UNDP Jobs - 49056- Local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Specialis

Local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Specialist-Transitional Justice

Location :

Sana’a (Yemen) with Travelling to Aden, Taiz, Mukalla, Hodaidah, Sada’a, YEMEN

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

28-Aug-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

4 months

Languages Required :

Arabic English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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

Background information

Following Yemen’s political unrest of 2011, and the signing of the Gulf Cooperation Council peace initiative in November of that year, the Republic of Yemen has embarked on a two-year transition agenda. Against the backdrop of this political transition, and the request of the Yemeni authorities, the United Nations has articulated a Joint UN Framework to Support the Transition in Yemen, 2012-2014, which provides an important basis for UN assistance during this period. In this context, Rule of Law (RoL) has been identified as a key priority for Yemen, and for international assistance. In explicit contribution to this transition agenda, UNDP has developed a broad strategic programme of assistance in the areas of RoL, justice and security, human rights and transitional justice. The project Support to the Implementation of Transitional Justice represents one component of this overall strategic support.

The overall objective of this project is to assist the Government of Yemen and other national stakeholders in developing their transitional justice initiatives based on the comprehensive approach and reflecting international standards and comparative experiences. The project looks to support the national TJ process from design through implementation, giving due attention to building capacity of governmental institutions and civil society and issues of communication and outreach between formal processes and national dialogue, but also to supporting various commissions of enquiry and establishment and functioning of a truth commission. The project is implemented directly by UNDP in close collaboration with OHCHR, Ministry of Legal Affairs and other key strategic stakeholders. Finally, this project will take advantage of the added value of other UN agencies and other agencies working on Transitional Justice related issues in Yemen.

Summary of key functions

Working under overall supervision of the Democratic Governance Team Leader and the Chief Technical Advisor-Transitional Justice and the direct supervision of the CSOs and Conflict Resolution Specialist, the incumbent is to create, together with an international specialist, a programme concept paper focusing on civil society organizations (CSOs) in the framework of transitional justice, emphasizing the real needs of Yemen political transition and national reconciliation.

Purpose

The national consultant is tasked to:

Analyze domestic legal/programmatic framework for the work of CSOs and map the CSOs and community-based activities pertinent to transitional justice and similar fields (such as conflict resolution, peace building etc.);
Create a research plan, together with an international consultant;
take a lead in the field research;
Create the programme concept paper, together with the international consultant;
Present the programme concept paper to various stakeholders from the government and civil society.

Objective:

The objective of the assignment is to assist civil society to create TJ related programmes/projects/activities that will:

Secure continuous societal dialogue about the injustice from the past;
Raise awareness on transitional justice;
Support the work of the existing bodies (Land and Dismissals Commissions) and future ad-hoc non-judicial investigative bodies (truth commission, Commission of Inquiry into events of 2011 etc.);
initiate activities with regards to documenting human rights violations and contribute to overcoming sectarian divide and achieving national reconciliation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Description of responsibilities:

Scope of work

Analyze relevant domestic documentation and map CSOs and community-based activities: the national consultant is to express in-depth knowledge of domestic legal/programmatic framework for the work of CSOs and map CSOs and community-based activities pertinent to the topic;
Create the research and interviewing plan: Together with the international specialist, the national consultant is to create the research plan, justification and tentative list of local experts, representatives of CSOs and governmental institutions and representatives of international community, based in Yemen to be interviewed.

Field research and launching the paper:

Throughout the assignment, based on research plan agreed with the international consultant, the national consultant will be particularly focused on interviewing local experts, representatives of CSOs and governmental institutions throughout Yemen, as well as representatives of international community, based in Yemen;
Research activity is in one of key deliverables of the national consultant;
Together with the international consultant, the national consultant will present findings to stakeholders from government and CSOs;

Write the programme concept paper:

The national consultant is expected to write parts of the document which cover domestic legal/policy framework relevant to the work of CSOs and map CSOs and community-based activities pertinent to the topic;
Together with the international consultant, the national consultant will structure introductory parts, executive summary, conclusions and recommendations;
It is expected that the national and international consultant thoroughly comment parts of the document, which are not their prime responsibility, in order to create document that will be result of team work;
The consultant is to assist with other related activities as appropriate.

Deliverables and timelines:

The consultant is responsible for the following deliverables

Creation of the research plan, justification and tentative list of local experts, representatives of government, local CSOs and international experts based in Yemen.

Payment:

10% from the total amount.

Due date:

30 September, 2014;
Field work – interviewing local stakeholders and representatives of international organizations based in Yemen.

Payment:

35% from the total amount.

Due date:

30 October, 2014;
Creation of the programme concept paper as stated in Description of responsibilities – scope of work.

Payment:

40% from the total amount.

Due date:

10 December, 2014;
Launching the policy paper to stakeholders from government and CSOs.

Payment:

15% from the total amount

Due date:

31 December, 2014.

While creating financial proposal, national applicants should particularly pay attention on field trips expenditures (travel and accommodation), since one of her/his primary focus will be field research. Also, while creating financial proposal, applicants should suggest in which towns and how many days in those they will spend.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge and understanding of transitional justice and its mechanisms, with particular focus on CSOs and community-based programmes/projects/activities;
Experience in developing strategic documents
Knowledge of international programmatic, academic and other documents related to CSOs is an advantage;
Knowledge of comparative (worldwide) practice pertinent to CSOs and community-based activities in the TJ and similar areas (conflict resolution, peace building etc.) is an advantage;
Political intuition – ability to grasp political dimensions of the context that will permeate and influence the process;
A collaborative work style;
Excellent communication skills.

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.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Minimum university degree in social sciences, law, political science, international relations or other relevant field;
MA is preferred, but not a must.

Experience:

Minimum 5 years of experience in broad human rights area (preferably in TJ, conflict resolution and peace building areas).

Language:

Excellent command in Arabic and English (written and spoken) is must.

Note:

In case that UNDP does not receive applications of candidates who are skillful in English as required, UNDP will consider applications of exceptional candidates with limited English speaking ability.

Documents to be submitted

Applicants are required to submit an application including

Letter of interest/Proposal.

Explain why do you consider yourself as the most suitable candidate for the work (cover letter).

Provide a brief methodology/plan of tasks on how you will approach and conduct the work.

Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and contact details (e-mail addresses) of referees.

Financial proposal as lump sum with break down price as per the assignment and the deliverable.

Award Criteria

The award will be based on the highest ranked candidate.

Ranking will be based on the combined results of the conducted desk review on requested qualifications, interview and financial offer. Only financial offers of candidates who are invited on an interview will be taken into consideration for evaluation. The technical proposal will account for the 70% of the final score, while financial offer will account for 30% of the final score.

The technical proposal is evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the ToR (CV and cover letter), interview and a methodology/plan of tasks how the candidate will approach and conduct the work.

Successful candidate will be remunerated in 4 installments (see delivery table).