submission of respective deliverables and their acceptance by the Project Team Leader/Human Rights Specialist.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Functional Competencies:

Good knowledge of UN human rights treaties and mechanisms;
In depth knowledge of human rights data collection, monitoring and reporting;
Excellent training, facilitation and communication skills;
Results driven, ability to work under pressure and to meet required deadlines;
Good understanding and practical experience of capacity development;
Diplomatic skills

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced university degree in a relevant field, such as law, political science, international relations or a related field with a particular focus on human rights;

Experience:

Experience in capacity and institution building in the area of human rights, in particular in relation to human rights data collection, monitoring and reporting;
At least 7 years of relevant working experience
Knowledge and experience of work in the CIS or Central Asia is an advantage;

Language Requirements:

Excellent written and spoken English; fluent Russian an advantage.

Submission of applications

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

Cover letter explaining why they are the most suitable candidate for the assignment;
Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees (blank form can be downloaded from http://europeandcis.undp.org/files/hrforms/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc ); please upload the P11 instead of your CV;
A brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work;
Financial proposal: All applicants shall submit a detailed, carefully considered and justified financial statement based on a lump sum specifying (1) a daily fee for the tasks and an estimated duration as specified in this announcement and (2) any other possible costs (including vaccinations, travel to and from the mission, dwelling, etc.).

Evaluation Criteria:

The consultant will be evaluated against a combination of technical and financial criteria.
Maximum score is 100.
Out of the maximum score, the score for technical criteria equals 70% - maximum 70 points, and for financial criteria 30% - maximum 30 points.

The technical evaluation (70%, or max 70 points) will take into account the following as per the scoring provided:
Education: 4 pts
Good knowledge of UN human rights system, treaties and mechanisms: 13 pts
Experience in capacity and institution building in the area of human rights, in particular in relation to human rights data collection, monitoring and reporting: 25 pts
Relevant working experience: 20 pts
Knowledge and experience of work in the CIS or Central Asia: 4 pts
Fluency in Russian: 4 pts

Financial proposal – 30% of total evaluation - max 30 pts

Only the highest ranked candidates who would be found qualified for the job will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Additional requirements for recommended contractor

Recommended contractors, if the travel is required, shall undergo a full medical examination including x-ray, and obtain medical clearance from the UN-approved doctor prior to taking up their assignment. The medical examination is to be cleared by the UN physicians, and shall be paid by the consultant.

FC: 30079